The New Shotgun Weddings

I felt saddened by the ideas presented in “The New Shotgun Weddings” (by Joy Horowitz, Aug. 23), not for the grown-up couples whose marriage decision eludes them but for the “bargaining chips” they give birth to. Ultimately, it is the baby who makes their choice for them. This is a momentous decision for a child to make for its wary parents.

And while one of the fathers remarked that the relationship with the child is etched in stone, that won’t shield it from the immense potential for resentment that could begin the day it arrives from the maternity ward.

Martha Hochstrasser

Los Angeles