Dear Andrew, I had a chance to talk with my wife about her friend's experience in more detail. While she was in the hospital with a birth-control pill-induced blood clot, she was temporarily paralyzed over different parts of her body as the clot moved from place to place in her brain. It was indeed a life-threatening side-effect. She did not become one of the 18 per 100,000 that die yearly from blood clots. I wonder what the statistic is for near-misses? sincerely, Tony

Dear Andrew, What do you think of my medical accuracy regarding fetal pain and methods of execution during abortion? sincerely, Tony

Dear Andrew, Thank you for interacting with my letter. For your information, wife's friend did have a clot in her head and it did almost cost her her life. Anecdotal evidence is certainly never the last straw, and I'm sure there is much to what you have to say, but of the few people that I know that have admitted to taking the pill, they have all had side-effects that caused them to stop taking the pill. Another side effect was a dramatic drop in libido. Another side effect was to make sex very painful. Another side effect was to greatly negatively effect mood. There is certainly a lot of medical literature on the pill, but because of my anecdotal experience, and because of bias towards support for the pill, I have doubts that the side-effects are so rare. If that is 'nanners', then so be it. Just recently in England, medical researchers started hybridizing human embryos with animal embryos. This is now justifiable because the embryo is legally considered 'not human.' Further, aborted fetal material is now used in medical transplants in the United States, as well as in the black market in Eastern Europe. Since you only reacted to my true statement about a friend's near fatal encounter with side-effects with the pill (and with disdain and lack of respect or feeling for the suffering, I might add) (the reported incidence of this is supposedly about 18 per 100,000), I ask you to comment on the ethical ramifications of defining human life at birth rather than at conception. "Because of the limitations of present detection methods, most birth defects are not discovered until birth. ... However, if a child was not declared alive until three days after birth . . . the doctor coud allow the child to die if the parents so choose and save a lot of misery and suffering." James Watson, plagiaristic co-discover of the DNA double helix. warmest regards, Tony

Dear Tony, Like all drugs, the pill does have a few side effects, but to call the pill unsafe is a farce at best. If a woman isn't prone to clotting disorders and isn't a smoker over the age of 35, there is little if any literature supporting your claim. In fact, it is far safer to be on the pill than to be pregnant as pregnancy itself carries a much higher mortality rate than contraception. Oral contraception has been shown to reduce ovarian and uterine cancer by up to 60% with 10 years of use due to the disruption of unopposed estrogen effects. Today's oral contraception suich as otho tri-cyclen lo or the nuva ring are exceedingly efficent and safe when prescribed by a competent physician. Thus, your absurd anecdotal evidence of youir buddy''s wife almost dying is a vanishingly rare complication and more likely a gross exaggeration. Please, please don't cite something as "medically accurate" unless you are A) a doctor or B) can reference current medical literature or you will end up misleading people or more likely just looking like a fool