I believe the ability to control your own fertility is a fundamental right. The decision to take the Plan B pill falls within this right.

Plan B is a form of emergency contraception that has proven to be safe and effective. However, the effectiveness of the pill drastically declines if a woman does not have prompt access to it. Limiting the distribution of Plan B in pharmacies trumps patients’ rights and increases the risk of unintended pregnancy.

How can legislators and pharmacists who are staunchly anti-choice eliminate access to a pill that reduces the need for abortion? Anti-choice hardliners and …

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Your Feb. 29 issue correctly stated the caucus location for the Pierce County portion of the 31st District. But a significant portion of this district lies in King County. There are two separate county chairpersons and very little coordination between the two entities as a state legislative unit.

In the greater Enumclaw area, our caucus location is at Auburn High School on March 3. With the price of gasoline, it will be difficult enough to get suburban and rural voters to a single caucus location without having them go to the wrong location.

Just because Catholics do not follow the Catholic Church’s teaching is no reason to suggest that some teachings are contrary to the truth of God given through the Catholic Church to help all people experience God’s love and peace here on earth.

Perhaps many people have not been informed about natural family planning, a viable alternative to the artificial birth control methods. Many women, Catholic and non-Catholic, appreciate the fertility awareness of natural family planning. Many couples plan their families through application of the principles of natural family planning that is safe, healthy and 99 percent effective. Organizations such as …

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Re: “Don’t trample religious rights” (letter, 2-28).

Could someone please direct the writer and the rest of his confused ilk to the history section of the local library? Marriage existed long before Christianity did, long before any organized religion still in existence did.

Claiming that ‘the Church’ invented it is nothing but a flaming example of ignorance and bigotry. Religious institutions already have the right to refuse to allow anyone to marry in their domains, so quit with the propaganda already.

Allowing all people to marry in no way invalidates the rights of bigots to continue to be bigots, …

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Richard S. Davis rightly commends George Washington for his humility, temperateness, and sincerity (column, 2-22). What a contrast to Davis himself, who intemperately accuses the Occupy protesters of lack of patriotism, and asserts with no trace of evidence that their minds have been poisoned by the textbooks they read in high school.

I would simply like to remind Davis that the Occupy movement began on Wall Street in New York City as a protest against the punishing and unpunished behavior of financial behemoths who have effectively held the little people under their boot heels for the past eleven years.

I …

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Re: “Don’t trample religious rights” (letter, 2-28).

Apparently, the letter writer would like Americans to go back to the early 1600s England when the English church, as part of the government, conducted most, but not all, marriages.

The Puritan founders of our country specifically did not consider marriage as a religious action but instead considered it as a civil contract under law and the authority of the government. They followed many of the religious customs of the East Anglian Congregationalists. They were very specific about this and wished to include divorce as a possibility.

Perhaps, the writer has not …

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Steve Maynard has written an excellent article, “Dividing point” (TNT, 2-26), on the interpretation of the Scriptures that has caused great anguish for pastors and parishioners, particularly among the mainline denominations regarding human sexuality.

I believe he has rightly clarified from his interviews the continuing debate on the question of the authority of the Scriptures as the infallible source in following Jesus Christ and his inspired word, and those who would follow a prevailing interpretation of the Scriptures that seems to me to be more culturally and “politically” correct.

I personally take a more traditional or orthodox stand on …

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Both House and Senate budget proposals have made protecting our most vulnerable citizens a priority. Both include funding for Initiative 1163 and stop cuts to long-term care. Clearly, lawmakers recognize the will of Washington voters and the devastating effect further cuts would have on vulnerable residents receiving home care in Washington.

Lawmakers still need to work to ensure the final budget protects our seniors and people with disabilities, and that they will receive safe, quality care.