As a teacher and literacy coach in a local school district for many years, I saw the impact on children of unwanted pregnancies in terms of poverty, other poor conditions for growing up, and the ability to benefit from school opportunities.

Now more than ever our young people deserve to be wanted and loved in a family with the means to support them for 18-plus years.

Please support reproductive rights for Mainers. Specifically, urge your representative and senator to vote yes on L.D. 1619 when it comes to the floor. I know many voters in rural Maine who feel as I do about the importance of freedom to access contraception including abortion.

Without the ability to control our child bearing, freedom is a meaningless word.

Lisa Savage

Solon