Reproductive Rights.
I suppose it's time for me to compose my very first truly controversial entry in this blog. This one will be about that utterly divisive and uncomfortable subject: abortion.
I consider myself pro-choice. However, I understand the view point of some of the anti-abortion people out there. If you believe it's wrong, you believe it's wrong. There's no changing that.
However, I think the anit-abortion movement is going about this the wrong way- making abortion illegal will not stop it from happening.
If you consider yourself in this group, here's what, in my uneducated, biased opinion, you should do in order to lower the number of abortions performed:
1. Encourage proper sex education in high schools, and teach your children about contraception. Give them all the facts, and have an open dialogue. When I was 15, we were lectured in high school about how condoms were very hard to use and faulty. I remember thinking, "Why use them at all?" This is not an effective method of preventing pregnancies.
2. Make sure that insurance companies cover all forms of contraception, from the pill to diaphrams to condoms.
3. Make sure that women without insurance also have access to free contraception.
4. Make the world a more welcoming place for children. Volunteer to work with kids.
5. Donate your money and/or your time to rape crisis and education centers.
6. Push for bills and laws that would make having children more affordable. Help improve public education and health care for children.
7. Protest pharmacies that refuse to give women birth control pills and the morning after pill.
8. Push for the morning after pill to become an OTC drug.
9. Encourage an atmosphere where women can be more open about their wants and needs sexually. Make it okay for women to be in touch with and aware of their bodies and their sexuality.
10. There are so many unwanted children already alive. Consider becoming an adoptive or foster parent- and not just to a white, healthy newborn.
It is my belief- and maybe I'm just naive- that these things will help eliminate abortions more than all the protesting outside of clinics ever will. No one wants to have an abortion.
I consider myself pro-choice. However, I understand the view point of some of the anti-abortion people out there. If you believe it's wrong, you believe it's wrong. There's no changing that.
However, I think the anit-abortion movement is going about this the wrong way- making abortion illegal will not stop it from happening.
If you consider yourself in this group, here's what, in my uneducated, biased opinion, you should do in order to lower the number of abortions performed:
1. Encourage proper sex education in high schools, and teach your children about contraception. Give them all the facts, and have an open dialogue. When I was 15, we were lectured in high school about how condoms were very hard to use and faulty. I remember thinking, "Why use them at all?" This is not an effective method of preventing pregnancies.
2. Make sure that insurance companies cover all forms of contraception, from the pill to diaphrams to condoms.
3. Make sure that women without insurance also have access to free contraception.
4. Make the world a more welcoming place for children. Volunteer to work with kids.
5. Donate your money and/or your time to rape crisis and education centers.
6. Push for bills and laws that would make having children more affordable. Help improve public education and health care for children.
7. Protest pharmacies that refuse to give women birth control pills and the morning after pill.
8. Push for the morning after pill to become an OTC drug.
9. Encourage an atmosphere where women can be more open about their wants and needs sexually. Make it okay for women to be in touch with and aware of their bodies and their sexuality.
10. There are so many unwanted children already alive. Consider becoming an adoptive or foster parent- and not just to a white, healthy newborn.
It is my belief- and maybe I'm just naive- that these things will help eliminate abortions more than all the protesting outside of clinics ever will. No one wants to have an abortion.
8 Comments:
I agree with you entirely. I recently had a debate about this in my philosphy class.
those neo-con's have no right.
Mmm. I'm certainly in favour of all ten of your points, and agree that they would have the effect of lowering the number of abortions performed in this country. However, there is no chance, zero, none whatsoever, of the anti-choice bloc ever signing off on any such broad social agenda. Because at its core, it's not really about abortion but about sexuality: they want women to suffer from being sexual, and see abortion (and contraception too -- note anti-choice ire at the birth control and morning-after pills) as a means by which sexually active women can avoid their justly-ordained punishment. While I've no doubt that there are some sincere people who support the pro-life position without having any animosity towards women and sex, "Punish the sluts" might as well be the official motto of the movement as a whole.
eataTREE- you're right. Everytime I've see those signs that say "Women deserve better than abortion," I think, you're right. Now give us better. There is definitely an undercurrent of misogyny in the anti-abortion crowd, especially towards those women who dare to be sexually active outside of marriage.
I'm a conservative, can I leave a comment? Believe it or not, I think you have some very valid points. The only problem I and some of my conservative-leaning friends, have with abortion is when it's used as the primary form of birth control. There are so many other ways to enjoy sex and not have a baby. Education, communication and reliable/easily available contraceptives are are key. BTW, not all of us conservatives are Bible-thumping lunatics...those folks are an embarassment!
Of course you can leave a comment! I don't have any personal experience with abortion, thank god, but from what I've heard, it's not a pleasant experience. I think very few women use it as their primary form of birth control.
However, failures happen, and abortion needs to be legal, safe, and affordable.
We pretty much see eye to eye on this one. This "save yourself until marriage" health education is pretty ridiculous, especially when studies have shown that it doesn't work.
Thanks for posting- I most defintely want to hear from people who don't identify as "liberal feminists" on this and my other blog. I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't interested in discussion.
I really like your article and would like to share it with friends. Would you mind if I posted it, and a link here of course, in my bulletin board?
Go for it. As long as you post a link back here, it's fine with me.
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