So as we're all aware, America has become incredibly obsessed with women. And not in the sleazy, pervy, "omg she's so hot i wanna tap that" kind of way. We're actively engaging in discussions about women's rights - almost a century after they gained the right to vote, and 50 years after the bra-burning days of our parents. It seems odd that there is still room for discussion in regards to women after all this time, but we're still going at it just as vigorously as we always have.
The current debates revolve around abortion and contraception. On one side, we have the ultra-conservative GOP demanding that the above be abolished. On the other, we have sane people. I honestly don't think that statement makes me biased - not saying that I am not biased, because I kinda am, but really, it strikes me as absolutely crazy that conservatives are taking these stances.
I know why they believe abortion should be banned. For their entire lives, they have been taught by Christianity that every life is sacred - with many going so far as to claim the Bible states that it is better for a man's seed to fall in the belly of a whore than on the ground. Trouble is, that's not even in the Bible. It's a reference to a story in Genesis, about a guy named Onan who, according to tradition, was supposed to impregnate his dead brother's wife so that she could raise children, as Onan's brother didn't get a chance to knock her up. Onan decided against this, and pulled out of the deal at the last second - literally. He had sexual relations with her, but knowing that the children would be viewed not as his, but as his brother's, withdrew and spilled his seed on the ground. God was unhappy with this and killed Onan.
Thing is - God didn't kill him for spilling his seed on the ground. The dude died for being a greedy asshole, having sex with this woman under false pretenses. She wanted to have a child, and he denied her the right to make that decision. As it stands, we are on almost the exact same topic. Except instead of women wanting babies and being denied, women today want to avoid having babies and are being denied the means to ensure that outcome.
The world has plenty of people in it - we recently passed 7 billion - and we are all putting quite a strain on our planet's limited resources. If not for contraception, there would be vastly larger numbers of kids in the foster care system, vastly larger numbers of people collecting welfare checks because they can't afford all these kids, vastly larger numbers of orphans, etc. Contraception helps to ensure we don't massively overpopulate the Earth, while still being able to enjoy sex.
"But wait, Jesus! Sex is for making babies, not for pleasure!" BULLSHIT. While our bodies are structured in such a way that sex can lead to babies, it usually doesn't. How many people do you know who are, or were at one time, "trying to have a baby"? How long were they trying? If sex was just for making babies, one would think that after a few million years of evolution, the process would be perfected and every sexual encounter would end with conception. But it doesn't. Some couples go years before getting pregnant - some never get there. But they're all shagging, hopeful for a bundle of joy.
So while sex is required for making babies, there's a lot more biology involved in sex than that. We've got tons of nerves down there that make sex feel really good. And there's endorphins released during the act, moving the pleasure beyond the realm of the physical and into joyous emotions. To paraphrase the Bloodhound Gang, we ain't nothing but mammals, so we want to do it (sometimes like they do on the Discovery Channel). It's instinct. Contraception allows us to embrace our animalistic nature without as much concern over the repercussions.
And I don't know about you, but the last time I was thinking about the repercussions while banging, it kinda ruined it: "Oh baby, oh baby, OH SHIT WHAT IF WE HAVE A BABY DAMMIT I CANT HANDLE THAT KIND OF RESPONSIBILITY RIGHT NOW AND I DONT KNOW IF I EVEN LIKE THIS PERSON ALL THAT MUCH AND WE CANT AFFORD A KID OH MAN THIS IS SO AWFUL AND awwwwwwww there goes the moment"
Additionally, certain methods of contraception serve a second, perhaps even more important purpose: preventing the spread of diseases, many of which are incurable. If you ever find yourself being harassed by an ultra-conservative while you're purchasing condoms, ask them why they want you to get herpes. They often don't even think about the disease aspect, because the life of a child that hasn't even become a fertilized egg yet has so completely dominated their minds.
As for abortion... this is the touchier of the two subjects. If I were to get a girl pregnant, I would not want to abort that baby. If the mother's life was at risk, I would walk away from the decision entirely and leave it up to her - even if I know full well that she'll decide to abort, my conscience feels cleaner if someone else decides. But the decision to abort or not has to be made by someone - the question is, who should that someone be? The pro-life camp would have you believe the decision should be in the hands of the government. In reality, they want to decide for you. They want to make that decision before it even applies to you. They want to make sure that if you get pregnant, you will have a baby.
The trouble with this stance is that in the standard model of having a kid, two consenting adults decide that they will engage in sexual intercourse so that they might conceive, carry the child to term, successfully give birth to a beautiful little baby, and help each other to raise that child into an adult. All the decisions are made by the prospective parents. Strangers have no input in the standard model, so why should they be allowed to weigh in on accidental pregnancies?
But enough about decisions and choices and all that. Let's take a closer look at abortion and what it does:
Thing is - God didn't kill him for spilling his seed on the ground. The dude died for being a greedy asshole, having sex with this woman under false pretenses. She wanted to have a child, and he denied her the right to make that decision. As it stands, we are on almost the exact same topic. Except instead of women wanting babies and being denied, women today want to avoid having babies and are being denied the means to ensure that outcome.
The world has plenty of people in it - we recently passed 7 billion - and we are all putting quite a strain on our planet's limited resources. If not for contraception, there would be vastly larger numbers of kids in the foster care system, vastly larger numbers of people collecting welfare checks because they can't afford all these kids, vastly larger numbers of orphans, etc. Contraception helps to ensure we don't massively overpopulate the Earth, while still being able to enjoy sex.
"But wait, Jesus! Sex is for making babies, not for pleasure!" BULLSHIT. While our bodies are structured in such a way that sex can lead to babies, it usually doesn't. How many people do you know who are, or were at one time, "trying to have a baby"? How long were they trying? If sex was just for making babies, one would think that after a few million years of evolution, the process would be perfected and every sexual encounter would end with conception. But it doesn't. Some couples go years before getting pregnant - some never get there. But they're all shagging, hopeful for a bundle of joy.
So while sex is required for making babies, there's a lot more biology involved in sex than that. We've got tons of nerves down there that make sex feel really good. And there's endorphins released during the act, moving the pleasure beyond the realm of the physical and into joyous emotions. To paraphrase the Bloodhound Gang, we ain't nothing but mammals, so we want to do it (sometimes like they do on the Discovery Channel). It's instinct. Contraception allows us to embrace our animalistic nature without as much concern over the repercussions.
And I don't know about you, but the last time I was thinking about the repercussions while banging, it kinda ruined it: "Oh baby, oh baby, OH SHIT WHAT IF WE HAVE A BABY DAMMIT I CANT HANDLE THAT KIND OF RESPONSIBILITY RIGHT NOW AND I DONT KNOW IF I EVEN LIKE THIS PERSON ALL THAT MUCH AND WE CANT AFFORD A KID OH MAN THIS IS SO AWFUL AND awwwwwwww there goes the moment"
Additionally, certain methods of contraception serve a second, perhaps even more important purpose: preventing the spread of diseases, many of which are incurable. If you ever find yourself being harassed by an ultra-conservative while you're purchasing condoms, ask them why they want you to get herpes. They often don't even think about the disease aspect, because the life of a child that hasn't even become a fertilized egg yet has so completely dominated their minds.
As for abortion... this is the touchier of the two subjects. If I were to get a girl pregnant, I would not want to abort that baby. If the mother's life was at risk, I would walk away from the decision entirely and leave it up to her - even if I know full well that she'll decide to abort, my conscience feels cleaner if someone else decides. But the decision to abort or not has to be made by someone - the question is, who should that someone be? The pro-life camp would have you believe the decision should be in the hands of the government. In reality, they want to decide for you. They want to make that decision before it even applies to you. They want to make sure that if you get pregnant, you will have a baby.
The trouble with this stance is that in the standard model of having a kid, two consenting adults decide that they will engage in sexual intercourse so that they might conceive, carry the child to term, successfully give birth to a beautiful little baby, and help each other to raise that child into an adult. All the decisions are made by the prospective parents. Strangers have no input in the standard model, so why should they be allowed to weigh in on accidental pregnancies?
But enough about decisions and choices and all that. Let's take a closer look at abortion and what it does:
WHAT ABORTION DOES (according to pro-lifers)
- Kills a baby.
WHAT ABORTION DOES (according to the rest of us)
- Saves the lives of women so that they might later get pregnant again under better circumstances so that they can not only have a child, but partake in the raising of said child
- Terminates horrific, permanent, live reminders of sexual assault and rape
- Prevents a child from being born into a home in which said child is not wanted
Granted, I'm biased, but that's still a 3 to 1 majority. In the second list, effects 1 and 2 are actually quite rare - I cannot express how grateful I am for that. The fact that medicine has advanced so far that many complicated pregnancies end well is comforting, and the facts that rape doesn't happen more often and that rape doesn't always lead to pregnancy (remember, sex isn't all about babies!) is a... well, it's not good, because people still get raped and that's awful, but hey, it could be worse.
Conservatives want you to believe that a child has the best chance at a good life when that child is raised in a loving home by its biological mother and father. If the mother dies, the child is fucked. If the father is a rapist, he's certainly not going to be around, and the child is fucked. If the parents didn't want to have a child in the first place, the child is fucked.
Honestly, I feel that yes, a child does do better when raised by two loving parents. But those parents don't have to be its biological parents. They don't have to be one man, one woman. They don't have to be married. They don't have to live together. They just have to love each other and the child. They have to have a genuine concern for the well-being of all three individuals involved. When love is present, everyone benefits from it. Everyone works harder to make everyone else happy.
Unintentional pregnancies are sometimes viewed as miracles or signs - and sometimes that works out pretty well in the end. But just because it works for some does not mean it will work for all. The sheer fact that some unintentional pregnancies result in a child being raised by a single parent who views that child as an accident, a mistake, that it can result in a child being raised without knowing unconditional love, should be enough to scare us away from forcing anyone to give birth.
But that's what the pro-life movement wants. They want to force you to have that baby. They want to force you into responsibility, even if you're clearly not ready. They want you to set aside everything you may have wanted for yourself and raise that child. They want you to risk losing your own chance at happiness because of (on average) five minutes of bad decision-making. They want to punish you for being, as Rush Limbaugh would say, a slut.
But that's what the pro-life movement wants. They want to force you to have that baby. They want to force you into responsibility, even if you're clearly not ready. They want you to set aside everything you may have wanted for yourself and raise that child. They want you to risk losing your own chance at happiness because of (on average) five minutes of bad decision-making. They want to punish you for being, as Rush Limbaugh would say, a slut.
This is an inherently anti-American view - if you are forced into setting aside your own hopes and dreams to care for a child, you no longer have the right to the pursuit of happiness, a right enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. While not technically a legal document, the Declaration was used as a justification for revolution against England. Colonial Americans were denied the right to determine the course of their own lives, they were denied the liberty to which they were entitled from birth, they were denied the right to find their own path to happiness. People become happy in different ways. Sometimes, having a child makes a person happy. But, and this is directed at all the parents out there who imply to their single, childless friends that kid = happy, it doesn't work like that for everyone. Seriously, you're trying to force someone else to follow your own path to happiness, and in the process, you're attempting to prevent them from pursuing happiness through their own means. And while I'm on this topic, stop assuming that my cat is like a son to me! It's fucking annoying! Almost as annoying as the cat is! Yeah, I love the little shit, but he's more a friend than a kid to me. Why does everything always have to be about kids with you?!
Err... time to get back on topic and wrap this post up. It's gone on long enough.
Err... time to get back on topic and wrap this post up. It's gone on long enough.
The American justice system relies on the idea that people learn from mistakes. This is an inherently American view. We believe in second chances. We believe that people can be rehabilitated. That people can change. Abortion should be a learning opportunity, a chance to recover from a mistake and take steps to avoid repeating it. And I'd bet good money that most people are more careful after an abortion - they have sex less often, they use protection, they're less casual about it, because they know firsthand what happens if they are careless. Denying abortion is denying people the opportunity to learn and denying them justice.
Contraception should be freely available, and abortion should be allowed. We can't stop people from having sex, but we can stop lives from being ruined by a single mistake.
Contraception should be freely available, and abortion should be allowed. We can't stop people from having sex, but we can stop lives from being ruined by a single mistake.
