Dear Editor: 

I am writing regarding Elsa Van Leuven's letter of Nov. 10, 2016. After reading it, I don't think it was her intent that people be sterilized, but that people be responsible for their own actions. 

Either use contraceptives and don't expect others to pay for your irresponsibility, or adopt. 

I speak from experience. I am adopted, "chosen" and I know what it is like to be raised by other than your own maternal parents. 

But the parents who did adopt me were loving and kind and taught me right from wrong. As parents should. When I married, it was forever. We were married for over 60 years when my husband passed away; he had Parkinson's, Lewy Body Dementia, a double hernia and cancer. 

As I said before, be responsible for your own actions and don't expect others to bail you out. 

Marilyn Madru
Downey