MCLIZA MUNDY’S “SHOTS IN the Dark” (9/17) has broken new journalistic ground. Her excellent article went directly to the heart of the inextricably related issues of birth control and overpopulation. That is, it revealed the two biggest barriers to rational discourse in these matters: organized religion and male machismo.

In this case—black market injections for immigrant Hispanic women—the Roman Catholic Church has taken an intransigent stance against any method of birth control, thus sending poor women into the arms of unmonitored and unlicensed curanderas. This goes hand in glove with the shameful behavior of Hispanic men who, in effect, make their wives bear children they don’t want and can’t afford to raise (and yet somehow, some way, society will have to raise them). This is not surprising, given that the Catholic Church is run by Papa Pope and his all-male pack of pedophilic priests, whose idea of sex is, at the very least, morbid. These Hispanic women who, despite such unbelievable odds, have sought out methods of birth control in order to retain some control of their lives are true-life heroines. And the curanderas—despite the less-than-sleek ambience of their parlors—are providing a public service, whether we acknowledge it or not. Mundy’s article should be distributed throughout the papally influenced world.

Arlington, Va.