Banning abortion has consequences

I am intrigued by your Jan. 20 article on Chrissy Aguiar ("New head of Modesto Pregnancy Center brings her own understanding, experiences with abortion to help other women in crisis," features section).

She certainly is a poster person for America's cultural divide on abortion and comprehensive sex education. Studies show that half of U.S. pregnancies are unintended. And half of those unintended pregnancies are aborted every year.

How is it that in other affluent countries only one-tenth of pregnancies are unintended? The answer is obvious. Other countries educate their population to effectively use contraception so they only become pregnant when they want a child. We continue to fight state by state to prevent such education.

Aguiar's change of heart after having two safe abortions when young, and now being against its availability when she is older, certainly smacks of I got mine, too bad about you!

She stated it was "scary" to get a legal and safe abortion. I would ask her, what do you think it was for a woman when it was illegal and sometimes deadly?

We must not return to the horrors of the past. I'm old enough to have actually seen those horrors during my medical training and practice. Too many people have no clue what the consequences would be if abortion were to be made illegal again.

ROLAND C. NYEGAARD, M.D.

Modesto