In her letter to the editor (“Preventative services funds good for women, state,” April 4), Dara McIntire sang the praises of L.D. 1247, which expands the coverage for family planning services.

More access to birth control or other preventative services, (such as screening for breast cancer) isn’t as healthy for women as she so glowingly states. Her premise that women are helped at Family Planning Centers flies directly in the face of reality. In fact, a study reported in the newspaper on April 3 concerning mammograms, stated that the “potential harms may be greater than previously realized.”

Moreover, providing women with the birth control pill can be very detrimental to their health. For instance, the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association have both reported serious risks with using oral contraceptives. These include high blood pressure, blood clots and strokes, not to mention potentially increased dangers of breast, cervical and liver cancers. That is why the WHO classifies the pill into Group 1 carcinogens, along with asbestos, that increase the risk of cancer. Women should listen to these reports.

What is needed is “more choice” for more complete information, and not to blindly follow those who would gloss over the dangers involved should L.D. 1247 pass.

For the sake of women’s better health and their futures, we ask for Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of this bill.

Pat TrumanHallowell


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