To the editor:

I must say I’m very frustrated with the media in the Hampton Roads area. First, there is very limited coverage of pro-family and pro-life issues. When there is coverage, the majority of the time it has a liberal slant.

A recent article in the Virginian-Pilot, “Crowd in Virginia Beach Protests Birth Control Mandate,” dealt with the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally in Virginia Beach.

If the reporter had listened at all to the speakers, she would have understood the rallies (164 nationwide) were not about birth control. Birth control is and will continue to be readily available and inexpensive.

But the proposed Health and Human Services mandate is one of the most unprecedented and ominous assaults on religious freedom. If the federal government can force not only Catholic institutions, but those of many other faith communities, and small businesses and family-owned firms to provide sterilization, drugs that can cause abortions or chemical contraceptives that violate their beliefs, then the First Amendment to the Constitution has effectively been repealed.

People need to know that the Health and Human Services mandate would have a detrimental effect on the basic rights of every citizen of the United States.

Then I heard a WNIS radio host portray the rally as a political event. I was there — I helped organize the rally. Bishop E.W. Jackson did speak, but not once did he mention the fact that he was a senatorial candidate. He spoke from his heart about the dangers of the mandate.

Jamie Radtke did not attend the rally. Bob Marshall spoke at the rally in Washington, D.C.

The speakers in Virginia Beach included a deacon and two priests who represented the Catholic church. We also heard from several women — one a constitutional scholar, one an immigrant, one a young mother and one a college student.

Each and every one of them was knowledgeable and inspiring. Not one of them spoke about taking away women’s right to birth control. Not one of them spoke about the upcoming election.

Louantha Kerr

Portsmouth