The virus Zika depends on mosquitoes to spread an affliction called microphaly, a disease which attacks babies who are still in the womb. Microphaly is the technical term for the children’s condition of shrunken heads, something that can involve mental deformation and other brain problems.

Now is the time that mosquitoes will be here in the USA. Not all of them will carry the Zika virus; that is done mainly by the Aedes mosquito. Aedes have already appeared south of us in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Suriname. Will they travel north? Pregnant women in these countries are terrified that their new baby will be born with a shrunken head. What can they do? How soon will Aedes — and the horrifying Zika virus — come north to infect pregnant women here? What can they do to prevent such harm to their children?

Family planning experts advocate abortion in such cases but such a procedure is horrific in itself. There doesn’t seem to be any hope for relief. The words abortion and contraception are unpleasant to be sure but what else can help these unfortunate victims? Isn’t there something that can be done? Besides, such procedures are illegal in so many areas. Yet they are the only solution at this time. To our young women of child-bearing age: please be careful!

Heidi Schultz
West Tisbury