Good points were raised in the comments of the last post, which I will address. I thought, since this was the weekend, that I'd have loads of time to write and I could tackle some of the bigger issues this weekend, but my Saturday is almost over and I want to spend time with my husband tonight. So, you get a video. (But I will address the tought topics starting Monday.)
The reason I call our side "pro-choice" instead of "pro-abortion rights" is that, when we look at the girls in this video, we're not saying, "They should have all had abortions!" We're saying, "They should have been on birth control!" The girl who ws 17 when she had her first child and 19 when she had her second? Why didn't she get an IUD after the first one? (Probably because nobody talked to her about it, or, if someone did, because it was too expensive. A heck of a lot cheaper than a second kid, but too much for a teen mom with a newborn to fork out all at once, and she probably didn't have insurance, or it wouldn't cover the procedure.)
(corrected some horrendous typos)
ReplyDeletei found it interesting that you emphasized on "birth control". i don't disagree there at all.
what it does bring up is one thing i dramatically disagree with pro-choice advocates as well as abstinence advocates. the point is that the best birth control is neither abstinence nor is it chemicals and devices. what is it? less sex. less sex when you can least afford the consequences.
sure you can get pregnant on each go-around, but it is incredibly unlikely. it is even more unlikely if you have a 30 minute education about a woman's basic biology. i would bet my house on the likelihood the mother of two by 19 is having lots of sex and lives under the delusion of "why me" as life motto.
i *never* hear moderation advocated. all i ever hear is "kids are going to have sex like rabbits, and there's nothing to be done about it" or "the safest sex is no sex; everyone put on your promise rings". both tacts are incredibly daft and intellectually reprehensible. the former is a give up and green lights idiocy, and the second sets up the almost certain fall from grace that most never recover from.
so i would say that it is paramount that we, as a society, do two important things before we even get to the talking about abortion in the equation.
#1 this nation should commit to require all teenagers before the age of 14 to get a mega-dose of education on the biology of women's plumbing (men's too) as it relates to reproduction. treat it like reading, writing and algebra. this isn't a quick fix. this is as important as having a clean plentiful water supply in my opinion.
#2 privately (independent of the government) we should shift towards a cultural embrace of moderation for pre-marital/pre-adult (whatever you want to call it) sex. i'm not going to kick my kids out of the house if i find out they've done the dirty deed in high school. i'm going to be disappointed and sad and scared. that's a reaction i could have about a hundred other bad choices they might make that have nothing to do with sex.
one clarification: by "best birth control", i mean most important and should be implemented first and foremost no matter what additional approaches are used.
ReplyDeletei mean it like a foundation, not as a sole solution.
i wanted to get that down before someone started getting all stat-crazy on me.
I agree on both counts (except that sex ed needs to start before 14. Maybe 12, if not sooner)
ReplyDeleteComprehensive sex ed includes teaching abstinence: the only 100%-sure way to not get pregnant is to not have sex. However, if you're going to have sex, use one of these things.
I think most of us (pro-choicers) assume that the combination of abstinence + birth control implies moderation. (Here are all the reasons you want to NOT have sex. So don't. Or do it as little as possible. If you MUST, here's what you need.)
The teacher in me is going to say teaching moderation is a responsibility that falls to the parents. It would be nice if society chipped in, and stopped showing kids having sex on TV, etc., but ultimately it falls to the parents/family. (Here we're getting into another issue, though. In my opinion, too many girls have sex before they're ready because they lack self-esteem. Either they are not confident enough to say "No," or they so desperately crave attention/any semblance of affection that they'll do anything for a guy.)