My uterus my rules
(in which we try to discus reproductive rights like humans)
Reproductive rights are usually a hot topic with people. Some people want to get rid of birth control, abortions and even sex education. Some people want to keep only certain forms of these things. And still others want to keep them all and get rid of some/ most restrictions.
Now let’s present the sides. First the right to lifers. The really loud right to lifers are usually White, Cis gender, middle aged, Republican, Christian men. The next loudest ones are usually White, Cis gender, middle aged, Republican, Christian women. Next, we have the Pro choicers. Pro choicers are usually not republican. They are usually considered liberals. They range in age, race, religion, and gender.
Now let’s present the arguments. Side one, the right to lifers. They firmly believe that all pregnancies are gifts from God and should be carried to term no matter what. No matter that the mother or child may not survive the labor. No matter if the pregnancy was the product of rape or incest. No matter if you are under the age of 18 and not fully grown. No matter if you are poor, homeless, addicted to drugs (or a habitual user). It’s just your tough luck if you can’t afford a baby. You should have thought about that before you had sex. Because the same people fighting for the right to tell you what to do with your uterus are the same people trying to cut all forms of welfare. So, you better stay home and raise that baby also while working a full-time job making 35,000+ a year so you can be a productive member of society, all while teaching your child good Christian values. But don’t teach them about sex that is just wrong.
It is statistically proven that states with an “abstinence only” sexual education system has the highest teen pregnancy rates. Because teens do not know how getting pregnant works. They do not know that penis + vagina = Baby.
Right to lifers believe that an unborn baby can feel pain from before the baby is fully formed. But will pierce a baby girl’s ears and have a little boy circumcised within hours of birth because they are unsure if they can feel pain or not. They also sometimes go against science and want to believe that babies are fully formed within weeks if not days or hours of conception. They want abstinence only or nothing at all taught in schools.
Now for the pro choicers. Pro Choicers firmly believe that it is “your uterus, your rules”.
For instance, if the pregnancy is a product of rape or incest. Abortion within so many weeks of conception is a viable option. Adoption and keeping the pregnancy are also options. If you or the baby will not survive the labor and after much thought and/or prayer you have come to the decision to have an abortion. We will find you grief counseling while we cry with you. What if you can’t afford a baby. As previously stated abortion and adoption are both options. However so are various forms of welfare, assistance with schooling, housing, and health insurance and health providers. Planned Parenthood is a veritable wealth of information and services. Also no one will judge you because none of us are perfect.
Prochoicers know that an unborn baby cannot feel pain, but that a new born can. The believe in science and statistics. Babies are not fully formed until months after conception. Abstinence only just does not work.
Sex is a biological function. Almost everyone has sexual urges. Anyone with the urge will explore. I would rather they explore safely and as educated as possible. That includes teaching children as young as 12 about what sex is. What it can cause. Explaining about birth control options and condoms. Explaining what does not work, such as pulling out, “dry sex”, only using certain positions, so on and so forth.
I say as young as 12 because I went to school with girls who were married with a baby at 12. In Arkansas you can be that young and with a parent’s consent get married. I never saw those girls after sixth grade. My daughter is 13, I taught her how sex works because I will not put her threw what those girls went through.
December 20, 2017 at 7:34 pm
OK, here’s a human reaction. First, the categories you put “pro-lifers” in apply to the US. Some aren’t relevant elsewhere. Some are relevant to other countries and of those, some are true of them and some aren’t. For example, opposition to “liberalising” abortion is quite strong in some countries among organsations of people with serious impairments because people suspect they might have been aborted if their mothers had known and on the whole, they like being alive.
You don’t really acknowledge the argument that unborn babies have rights as humans. The practical, compromising law tends to address this by making abortion legal up to a certain time and thereafter only for medical reasons or in case of rape. There is no clearcut or magic answer to this. Unborn babies can’t feel pain? Eventually, they have fully-formed nervous systems. They can store memories. Some profound human emotions very likely reflect back to the experience of being in the womb. What happens at birth is, for the baby, the severing of the life-support system to the mother and a torrent of confusing experiences which help push forward mental and sense development.
I agree absolutely with you on the abstinence campaigns and I’ve always linked any restriction of abortion to a need to make contraception easily available. That’s an effective way of reducing the number of abortions.
December 27, 2017 at 6:54 am
Sorry my reply is so late. I just saw the email.
Here is what I know. Every year the United States Government tries to make it harder and harder to have abortions for any reason. And every year people like me have to fight for the right to have that same said abortion for any reason. Why someone chooses to have one is not my business.
Yes having contraception readily available is a great way to reduce abortion rates. So would proper sexual education. Some places fight making those things available as hard as they can. For whatever reason helps them sleep at night.
Yes birth can be traumatic for the baby. It can also be traumatic for the mother. Do you remember any thing from your own birth? From the times you gave birth? I don’t remember anything about being made or being born. I do remember giving birth though.
I am addressing issues in the United States because that is what I have experience with and where I live. Which makes the information more readily available. I do not have any experiences with other countries and their laws. Sorry I’m not a world traveling omniscient person.
As to weather or not a fetus feels pain. my apologies, I miss spoke. However evidence suggest that the biological pathways used for pain aren’t even formed until 24 week gestation. How acutely they feel pain no one knows. The ability to react to light, sound and stress are on different pathways and are present at around 20 weeks.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/science-house-abortion-ban-fetal-pain/