I agree with Daniel Maguire ("Former priest discusses abortion issues," Oct. 17 article) when he says: "Two things we can't do without are respect and hope." However, I'm quite certain that they will have lost all meaning when used in the context of aiding contraception. In contraception, there is no longer self-giving respect -- only selfishness. Respect should instead transcend one's own desires for their own future. Hope clings to the fear of welcoming life in contraception rather than embracing life with care and respect.

I cannot argue with the beauty of sexuality, but is not reproducing life beautiful? Can anyone deny the miracle of life? Is it not one of the most important things in our life since we wouldn't be here without it? Nothing else can ever compare to our ability to spread life -- through the loving act of sex -- to another being.

Women who face abortion need respect as much as anyone and we should all give them hope for the future, but to give them the gift of fear of new life is a very odd way to define the gifts of "liberation" and "freedom."

Why, then, does Maguire tell us that if we "can control reproduction, [we] are a free person?" When we feel the need to control reproduction, we are living in fear that perhaps we might have to be responsible with our bodies and our love. We doubt our own abilities as men and women. We learn to hate the fact that with the beauty of sex comes the beauty of life. Hence, there is no hope when we do not embrace life.