I would like to respond to Kristen Bernath's pro-life lecture directed toward me in Tuesday's Collegian.

I am not a "post-abortive mother." I am a real mother, a single parent still struggling to raise a child on my own in a job market that still pays a woman less than a man.

Perhaps there weren't as many "pro-life" services available to me when I became pregnant the first time. It was more than 10 years ago. But there was welfare, food stamps, the Women's Infants and Children program and a number of community counseling and emergency services. I used them all. The government gave me a low-paying job with the county, and paid for my day care for a few months. And it was still not enough. It was still a struggle and it still is.

There is a poverty line in this country, and the line is much too low. I went for help when I couldn't pay my rent or afford decent food and clothes for my son. I didn't get it, because I was "making too much money." The amount of money the government considers enough to raise a child on is a joke.

I am pro-choice, which means I respect the rights and decisions of others. Ms. Bernath, you are anti-choice, which means that you are telling women that they do not deserve to retain control over their bodies.

Don't mislead the public with pro-life propaganda. Pro-choice means just that --choice. I was told plainly, by the clinic I went to, exactly what my choices were, and they included adoption and keeping the baby. My counseling at the clinic included birth control counseling; I've heard too many pro-lifers in documentaries (and in person) talking about the evils of birth control and advocating abstention or sex only in marriage, which is certainly an unrealistic position to take in the world we live in today.

One pro-life acquaintance told me that she would never discuss birth control with her four teenagers, and that if they used birth control, she would throw them out of the house. I asked what she would do if one of her teenage daughters had an abortion, and she said, quite seriously, "I'd kill her. Women who have abortions are murderers. They don't deserve to live." This is pro-life?

If you are pregnant and unsure of what you should do, you need complete and honest counseling about your options and rights. Don't let someone else make your decision for you. Look in the yellow pages under abortion services (not abortion alternatives). These services include birth control and pregnancy counseling, as well as abortion if that is your choice. They won't tell you what to do, but they will honestly tell you all of your options, and allow you to make the decision.