The op-ed column by George Hill and Kate Gawler of Family Planning Association of Maine (Oct. 1) lacks facts. They cite anecdotal information and naively assume debate should cease because abortion providers have spoken.

The study by the research arm of Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the U.S., said of 1,209 abortion patients, less than one percent gave parent or partner desire for them to abort as the most important reason for their decision. Did researchers really think women coerced to abort would participate in a voluntary survey?

Conversely, Rita Feeney cited unbiased research in her op-ed of Sept. 24. A 2004 study in the Medical Science Monitor examining abortion and traumatic stress concluded 64 percent of American women felt pressured to abort.

Women can make their own decisions, given the information needed. Maine abortionists hide behind weak “informed consent” law requiring only that she be told she is pregnant, number of weeks since conception, and risks associated with the procedure. This is informed?

What about informing her that her baby has a beating heart, all her organs and body parts, or that research – ignored by the abortion industry – links abortion with severe emotional and psychological consequences?

Hill and Gawler plug birth control as the panacea to end abortion. Billions of dollars later, programs promoting birth control have resulted in a 50 percent unintended pregnancy rate, 1.3 million abortions annually and 60 million American’s infected with sexually transmitted diseases.

Isn’t it time for a different approach?

Vicki Ridlon, Acton