Author: c-ville-weekly-readers

Bypass a bum deal

“All the other communities along US 29 have bypasses [‘Albemarle road race,’ August 2]!” “All the other kids have needles sticking out of their arms!” Lemmings jump off a cliff too. Just because other entities are doing something stupid does not mean you should.

VDOT should have bought up the rights of way along US 29 long ago, then we would not be in this mess. Again, the cost of ANY new road is INFINITE! VDOT wake up!

A good smooth transportation system IS a means of increasing economic efficiency. In this, I agree with Lynchburg and Danville. However, bypasses are NOT the way to go.

The expressway always was the best option, but failing that incremental improvements in existing roads—like another lane from Hydraulic Road to US 29 South dedicated to the turn off—would be more cost effective and the expressway should not be that hard to build. Eight lanes already. Bypass. A bypass to the bypass. A bypass to the bypass to the bypass as development at Forest Lakes clearly shows is going to happen. VDOT obviously has more money than it knows what to do with. Money that could be used for more important priorities.

A smoothe 29 is required, but doing it stupidly is inefficient and a waste of taxpayer dollars when money is tight. I do not mind the government spending my money when they work smart, but the bypass is not smart.

James E. Shifflett, Jr.

Charlottesville

Beer or wine?

Excellent article, Megan. One of the things I find so charming about Charlottesville and neighboring counties is the wonderful juxtaposition of farmers, academics, environmentalists and other assorted vintage locals. You captured this marvelously in this article (“When fine dining calls for fine beer”), especially….and I read the other comment from the reader who felt it was condescending. On the contrary, I enjoyed it immensely, particularly since I was just sitting down to read C-ville’s BBQ issue where you tasted beaucoup amounts of bbq in the name of journalism. A big, greasy thumbs up to you…and keep those articles coming, C-ville!

Local wine and beer enthusiast,

Michele Armentrout 

Hot Tomato 

For those of you who missed the Tomato Celebration Dinner at Rapture [last week]… eat your heart out because you missed a momentous meal! From start to finish–– inspired dishes each one superbly served, deliciously tasteful, perfectly paired with wonderful wines. Truly a memorable meal. Congratulations to Chef Chris Humphrey and all the staff. Hope to see some of the dishes on your regular menu.

Thank you again,

Chris and Wendy Grove

South Africa

No freedom in impermanence

Dear editors of C-ville, 

The cover of your last issue featured a picture of the "free speech" monument on the downtown mall. My question to you is what could this monument possibly mean to you? 

I can only assume that as an independent weekly publication in a world of media empires and syndicated local news, you must care about this question. In the midst of the outrage over the practices of the worlds biggest media empire, people all over the world are asking the question: what do we want from our media? These questions are in the air right now, and they are related. So it saddens me to see a very basic confusion over what free speech actually is, in the form of this monument on the downtown mall, and even more so in the attention it gets from your publication. 

The basic confusion lies in the difference between a newspaper and an asylum. Perhaps the first institution in the world to recognize the rights of individuals to free speech was the asylum. People were locked away, constrained to a particular space in which they could say anything they pleased. This is precisely how the downtown monument to free speech works. It does three things which make actual democratic "free speech" impossible: 

1) It makes the writing temporary. Rather than write on the walls with something permanent, like spray paint, constrain your words to this surface of slate, which can easily be erased. 

2) It eliminates the possibility of authorship. There is no need to guarantee the right to free speech when no one ever knows who is speaking. 

3) It subjects the writing to the editing of any passer-by, or even to the weather itself. If I don’t like what you write, I can just change a few words around, or erase it altogether. In the case of the monument on the mall, even a small burst of rain can edit what we write. I think we should all recognize that things are going badly when in the world we have made the rain itself is a form of censorship. 

In effect the monument on the downtown mall functions to guarantee free speech the same way that asylums do: by constraining the space in which speech can be free, and making that space an anonymous space of inmates rather than individuals. Nothing can be political there. Nurse Ratched designed our monument to free speech. 

This is why I am saddened to see a publication that has much more of a claim to being a monument to free speech than this monument, give it so much attention. When you publish your next issue, it will be written in ink that cannot be edited, by authors who are known and can be held accountable for the words that they write, on a medium that can be distributed and is material rather than ephemeral. This is the difference between an asylum and a newspaper. 

Let’s try to keep this distinction in mind. 

Seth Denizen 

Too old to be new

Yes, a bypass for 29 is a very good idea. But the plan being pushed doesn’t even meet the definition of bypass, which is “a road or highway that avoids or ‘bypasses’ a built-up area, town or village.” This route has been tabled and defeated for 20 years because it’s bad – hideously expensive, detrimental to schools, residences, quality of life for many AND largely ineffective in reducing traffic congestion on 29. How about looking at 2011 conditions and starting anew. A logical northern starting point might be around Ruckersville. Not “through” Ruckersville, but “around.”

Judith Reagan 

Albemarle County

Huja for Downtown

In a recent C-VILLE article about the possible relocation of the City Market, Council Member Satyendra Huja was quoted as saying that the market offered an economic opportunity for Downtown. Mr. Huja understands creating greater economic prosperity through careful planning and discussion.

As City Planner for decades, he took criticism for his focus on the Downtown Mall, which is now a thriving business district. Likewise, while many of us citizens just plain love the Market experience, Mr. Huja (who also is a Market habituee) understands its role in the economic vitality of Downtown. As a Council member, he also comprehends how the Market – with City participation — could contribute to the redevelopment along Water Street, leading to greater vitality for both the Market and Downtown.

I hope Democrats and Independents will support Mr. Huja in his bid for a second term at the “firehouse primary” at Burley School on Saturday, August 20. With an ability to make decisions based on the city’s long term interests, he has excellent urban planning background, a proven record of working with all sectors of our community and a lifetime commitment to public service.

Kay Slaughter

Charlottesville

A New Definition of “Sustainability”

Do you know what “sustainability” means to the Jefferson Area Planning District Commission? It means creating “conditions that promote a healthy balance of wealth, power and privilege”—”to be measured by the gap between incomes of the rich and the poor.” In order to do this “societal benefits and costs are equitably shared by all citizens.” Can you see redistribution of wealth?

Sustainability means controlling Albemarle County’s population related to “age, race/ethnicity, income/personal wealth, education and employment status.” In other words we should all be exactly the same?

Sustainability means ensuring that “every member of the community has access to adequate and affordable transportation.” Who decides adequate and affordable?

Sustainability means “every member of the community is able to obtain employment that offers just compensation, fulfillment, and opportunities for advancement”. Who decides just compensation and if every single person is fulfilled?

Does this sound like sustainability to you? —- or does it sound like big government making all your decisions for you and doing all this at an exorbitant cost? How can this be sustainability? It will result in bankruptcy just like the problems the nation currently faces !

Do you realize this document called “The 1998 Sustainability Accords” has been adopted and in place in our County since 1998?

How do we get rid of this? Ask your members of the Board of Supervisors.

You really must read this document in its entirety to see for yourselves — to see how this document means to increase the pervasive attempt to change our lives and makes all our decisions for us. If you cherish the freedoms our forefathers fought and died for, now is the time to be especially aware and do all possible to reverse this trend.

Mary Ann Doucette

Crozet

Defend the air you breathe

If someone were to ask you to select which issue is the most important to you personally, air pollution or your family’s health, you might think on this and answer with one of them. In actuality, it isn’t right to choose one issue over the other when the two are so tightly intertwined.

A study by the National Resources Defense Council determined that coal-and oil-fired power plants produce almost half the toxic air pollution in the United States.

The facilities that generate our electricity are also our biggest sources of air pollution, including both smog and acid rain, and also mercury, which rains down and contaminates us through the fish we eat. Just today I read that Virginia now has the distinction of being chosen as one of the 20 states with the most air pollution in our country. On July 23rd, Alexandria issued a “Code Orange” which is a smog alert telling people to keep their children indoors so as not to allow outdoor play.

The EPA estimates that the reduction of toxic pollution would save as many as 17,000 lives every year by 2015. Up to 12,000 cases of childhood asthma could also be prevented if reductions are successful.

Air toxic from coal-fired power plants cause cancer, birth defects, and respiratory illness. Just one of those air toxics, mercury, damages the developing brains of fetuses, infants, and small children. It robs our children of healthy neurological development and native intelligence.

Thank you, Michael Bloomberg, mayor of NYC for calling attention to this most pressing of issues, big, dirty coal and how it relates to air pollution and to the health of all Americans.

Thank you for your time and $50 million dollar donation to the Sierra Club to halt the creation of more coal burning plants. Now we al need to do our part to encourage alternative cleaner forms of energy.

As concerned Virginians, we should write to our power companies and representatives to let them know our feelings and to encourage them t enforce the EPA standards to refurbish the existing power plants with scrubbers and filters. House Republicans are doing everything they can to tame the EPA.

Sidney and Rochelle Sitzer

Charlottesville

Jinx is tops for BBQ

Friends —

I greatly enjoyed your article on BBQ, but disagree on the methods of judging. It would be like rating eight martinis all placed waxed Dixie cups. Anticipation and presentation are part of the overall pleasure in both food and drink. The kaleidoscopic decorative art and personalized conversation with Jinx provide a delightful ambience integral to the overall gustatorial experience.

If someone doesn’t want to shlepp a half hour to the two “winners” clean-well-lighted places, Jinx’s joint is Charottesville’s BBQ winner.

John S. Marr, MD 

Free Union 

Sweet release

In regards to the recent publication of “The Sweetest Thing” [June 14], I would like to comment that I am in full agreement of the sugar ban. While I pack my child’s lunch daily with fresh fruits and vegetables and organic foods as much as possible, the appeal that cafeteria lunches be healthy and conscious for all is exciting.

There is much to outline on the subject of children eating healthy meals and snacks, not only for their ability to learn more peacefully and productively, but also for the unfortunate aspects of obesity and ADD and ADHD. If we, as a community, strive to be different and make changes, don’t these start with the children we know will be our leaders in the future? If there is continued negativity towards the necessity of change as quoted by Barbara Yager, “I don’t think it’s possible to limit sugar”, then we have a problem. My child sometimes exits the bus with candy as a “reward” for good behavior while on the bus, yet she can’t handle sugar. It makes her depressed and extremely emotional, and as her parent I have witnessed this even with a simple apple juice with sweetener.

For all children and even adults, our bodies aren’t meant to break down the massive amounts of sugar that we give it on a daily basis. I would love to see this become not just a mentionable item in discussion, but something that comes to fruition. Thanks for reading. You have my support in your endeavors Ivana Kadija. To all the children…Be well!

In Kluge’s defense

J. Tobias Beard reports on Patricia Kluge’s failed wine business in the story “Patricia Kluge: Her fruitless bid for wine royalty” [May 24]. As one proceeds to read the story, however, one realizes that it is not about Patricia Kluge’s failed business venture at all; it is all about the contempt the writer feels for Kluge.

Tobias Beard refers to Kluge as someone that was looking to “rid her of her reputation as nothing but a strumpet-turned-gold digger extraordinaire.” What is a strumpet anyway? I had to look that one up. And, so, what he is saying is that Kluge is nothing but a prostitute and then continues to harness just about every sexist stereotype to annihilate and to strip Kluge of her humanity. He finds her so vile that one wonders what it is that triggers his irrational rage. Does he personally know her and does he have an axe to grind? Or is he just enraged by this Uppity Woman? What is her crime? It is so over the top, you’d think she was a mass murderer. As far as I can gather, her crime was to try to bring prestige to Virginia wines.

There is a timeline included with the article and Kluge’s honorable initiatives such as starting the Virginia Film Festival, helping to save the Paramount from demolition and establishing the Kluge’s Children’s Rehabilitation Center are not included. In fact, nothing sympathetic to Kluge is mentioned. The writer does, however, alert us to the fact that Kluge wore white when she married her late second husband (How dare she wear white when she is not a virgin!).

Why would the writer, who so hates Kluge, want to write about her? Which brings me to the bigger question: Why do the editors at C-VILLE think publishing an unbalanced hate-filled diatribe have any value whatsoever? Furthermore, you must be aware that sexist stereotypes, like racist stereotypes, are destructive and dangerous in our society. So, please be more vigilant and refrain from publishing these types of unjust and discriminatory narratives.

You had your say on c-ville.com:

From “Blood money,” a June 7 story about a new Charlottesville health center

Science Over Politics: “Only in the insane partisan world of C-Ville could Paul Ryan get blamed for preterm births in Fifeville. What Brendan Fitzgerald is hoping you are ignorant of is that the $600,000 cut in Community Health Centers happened at the same time that Planned parenthood got another $336,000 of our tax money despite being a “non profit” that profits about $75 million a year. They can then funnel that money back into political campaigns, you see. Community health Centers perform mammograms. Planned Parenthood does not. Cecille Richards lied about that. Planned parenthood CAUSES preterm birth and low birth weight every day – by performing infant mortality on their older brothers and sisters. African Americans have far higher abortion rates than other groups in the USA. Thus, they have far higher rates of preterm birth and low birth weight and birth defects. This is the science that C-Ville weekly will never tell you. They don’t care about children. they don’t care about black children. They don’t care about anything but their cruel and selfish political agenda. That’s why they continuously write garbage like this.”

Keep digging 

Canzi and Fitzgerald’s excellent review and photos of UVA’s architectural history [“‘Jeffersonian’ quest,” May 17] was a delightful, but limited, exposé of Charlottesville’s primary real estate holder and employer. While I trust that the writers are being factually true to someone’s history of each significant UVA structure mentioned, I think that one or two of their titles for the segmentation of the timeline (of construction) are somewhat misleading. I am referring to the prefatory phrases “Baby steps off the lawn” for Brooks Hall, and “Tampering with Jefferson’s Vision” for Cabell, Cocke and Rouss Halls.

Architectural history that I read while living in New Haven, Connecticut, home of Yale University, explained why Yale’s squat, red-bricked Peabody Museum of Natural history looks like a structure belonging to the UVA campus, and why UVA’s soaring, dark-stoned Brooks Hall looks like a structure belonging to Yale’s campus. Simple reason. Because that’s where they belong.

The UVA architectural plans and the Yale architectural plans got mixed up in Stanford White’s architectural firm in New York City while White (1853-1906) was paying less attention to business and more attention to a young, married woman whose husband ultimately killed him (i.e. White), a dramatic event portrayed in the movie Ragtime. If this mix-up is the “real facts” behind Brooks Hall being what it is and where it is, architecturally speaking, then Brooks Hall definitely belongs under the timeline segment title “Tampering with Jefferson’s vision”, or, alternatively, under a re-write of the segment title “Baby steps off the lawn.” May I suggest the title “Unwanted baby near the Lawn,” or “Strange body under the lawn”, or something like that.

Whatever the change, and I know writers and editors must consider community sensitivities, the ideal of the fifth estate still applies: to communicate accurately the processes of continuation (tradition), growth (reform), and corruption (power mongering) with historical tags that fit the facts (veracity), shared facts being the real basis of an academic village, fancy buildings notwithstanding.

Jefferson and White were both brilliant men with a similar history of miss-calculations and collisions with other people’s social agendas. All the more reason to follow the facts to bedrock. With the items I have focused on, I don’t think this article is there yet. A fine piece of research and writing nonetheless.

Clay Moldenhauer
Charlottesville

Flattery files

I am visiting for a few days in Charlottesville and by chance picked up the latest issue of C-VILLE.

Wanted Mr. Beard to know that I was thrilled with your writing of the article on the ex-Mrs.Kluge [“Wine in the time of poverty,” May 24]. I live in San Francisco and my interest in the subject was mild at best but the quality of your writing was quite exceptional.

I have had a long career in media and content and am nearly finished with my 1,000 page memoir so I believe I have a learned eye for excellent expression—which you have clearly demonstrated. In fact, as a long-time reader of Vanity Fair I think your article would fit in that publication quite comfortably.

J. William Grimes
San Francisco

CORRECTION

Due to a reporting error, last week’s feature story, “Wine in the time of poverty,” flubbed a quote from Ernest Hemingway—the work, context and precise wording. Hemingway wrote a scene in The Sun Also Rises in which one character asks another how he went bankrupt: “Gradually,” he replies, “then suddenly.” The article misattributed the quote to For Whom the Bell Tolls, incorrectly stated that it was in reference to the 1929 stock market crash, and altered it to “Slowly, and then all at once.” Also, in the same article, we failed to catch a misspelling of “ark” in a pull-quote.

Land preserver

I appreciated your article on the ACE program and am writing to say I strongly support ACE and its efforts to preserve rural land. Rural land is a prime asset to Albemarle and while the initial benfits of preserving it may be less clear than those of some other programs in the near term, the long term benfits to the county’s health are huge. I would support efforts to increase ACE funding even at the expense of other programs if necessary.

Benjamin Brewster
Charlottesville

Correction

Due to a reporting error, an April 26 feature article, “Profiles in Homeschooling,” incorrectly asserted that parents who belong to Albemarle Christian Teaching Support, Inc. must sign a statement of faith. In fact, they only must “respect” it.

Wheel life

Caroline Laco’s 45-minute commute by bicycle that she says would be cut in half by the Meadow Creek Parkway [“Wheels Keep on Turning,” March 29] reminds us that the parkway does more than gobble up precious park land. Commuters’ time may not top concerns of parkway opponents, but what about the environment?

We might hope that more commuters, given an easier way, would be encouraged to follow Ms. Laco’s example and bike to work. But the environment would also benefit, and greatly, from those thousands of vehicles burning less fuel going from point A to point B by the most direct route. Providing that more direct route is the decades-old idea behind the parkway.

With the county’s portion done, there is an inevitability to the Meadow Creek Parkway. The sooner it is completed, the sooner can cyclists, drivers, residents in traffic-plagued neighborhoods, and planet Earth with her atmosphere breathe a sigh of relief.

J. A. Barker
Charlottesville

On “Relativity of Recklessness,” April 19, about urban exploration at UVA:

Karen: Students will make their own decisions about pushing boundaries. Though this is tragic, the University is in no way responsible for this accident. When I was a student, I climbed on the roof of the Rotunda, Old Cabell Hall, and jumped off cliffs at nearby quarries. I knew it was dangerous and illegal, but took full responsibility for my actions. I don’t understand why more people don’t get upset about the amount of alcohol that is being consumed by underage students. It is dangerous, illegal, and violates the Honor Code. I have known many who have come close to death, and some who have died from alcohol poisoning. I am also aware of the potential danger of cyclists at U.Va. who wear no helmets, disobey traffic signs, and who weave in and out of traffic. I feel dread when I have to drive the roads through the grounds. 

CORRECTIONS

Due to a reporting error, an April 19 news story [“When the Levy breaks”] stated that public housing redevelopment could increase the number of public housing units to 720 from 376. In fact, the number of public housing units will remain at 376, though the number of total units, including affordable and market-rate rentals and homeownership units, could number 720.

Due to a production error, an April 19 news story [“Sullivan steps out”] was mis-attributed to Jenny Thomas. While we’re sure she’s a lovely person, we have no idea who Jenny Thomas is. The piece was in fact written by our dear news intern Jenny Taylor. Sorry Jenny!

In response to your March 8, 2011 article “Cry for Help,” we would like to correct the statement that the community’s Safe Sleep program provides mothers with car seats to hold infants while they rest. The Charlottesville/Albemarle Health Department offers two separate programs—the Child Safety Seat program and the Charlottesville Area Safe Sleep program. The safety seat program provides free car seats to families who qualify; parents/guardians attend a short class to learn the correct placement and use of the car seat. The Safe Sleep program is aimed at reducing the number of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) cases in our community through educational programs. Portable cribs are available through agency referrals to families who qualify by income and risk factors.

The Health Department does NOT recommend that infants be put to sleep in car seats. The safest place for infants to sleep is alone, on their back, in a crib, in a smoke-free environment, without soft bedding or toys of any kind. Please contact the Health Department (972-6200) for more information about either one of these programs.

Peggy Brown Paviour, MS, CHES
Thomas Jefferson Health District
Charlottesville

Just the facts, Dan

I recently read Dan Catalano’s article titled “Procedural hijinks in the General Assembly” [The Odd Dominion, March 8]. I then wondered if his job is to report the events in the General Assembly from an objective point of view or from his biased point of view. It was quite apparent that he feels that his job is the latter. He presented the Republican measure as an anti-abortion measure. One could have viewed this measure as a pro safety measure for those seeking abortions.

Something that bothered me in his article was that the “Republicans sneakily attached the controversial amendment” without substantiating his assertion. I assume that after the amendment was attached, there was an opportunity for all to read it prior to voting. If that was the case, then it was not sneakily attached. If Mr. Catalano is correct, and it was sneakily attached, then he should have backed up this claim, by explaining exactly what made it sneakily attached. Much of the problem with today’s reporting and discourse has to do with making statements, often made just because of one’s ideology, without evidence to support the statement. Dan Catalano is certainly guilty of making a statement, and then failing to back it up with factual evidence. Regarding the question “Should abortion clinics be regulated as hospitals,” hospitals are regulated. I would offer that abortion clinics should be regulated in a manner to provide the abortion clinic patient an environment that is as safe as if they went into a hospital for that service. If evidence was provided that could show that a person’s health was more at risk in an abortion clinic than it was in a hospital, then I would say that abortion clinics should be regulated as hospitals. The patient’s safety and health should be the most important factor for consideration.

John Pedersen
Fluvanna County

Corrections

Due to reporting errors, last week’s Feedback column misidentified the sponsor of Mike Bisceglia’s Runcast. It is Ragged Mountain Running Shop. In the same column, Bisceglia’s co-host for the podcast “Outside the Box with Mike and Leon” was also misidentified. He is Leon Oliver. C-VILLE regrets these errors.

Open your park to me

We should build the Meadowcreek Parkway [“Parkway Update: If the suit fits…,” Government News, March 1]. because it will give us access by foot to the park on two sides, whereas now there is none. The acreage taken for the road will be replaced by VDOT. We can redesign the park with a garden, water features and trails so all of us can enjoy it. Historic Park Street will be relieved of some of the thousands of cars that use it daily. And the road will include a bike and pedestrian path nearby. Let’s do it!

Virginia Daugherty
Charlottesville

Muy bueno!

What a wonderful article on Martha Trujillo [“Hablo Español,” February 22]! In the technical world we live in, she should be commended for her hands-on approach to helping immigrants learn and understand our laws, taxes and culture. Even with the concern of funding for programs mentioned, it was heartwarming to read about someone with a passion for aiding and relating to her fellow man. Kudos to C-VILLE for the “good news” read.

Donna Slough
Albemarle County

Unmarried with children?

Cathy Harding: I commend you for your efforts to help deal with the high rate of infant mortality and low birth weight babies in Charlottesville [“Read This First,” February 22]. Although not addressed in your editor’s letter, I would assume that a significant number of these babies are born to unwed mothers. I would suggest that while you assist them with their immediate health care needs, you might also attempt to encourage these women to avoid having children until they are in a continuous, monogamous, married relationship. I would suggest that this might go a long way to help with their future health care needs.

Richard Smith
Keswick

If I can make it there…

I just wanted to let you know I will really miss Cathy Harding as the editor [“Read This First,” March 8]. She was fantastic, fair, kind, human, intelligent and funny. I wish her the best and hope she comes back one day.

Joe McCloskey
Charlottesville

You had your say at c-ville.com

“Cry for help”
March 8 cover story about the high incidence of low birth weight babies and infant mortality among Charlottesville’s poorest residents

Malthusiastic: “Caring for those who arrive and are with us is important, no argument there. But what about the fertility crisis? The third child born to a mother in public housing? When does this stop? The human cost of family expansion beyond means will affect the community adversely to some degree and to a much greater extent compromise the possibilities of ever having this family become self-sufficient.

“I don’t subscribe to that line of thought, but you can understand why the Right wing types get so draconian.”

TEX: “Birth control solves many problems”

Human Rights: “None of this comes as any surprise to anybody who actually looks to science rather than pushing a political agenda to solve medical problems. UVA CAUSES preterm birth, and misinforms women. C-Ville weekly helps them do that.

“‘Previous abortion is a significant risk factor for Low Birth Weight and Preterm Birth, and the risk increases with the increasing number of previous abortions. Practitioners should consider previous abortion as a risk factor for LBW and PB.’”

“Virginia Commonwealth University study as printed in the British Medical Journal.

“‘Induced and spontaneous abortion are associated with similarly increased ORs for preterm birth in subsequent pregnancies, and they vary inversely with the baseline preterm birth rate, explaining some of the variability among studies’”

“Journal of Reproductive Medicine

“‘Women with a history of induced abortion were at higher risk of very preterm delivery than those with no such history (OR + 1.5, 95% CI 1.1–2.0); the risk was even higher for extremely preterm deliveries (28 weeks)’”

“British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

“‘This study shows that a history of induced abortion increases the risk of very preterm birth, particularly extremely preterm deliveries. It appears that both infectious and mechanical mechanisms may be involved.” This study showed that women who gave birth between 28 and 32 weeks of pregnancy were 40% more likely to have had a previous abortion, and mothers who gave birth to extremeley preterm infants from 22 to 27 weeks were 70% more likely to have had an abortion.

“French Study of 2837 preterm births conducted by pro abortion researcher Caroline Moreau.

“‘A consent form that simply lists such items as “incompetent cervix” or “infection” as potential complications, but does not inform women of the elevated future risk of a preterm delivery, and that the latter constitutes a risk factor for devastating complications such as cerebral palsy, may not satisfy courts’”

“Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons

“‘Previous induced abortions significantly increased the risk of preterm delivery after idiopathic preterm labour, preterm premature rupture of membranes and ante-partum haemorrhage, but not preterm delivery after maternal hypertension. The strength of the association increased with decreasing gestational age at birth.’”

“European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology”

Anna: “Actually, birth control, all methods, even when used properly according to manufacturer guidelines, does not prevent pregnancy (or provide safety from STDs, either, for that matter.) In fact, there is still quite a risk of conception or contracting a disease or infection. Granted, a pregnancy is by no means a disease and actually becomes a blessing in the lives of those who will embrace it. But in many cases there is still a great risk of birth control failing. I work daily with women, teens, and men who come in to our clinic thinking they could be pregnant. Consistently over 27 years we have seen a 30-40% failure rate of all birth control across the board. I am talking about typical use and recommended use here. It would appear to many that birth control would be the answer, but in reality it is not. There is a bigger picture here. We do need better prenatal care and real community-based support for pregnant moms AND dads.”

Evidence-based: “Hmmmm. Clearly there is no requirement in these threads to provide accurate information. Anna —if you work in health care you should be more knowledgeable about what ‘typical use’ means, especially with long acting contraception. Contraception prevents infant mortality. It allows individuals to prepare for a pregnancy and be in the best of health and social circumstances. That gives our children the best start in life. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next comment comes from ‘Human Rights”’ (not) saying that hormonal birth control is dangerous and hurts women. Not true either. Wish spam protection could block inaccuracies.”

Human Rights: “The UVA Health System has been keeping their own students and other patients in the dark about accurate information for 20 years now. That’s why some of its leaders will soon be resigning so as to avoid prosecutions. Try as they may to keep putting politics above science, their goose is already cooked. Preterm birth and birth defects are just two of about a dozen legal vulnerabilities.

“www.uvalies.org/initiative

“Our UVA Law School students and alumni will wipe the floor of a courtroom with them if they want to play it that way”

Evidence-based: “See? ‘Human Rights -not’ and his rhetoric is quite scary. And he talks about ‘lies’? Thank you to all the professionals who are so dedicated to providing high level care to young families and working to reduce infant mortality and more. UVA, MJH, CHIP, TJHD, CYFS, etc. are hero’s in health. This C-C-VILLE article did not address these many groups in the detail they deserve. ‘Human Rights’: go back to Wisconsin. You will find your type there.”

Alexi: “ummm, ‘human rights’ what is your point? what are you talking about?

“tex and Malthusiastic, I agree completely…this is a preventable problem! Birth Control!!”

Malthusiastic: “Wow Anna, I want to come work with you and see the “men who come in to our clinic thinking they could be pregnant”. So far that hasn’t appeared in my field studies. As far as blessings go, the rational use of contraception is a blessing to indigent families and the society that supports their folly. We’re talking about the 3rd generation living in public housing here. Children are a burden not a blessing when they exceed the means of the families that produce them (no mention of the father here though).

“I’m not sure what ‘quite a risk’ means in your mind, although it means nothing at all scientifically. The Center for Disease Control should be considered a good source of scientific information though: ‘The pill is 92–99% effective at preventing pregnancy.’ ‘This IUD is more than 99% effective at preventing pregnancy.’

http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/unintendedpregnancy/contraception.htm”

Bigger Picture: “As someone who has worked with the Improved Pregnancy Outcome Workgroup for the past couple of years, I’d like to point out that we need more than just “improved prenatal care” if we want to improve pregnancy outcomes in our area. For better outcomes, we need: increased use of highly effective (and safe!) methods of contraception, as mentioned above, so that pregnancies can be planned; good physical and mental health care, starting not in pregnancy but throughout the lifespan; health education within schools and communities, and neighborhoods where healthy choices, education, good parenting skills, stress management, etc. are modeled and supported. There are many factors that contribute to poor outcomes for infants and mothers, factors that go well beyond whether or not a mother received prenatal care. If we really want to see change, we need to look at the bigger picture.”