Dear Editor:

Because my son is now living in Colombia, engaged to a Colombian woman, I am alarmed about news of the Zika virus, prevalent there and now spreading from Latin America to other parts of the world, including the U.S. The virus, carried by the aedes aegypti species of mosquito, is associated with microcephaly, an abnormally small head, in newborns whose mothers were infected during pregnancy. These babies face the prospect of lifelong disabilities requiring complex care.

To prevent more casualties from the Zika virus, we need a frank discussion of why access to safe abortion and contraception must be made available to all, including those countries where they are not permitted because of religion and tradition. A pregnant woman infected with the Zika virus must have the option of terminating her pregnancy, and contraception must be available to prevent pregnancy in the first place.

Some South American governments have advised women of child-bearing age not to get pregnant for up to two years, until more is known about Zika – a highly unrealistic recommendation. What governments instead need to do is make contraceptives available to all, teach men and women how to use them properly and also allow each woman who does get pregnant the right to decide for herself the best way forward.

Religious teaching against contraception and abortion must bend at this time of need, or there will be thousands of women bearing children with lifelong problems and many women dying from unsafe abortions.

I am a member of a group in Maine called Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights, or GRR for short. We grandmothers know a thing or two about what a difference contraception can make, having lived in the days when contraceptives were banned in the U.S., and abortion illegal.

Wendy Ross Eichler

Wiscasset