Applause for Hay-Webster
published: Thursday | August 14, 2003

THE EDITOR, Sir:

MANY PEOPLE are outraged by Mrs. Hay-Webster's proposal. For those who missed it, the proposal was tubal ligation for women after their third or fourth child. Tubal ligation is the cutting and tying of the fallopian tubes in a woman, to prevent pregnancy.

I applaud Mrs. Hay-Webster's proposal. The suggestion is neither ridiculous, nor a discrimination against women as some writers believe. Yes, the best contraceptive for women is better education, however, the information about prevention of pregnancy is not disseminated to the people who need it most. There are those women who will not use contraceptives, therefore there is need for

alternatives.

As a graduate student in 1995, during a community health education class, the same proposal was presented. The majority of students thought it was a way of discriminating against poor blacks and Latinos because they are the ones who are having many children, and are unable to care for them. Many of these children end up in foster care and children's homes. The children then become a burden on the government.

As a registered nurse on a labour and delivery unit I see many well-educated, professional women who can afford to care for their children, having tubal ligation after their third and fourth child. It is more deplorable having children abused in children's homes, living on the streets and not educated, than women having tubal ligation. Statistics tell us that poor education costs the government dearly in later years in the form of crime, illiteracy, health care, and the need for public assistance. A tubal ligation for women who are too poor to care for more than three children, is not such an outrageous idea.

I am, etc.,

P. V. SMITH

mizjori@aol.com

Englewood

New Jersey

Via Go-Jamaica

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