Pieces That Pushed Readers' Buttons

Dana L. (editors agreed to withhold her last name) is a 42-year-old lawyer and writer living in Virginia who wrote last Sunday in Outlook about having an abortion. The lead was: "The conservative politics of the Bush administration forced me to have an abortion I didn't want." She said Plan B, an emergency contraceptive pill that can prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of intercourse, should be available over the counter.

Most mail was from men, though this came from Ruth Tatlock of Herndon: "She is blaming everybody except herself and her husband, who are the truly 'guilty' persons. To say that the government made her have an abortion is so absurd I can't believe that she could even reach that idea, and to think that The Post let her get front-page exposure [in Outlook] is even more absurd. Imagine, blaming the Bush administration for having to have an abortion after having unprotected sex! At 42!"

Several readers wanted to know how the article came to The Post. Susan Glasser, the new Outlook editor, said, "The piece came in through an acquaintance of one of our editors. We thought it was a very powerful personal perspective on an important and very much in-the-news ongoing public policy debate." Readers questioned why Dana L. did not go to Planned Parenthood for Plan B. In an online chat that can be found on http://www.washingtonpost.com , she said that in her panicky search for a prescription, she did not think to do so in time.

Some readers bet that The Post would not run something as provocative from an abortion opponent. "Of course I would," said Glasser, who said she received substantial positive feedback -- all from women.

Outlook, to which Glasser has brought a number of changes recently, has run several opinion pieces that have brought strong reader reaction. In the words of Glasser's deputy, Carlos Lozada, "Outlook should mount a weekly assault on conventional wisdom."

Post readers can expect reporting and commentary that pokes, prods, provokes. That's in the job description of a good newspaper. If readers feel The Post is not providing a wide enough range, they should drop me a line.

Deborah Howell can be reached at 202-334-7582 or atombudsman@washpost.com.