Letter: Should we celebrate more Plan B use at KU?

"If a man and woman have sex during a time when the woman could become undesirably pregnant, that is irresponsible. Real responsibility is a woman knowing when to have sex and in the context of a stable relationship. That is self-respect, not treating fertility as a disease."

Agreed. That's why people should use condoms.

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• Posted by sjschlag on November 11, 2008 at 12:08 a.m.
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Letter: Should we celebrate more Plan B use at KU?

In response to the first comment: ...not if you see sex as a full expression of love...as it's meant to be. Psychologically, the safest, healthiest, and most mature way to put off pregnancy is to respect a woman's body and natural cycles. See www.ccli.org if you are interested. It's called Natural Family Planning, and it's 99% effective!

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• Posted by jgarrison on November 11, 2008 at 9:28 a.m.
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Letter: Should we celebrate more Plan B use at KU?

I'm all for respecting a woman's body- by allowing her to have the choice to have sex when she chooses to. The "natural family planning" method as you put it, does not protect against STDs like AIDS and Herpes. "Natural Family Planning" is not 99% effective- while a woman's natural cycles are predicatble, they are not always constant. Contraceptives like condoms can provide protection against dangerous STDs, and prevent unwanted pregnancies- and unlike your made up statistics, there is hard factual evidence that when condoms are used correctly, they come close to being almost 99.9% effective.

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• Posted by sjschlag on November 11, 2008 at 10:58 a.m.
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Letter: Should we celebrate more Plan B use at KU?

I fail to see how Plan B use was celebrated in the above article. It was a factual account of the use of it on campus. The picture accompanying the article appears to show a distraught person looking at the pill. No one is holding a celebratory Plan B party.

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• Posted by empirelucas on November 11, 2008 at 5:06 p.m.
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Letter: Should we celebrate more Plan B use at KU?

KUgrad, please do not think this was a personal attack. I fail to see where I called or even inferred to call you "a bad person, a murderer, ect"...nor did I mention my faith in any of this. I wrote this response in an attempt to empower and encourage the main target of the Plan B article: young, single college students. And as I am also a happily married woman (with 2 young children to boot!) who has been down many different roads in life, I am simply saying that women should not accept (unless they choose to) the ruse that Planned Parenthood and the like wish them to buy into. That is all...and I'm sorry if you feel offended by that.

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• Posted by jgarrison on November 12, 2008 at 11:54 p.m.
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Letter: Should we celebrate more Plan B use at KU?

i agree with sj and empire- the rhythmic method of birth control (having sex at a certain time during a woman's cycle in an attmept to avoid getting pregnant) is not very effective, that is taught in almost any anthropology class. and the article did not celebrate the use of Plan B, it just explained that the use has increased and possible reasons for the increase.

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• Posted by missmia on November 12, 2008 at 10:49 a.m.
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Letter: Should we celebrate more Plan B use at KU?

linguo, i've checked MANY online dictionaries (even medical ones) and MANY, although I will concede not ALL have stated that an embryo is "The organism in the early stages of growth and differentiation from fertilization to, in humans, the beginning of the third month of pregnancy" (www.medterms.com)...some talk about implantation, some do not. So it's an unsettled matter. Therefore, no need to tell me to review anything. To missmia, NFP is NOT the "rhythm method"...look it up! Finally, I notice a few of my earlier comments (which were totally NOT abusive, but simply responded to some other comments posted) have been removed. I don't know why, but if that's the case, I guess I can't respond further...unfortunate!

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• Posted by jgarrison on November 12, 2008 at 3:21 p.m.
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Letter: Should we celebrate more Plan B use at KU?

As a married woman, who is in a very loving relationship with my husband, I would like to say that making love to him when I want to is far from irresponsible. Did it ever occur to you that women are perhaps most "ready" when they are most fertile, and a lot of women don't enjoy it outside that timeframe. It is incredibly offensive and rude to say that I'm "irresponsible" for doing so because I choose not to use NFP. Just because I don't agree with you and the Vatican doesn't make me a bad person, a murderer, or "irresponsible", or whatever other names you'd like to call me.

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• Posted by 01KUgrad on November 12, 2008 at 4:07 p.m.
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Letter: Should we celebrate more Plan B use at KU?

the rhythm method is abstaining from sex around the time of ovulation, how is that different from when you say a woman should know when to have sex and when not to in order to avoid unwanted pregnancy?

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• Posted by missmia on November 13, 2008 at 10:23 a.m.
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Letter: Should we celebrate more Plan B use at KU?

What I'm offended by, is you calling people who use non-NFP methods "irresponsible". You somehow you thought this article was a celebration, and then called people who use anything other than NFP "irresponsible". Besides, your letter doesn't specifically spell out the fact that your letter was only directed to single college students.... it says "If a man and woman have sex during a time when the woman could become undesirably pregnant, that is irresponsible". I'm a woman, so your comment was directed to me, and I don't think anyone who uses non-NFP family planning methods appreciates you calling them irresponsible. Calling people who use hormonal birth control and other proven methods aren't going to jump on your side when you call us names.......... If you want to plan out your intimacy based on your cycle, that is fine, and I won't tell you, that you are irresponsible. But just because I and other women use different methods, doesn't make us worthy of your judgment.

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• Posted by 01KUgrad on November 13, 2008 at 8:24 a.m.
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Letter: Should we celebrate more Plan B use at KU?

Young single students are the main demographic of the readers of the UDK...I'm not one to be afraid to say if I directed something at someone, so if I say "I was targeting this at so-and-so", I don't think you can just jump in my mind and tell me my own intentions.
You can't call me irresponsible b/c I'm doing the most responsible thing...as NFP is psychologically, medically, ethically, and socially the best way a couple can put off having children, if need be. I tried to inform young adults of something they may have not been aware of and to see another way of looking at this, and you chose to be offended by it and insisted that I "called you names"...although I still don't see any name-calling, only calling out behaviors. Anyways, I'm not going to continuously come back here arguing about this with you...since it's already been said that my letter was meant to encourage and educate, maybe you should ask yourself why this still bothers you SO much. I really do wish you well, I meant no offense, and I hope you consider what I've said, as I am considering your statements.

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• Posted by jgarrison on November 13, 2008 at 10:57 a.m.
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Letter: Should we celebrate more Plan B use at KU?

I'm not calling you irresponsible for using your chosen method of birth control, but you did in fact state that people who have sex during a certain time frame are irresponsible. I would simply respond by saying that I don't appreciate being told that my chosen method is pschologically, medically, ethically and socially inferior to your chosen method. They are just DIFFERENT, and DIFFERENT methods are good for different people, families, circumstances and beliefs. I would not call your behavior irresponsible, I have tolerance for your beliefs and methods, but you clearly have none for others who do not fall in line with yours by calling their behavior irresponsible.

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• Posted by 01KUgrad on November 13, 2008 at 12:19 p.m.
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Letter: Should we celebrate more Plan B use at KU?

Jennifer your letter did not encourage or educate. It lambasted pharmaceutical companies and Planned Parenthood. It also painted with a broad brush when refering to the student body of this university. Your comment is the first place you suggested Natural Family Planning, which is your method of birth control. Of course you think that it is superior. Let's look at some objective arguments. Psychologically, how does it affect a couple in a long term relationship knowing that although they may feel amorous (such as during a woman's ovulation when her interest may be heightened) they cannot express that physically. Medically, there is clearly no protection from STD's which do occur in even the most devout. Ethically, it is based on the Roman Catholic Church's system of ethics which are morals and not really ethics at all. Socially, I don't have to make a counterpoint as there is no way this can be justified.

I have my beliefs, you have yours. It is not as black and white as you would like to think.

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• Posted by empirelucas on November 13, 2008 at 3:24 p.m.
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Letter: Should we celebrate more Plan B use at KU?

Say a woman was raped by a man, and she wanted to use Plan B. JGarrison, would she be irresponsible? There are other uses of Plan B that you should maybe consider. It is not just used to prevent pregnancy after desirable unprotected sex.

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• Posted by KUgirl12 on December 18, 2008 at 1:09 p.m.
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