GraniteGrok

Since the word “contra-ception” by definition is “preventing conception, (a fertilized ovum)” there is no fertilization, embryo or fetus to deal with. (On the rare occurrence of a fertilized egg occurring, due to “late administration” of the high dose contraceptive after three days, the uterus would be an unfavorable environment for the egg to implant).

His confusion is with what he “thinks” they are dispensing... RU 486, a hormonal abortion pill administered to “confirmed pregnancies” of eight weeks or less. That pill causes progesterone (needed to maintain pregnancy) to cease production and hence induces menses in early stages of pregnancy.

That is NOT what R.E.S.P.E.C.T. is referring to in the poster. RU 486 is not the same as the "emergency contraceptive ovulation-preventing pill.”

Aside from his unfamiliarity with reproduction/endocrinology, Lambert (himself) also wants to cease funding a program that has worked nationally for teen health. The mere fact that all DHHS Divisions in the U.S. provide education that prevents teen pregnancy, safe sex to those that participate in their teens and basic anatomy and physiology of an important bodily function, is commendable, in modern day public health issues. Schools and many parents don’t educate teens about their bodies or their reproductive system until it is too late. It’s often the last chapter in the biology book after the chapter on the gut/GI system.

Teen women have been known to experience their “fi rst menses” in school without knowing what to expect, or why they are bleeding. They think they are hemorrhaging to death. Diseases (STDs) are often discussed after one contracts the disease — a sad commentary for teens in which oral and anal sex has become prevalent to avoid pregnancy by normal intercourse routes. That results in other diseases. Sex education at the federal, state and local levels is amust and we must fund it since teens will have sex whether Lambert wants them to or not.

Since Lambert thinks his taxes are “funding abortion through Belknap/Merrimack County”, he is in error, at least with the program in the poster.

As for “parents being in the know,” when a teen needs help, many teens do not have optimal home environments when their parents find out that their child is having sex or worse, is pregnant or has gonorrhea or pubic lice. They may throw the young lady or young man out, chastise him/her as amoral, or even worse, physically/abusively respond to the news of a pregnancy. Teens with health issues that are reproductive or sexual in nature need to be confident that someone “with reason” in a public health environment will listen to them in their time of need. It is a public health issue should they have a STD occurrence, psychological issue or an unwanted pregnancy and a rare illegal home abortion. Teens that carry a child to term will surely need Medicaid or other local services to pay for deliveries or postpartum education and parental services, which are extensive and in the thousands of dollars. Perhaps Lambert wishes to pay for the later stages, i.e. young mother/child welfare. Preventing pregnancy with the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. program will actually save Lambert money. Contraception, as defined in the poster, “is not abortion” and is family planning as described.

I hope that he returns the poster to the Gilford P.O. since some teen may need the health services at this very moment and Lambert is doing the community a disservice with regard to his misinformation. Emotional rants of immorality and a conservative approach (basically non-funding)to teen reproductive healthcare is his inspiration for the latest article I suppose. Lambert needs to read the “teen literature” that is being disseminated by R.E.S.P.E.C.T. It would be a crash course for sure in biology. Maybe he could have the Doug’s Baby Day Care Center for Gilford teens in high school that were not given the “morning after contraceptive pill” when they needed it. We already, in the past, had a registered Brooks pharmacist that wouldn’t dispense a valid MD-written prescription for “that postcoital pill” a couple years back. Wonder where that young woman went after that trauma and public exposure?

Okay Doug, just what was your point? You are not paying taxes to murder babies! Why should Belknap County officials tolerate your ignorance on this subject?

Jack Polidoro

Laconia

Heh! Classic liberal... On top of everything else, he is apparently looking to the government to shut me up. Thankfully, I live in a country that still "tolerates" my exercise of free speech. Oh, and he is badly mistaken when he claims I removed the poster from the Post Office wall. The only thing I "took" was a picture...