71. I am pro-choice. I think birth control should be free.
There is very little that I despise more than societal practises and laws that do not show respect toward women. Abuse of any kind including domestic violence, inequality and discrimination, female infanticide, rape, sexual harassment, sexual trafficking, slavery - the fact that our civilization allows these things to take place at all is disgusting to me.
But telling a woman that she doesn't have the right to decide whether to continue a pregnancy or not is wholly inappropriate. Even if you believe your religion prohibits such a stance, let your God deal the consequences. Lastly, that women at any age have to pay for or get permission to obtain birth control is a measure of just how little respect we have for women in our society.
OK, I'm done now. Sorry for getting so serious, but it was next in the list.
8 comments:
Maxflex says,
Hi Karl,
I am pro choice also. Where I disagree with you is when to make the choice. Each choices we make have consequences, if one decide to have sex without protection, chances are, that the consequence will be a baby will appear after 9 months. Should they ask permission to get some kind of protection, no. Should one pay for the protection, yes. It is their choice, another one is abstinence, It does not cost anything.
As always there is exemption, rape, incest... but the cost should be pass on the perpetrator not the victim nor society in general. Basically what I am saying is, people have to be responsible for the choices they makes.
I knew this was going to get some feedback sooner or later...
In my opinion - making birth control available for free is like an investment for the taxpayer. Pay now and hopefully prevent an unwanted child, or perhaps get the unwanted child and pay later in the form of mother's allowance, welfare, ruined education and/or careers, putting a burden on the foster care system, etc - or worse - abortion.
I totally agree that the bulk of responsibility should rest with the individuals, but that doesn't seem to be working out very well. People tend to make dumb decisions that are difficult or impossible to undo.
Maxflex says,
Ok, I see that we agree on the substance of your rant, where we differ is on the semantics which is fine with me. Let’s say that we make birth control available for free. Which type would be free? Abortion is much more expensive then let’s say condom. Would condom be free for men? Would hysterectomy or vasectomy be free? That would be a deal, people fix for all time. What would be the age limits before they can get it? 12, 18, 21? If they want to use the pill, do they have to be check by a doctor first?
Men we open a big can of worms if we go that way. That is only what I can think of right now, I am sure I could come up with more issue. I still believe that education and making people responsible for their own action, the best way to go.
I never said it would be an easy pill to swallow (pun intended).
Let's deal with each question one at a time:
Should all birth control be free? Yes. For men too (condoms)? Yes - it would if nothing else cut down on the amount of STDs. Hysterectomy and vasectomy are not birth control measures, they are sterilization measures. They are already covered if it is health related, are they not?
Now the big one - age limit. I know many are not in agreement with my stance on this, but oh well. If you're old enough to think about having sex, you're old enough to get birth control in consultation with a doctor. I know this freaks some people out, but it's the facts of life. Kids are indulging (right or wrong) at unbelievably young ages. Better to be safe than sorry. And before the argument is raised, I don't for a second believe that giving kids birth control is like giving them permission to have sex. Even without the safety, they're having sex. To suggest that withholding protection stops them is naive.
Maxflex says,
Ah man I love you, and I say that from one human being to another. I whish more people would have this conversation and other like that.
Ok, first of all I never said that I disagree with you. All I am trying to point out is the caveat of given some thing for free versus people being responsible for their decision.
Now, pills, condom, abortion, hysterectomy and vasectomy have all one thing in common, stopping procreation. That is what they do, some temporally some for ever and ever. In my case for personnel reason, vasectomy was the answer.
I am pretty sure that because something is free, there is no guaranty that more people will use them.
Ok Lets do some basic biology here.
hysterectomys arn't done for birth control. it is one of the results, tubal ligations are done for birth control. Just my two cents.
Anonymous2
Just tuning in. I was going to post before but I didn't feel comfortable posting at work.
I would agree with Maxflex on this one. It's about the choice, consequences, and cost.
But if I may take this dialog in an interesting direction; if the government wanted to use my tax dollars to fund abortions, maybe we could use those same tax dollars to help parents who are trying to get pregnant.
It's funny you bring that up Ernest. My answer by the way would be 'yes'.
When Darlene and I lived in Ontario, we wanted a child. She had already had surgery (she's going to kill me for saying all this) to prevent any more children while previously marreid, then decided she wanted children withme. Too late. The surgery had done too much damage. Our only option was in vitro fertilization (IVF) - test tube baby. At one time, Ontario paid for the procedure, not the hormones. You had to have a drug plan to pay for that. I'm glad it was covered, because it's not anymore and the price then was $15,000 per attempt. It didn't work for us and we were OK with that. But other couples were devastated, especially after 3 or 4 tries.
It costs much more now. We know someone who has already spent $100,000 on trying to have a child and have yet to succeed.
Now, if the government is going to pay, they'll likely want to set rules to qualify. I'm OK with that. Otherwise, you pay yourself.
One couple I know who were successful joked - "I'm telling my kids, 'we paid $45,000 for you...... you had better be worth it or we want our money back'."
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