Abortion exhibit's 'facts' were false and misleading

Abortion exhibit's ‘facts' were false and misleading

TO THE EDITOR:

As physicians and medical educators at UNC" we were disturbed by the misleading images and words that appeared in the display on campus last week. Even the title" ""Abortion: From Debate to Dialogue."" This display at our University sought only to scare through distortions of evidence.

Abortion is a safe" common and important medical procedure for women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the risk of death from childbirth is about 13 per 100000 live births in contrast the risk of death from abortion of 0.6 per 100000 procedures.

Ninety percent of all abortions in the United States are done in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion does not increase the risk of breast cancer. This is the conclusion of all major medical organizations including the National Cancer Institute the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the World Health Organization.

In addition in its 2008 report the American Psychological Association found no greater risk of adverse psychological outcomes among women who have had an abortion compared to women who have continued an unplanned pregnancy. There is no established link between legal first-trimester abortions and infertility ectopic pregnancy spontaneous abortion congenital malformation or pre-term or low birth weight delivery.



Anne Z. Steiner MD MPH FACOG

Gretchen S. Stuart MD MPHTM FACOG

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

UNC School of Medicine



Death highlights drivers' disregard of crosswalks

TO THE EDITOR:

The sad death of UNC employee Valerie Hughes while crossing the street in a crosswalk only highlights what is a major problem in Chapel Hill ­— drivers have no respect for crosswalks.

My husband who has retinitis pigmentosa and is legally blind was crossing Cameron Wednesday morning in a crosswalk to get to his office when two bicyclists roared down the street. They never even slowed down. He almost walked into the one cutting in front and could have hurt himself as well as the bicyclist.

In addition" we live on Granville Road and often cross Estes Drive at the crosswalk where Granville intersects when we are walking to the Chapel Hill Public Library. This crosswalk has been there for several years now but rarely do cars even slow down. The crosswalk was put in place for one of our neighbors who is blind. He and his guide dog rarely use the crosswalk since he says it gives you a false sense of security since nobody stops for you.

It is time for campus and town police to enforce crosswalk laws by aggressively ticketing violators.

 

Nan H. Burby

Retired UNC employee



More crosswalks increase traffic-related fatalities

TO THE EDITOR:

Your front page article states that another pedestrian fatality occurred ""despite local efforts to ensure pedestrian safety.""

Apparently these local efforts aren't working. As a matter of fact" if one looks at the statistics" these ""local efforts"" are increasing traffic fatalities and accidents.

Every time a fatality or injury occurs" more crosswalks more stop signs more yield signs and more flashing lights are put up.

Pedestrians over time become overconfident and more careless when crossing the street. They become oblivious to traffic.

Motorists become more impatient and thus drive more aggressively when having to stop for up to five minutes at a time waiting for one lone pedestrian after another cross in front of them rather than periodically in groups.

A very serious safety hazard occurs particularly when there are two lanes of traffic going in the same direction. If a large vehicle in the right hand lane stops to let a pedestrian cross in front of them an out-of-town visitor or distracted motorist in the left hand lane will pass and won't even see the pedestrian crossing in front of the vehicle on the right until it's too late.

The solution is to remove all well-intentioned but misguided crosswalks except at traffic-light controlled intersections.

Arguments will be made that the reason for increasing fatalities is due to increased traffic. If anything I think downtown and campus traffic has been reduced over the years due to the bus system so that argument doesn't fly.

One concern people may have would be to provide safe crossing for handicapped individuals.

Unfortunately handicapped individuals face numerous obstacles in getting around. It would be a necessary fact of life that a handicapped individual would need to go to the nearest intersection to cross if their handicap does not allow them to cross safely.


Eric Plow

Former staff at UNC School of Dentistry



DTH should have covered ice cream eating contest

TO THE EDITOR:

I am disappointed with The Daily Tar Heel for failing to report on the Hershey's Ice Cream eating contest of which I was the first place winner.

For a paper that claims to focus on the local community their lack of coverage was more than suspicious.

Present at the event was a guy in a moose suit. As everyone knows moose are from Alaska and so is the vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin. Not covering this event clearly reveals the DTH's liberal bias.

If the DTH would like to make up for this atrocious grievance they may begin by running a postmortem story and offering me a position as some sort of editor. I want a desk placard and at least five people to yell at per day.



Matthew Wait

Junior

Physics