File This Under Things That Other People Say Better Than I Can

Our local paper occasionally gets an insightful letter, and I like to spread the word and do a little Hear!Hear! (or is it Here!Here! - both just kind of make sense). I hope to encourage the educated and thinking readers (that would be me and a few of my friends, but not all of my friends because my friend T has some left-field notions about government spending) to write more letters. Because as you may have noticed, there are a lot of wack-jobs in Montana. So here's a good one:

Here is the `men's choice spin'
This is in response to Joel Olinghouse's letter of Nov. 7, in which he asked readers to write letters about the issue of abortion without invoking the "women's choice spin." I accept his offer. There are several choices men could make that would prevent abortion. In no particular order, they are:

Speak to your partner about her views on unplanned pregnancy before becoming sexually involved. If her views differ from yours, perhaps you should move on.

Learn your partner's menstrual cycle and track it on your calendar. Most men have no clue when a woman can or cannot conceive.

Use a condom every time. Better yet, use a condom in conjunction with your partner's birth control method.

Choose vasectomy if you do not want children or already have the children you want. The procedure is safe, highly effective and one of the most economical forms of contraception.

Realize your children are sexual beings from the day they are born. Sexuality does not "appear" at puberty. Answer your children's questions with candid information. When they become teenagers, stock a drawer in the house with condoms for no-questions-asked access.

Abstain from sexual intercourse.

Give up the hideous, widespread notion that "your job is to spread your seed." With the average number of children per family in this country at 1.86, your "job" is extremely temporary.

It is clear we do not need a handful of privileged politicians in Washington making reproductive choices for women. Instead, we need our men in this country to make commitments to their sexuality to ensure they do not experience an unplanned pregnancy. And this is the "men's choice spin."

Clare Kelly, Missoula

And because pictures are fun, here's one. This book was found in my grandma's closet. My slightly-overweight-battling-diabetes-but-cooks-food-that-makes-you-eat-until-you-vomit grandma. (Sorry, that was a little annoying.)