Neighborhood Hubbub
Regarding your "Two Cheers For The Urban Pioneers" [January 19]: I don't see anything to cheer about. Columbia University's Lance Freeman asserts that "Neighborhoods are changing more as a result of replacement, where people who are leaving are being replaced by more affluent neighbors." Replacement by the more affluent is gentrification. A solution to cheer about would be to improve neighborhoods and have housing opportunities for people of all incomes.
JIM AUGUSTIN
Charleston, S.C.
No wonder the educational system in urban areas is in such bad shape, if you believe Bruce Katz, who says, "When you need to make $150,000 to afford a home in a neighborhood with a decent school, then something is dramatically wrong with the housing market." He should realize that it actually means something is wrong with the educational system. Children from every neighborhood, regardless of housing costs, should be able to attend a decent school. With quality education, residents of poor urban areas could remain and improve their own neighborhoods.
JOE OPENSHAW
Bessemer, Ala.
Debating Plan B
I agree with Dr. Bernadine Healy when she argues that women deserve to know the truth about the morning-after pill ["What `Girls' Should Know," January 19]. But let's give women the whole truth. Healy insists that the morning-after pill (sold under the label Plan B) prevents conception by intercepting rather than interrupting a pregnancy. How the morning-after pill works depends on where the woman is in her cycle. If a woman had unprotected sex during ovulation, conception can occur within five minutes. If the morning-after pill is taken during the next 24 to 48 hours, it would effectively terminate that pregnancy by causing an abortion. The high levels of synthetic progestin in Plan B would make the woman's uterine lining inhospitable to implantation so that the embryo has no place to implant and is sloughed off. A concern, though not a proven risk, that Healy neglected to mention is that Plan B can put a woman who takes it at an increased risk for ectopic pregnancies. Plan B also can cause nausea, vomiting, fatigue, headache, abdominal cramps, and menstrual irregularities. Those are just the adverse effects we're aware of now. As for Healy's claim that routine use of Plan B will reduce the number of abortions, Plan B has been available in Washington State since 1998. Yet the state's abortion statistics have remained about the same from 1998 to 2001.
RENEE MIRKES, PH.D.
Pope Paul VI Institute
Omaha
The morning-after pill shouldn't be taken lightly, and that's exactly what will happen if the Food and Drug Administration allows it to be sold over the counter. I'm not condemning it or saying that it will "promote promiscuity," for it is useful in times of dire need. But in due time, people won't be writing to news editors about it because it will become simply the thing to do. What would the show Friends be if Rachel hadn't gotten pregnant? Perhaps it was a mistake, but we still love Friends because the characters realized and faced the consequences of their actions upfront instead of popping a pill.
SANDRA HAMADA
Age 16
Los Angeles
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