WOMEN NEED EASIER ACCESS TO FAMILY PLANNING

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 24, 1992                   TAG: 9202240211
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
WOMEN NEED EASIER ACCESS TO FAMILY PLANNING
YOUR EDITORIAL Feb. 11, "Ending welfare dependency," showed a disappointing lack of understanding of the issues involved in parental use of Aid to Dependent Children.
First, only a very small percentage of ADC recipients remain for more than eight years (perhaps in danger of dependency). While these few get disproportionate attention, they do not in fact constitute a significant financial drain on the nation.
Secondly, while everyone is into "drawing the line" these days, you err when you say that no one in the work force gets an automatic raise for having a baby, as does a welfare mother. Just what do you call a $2,950 (federal and Virginia) tax deduction?
Women do not have babies in order to receive that extra $40 a month. They have babies, in part, because access to family-planning clinics and methods is not easy, and funding for public-health programs continues to be cut. With all the needed supports you mention, you fail to cite this one piece that could help so much to give poor women greater control over their own lives.
A "just say no" attitude does not recognize the complexity of people's lives or the overwhelming influence of "just say yes" advertising in our society. That moralistic attitude is destined to be as successful with these young women as it has been with teen-agers, drug abusers and credit-card users.
Having worked within that system, I agree wholeheartedly that more must be done to help ADC parents gain or regain their ability to enter the work force in meaningful ways. But we cannot forget that (1) most do leave the system as rapidly as they can; (2) a punitive attitude about those few who do remain on ADC for long periods is a form of blaming the victim and is not helpful; and (3) the availability of family-planning methods is directly related to the number of children that women will bear, poor or non-poor. SANDRA R. HAROLD CHRISTIANSBURG

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB