It's a fiction, not a moral treatise.

I'm a 27 year-old Instructor of Argument. It is my job to teach incoming college students that talking smack professionally is about having an opinion and backing it up. I teach young adults not only to have opinions, but to have a VOICE in their community and in the world at large. I inspire, I discourse, and I geek out.

I know I have a few people that follow me because of my political discussions, but you should know I also blog and reblog things for fun. I'm into fandom; it's part of my life. Don't be surprised if you see stuff about Disney, or kittens, or even my own artwork. Sometimes, I need to not be so serious.

19th February 2012

Photo with 1 note

Posted by one of the regular Pro-Lifers that likes to post in the Pro-Choice tag. I don’t agree with the quote, in most cases, because ‘sin’ belongs in the church and not in law. (If you disagree with me, I’m American, I support separation of Church and State despite being spiritual. Get used to being wrong.) I will pause to reflect on the latter part, however: “thrice guilty is he who, for selfish gratification, heedless of her prayers, indifferent to her fate, drove her to the desperation which impels her to crime.” In today’s society, this would not only include holding a man equally accountable in the act of sex and pregnancy, but it also includes the main Pro-Life movement in the US, which opposes any sex education outside of “abstinence only.” According to the Guttmacher Institute — a reputable source used by both Pro-Choice and Pro-Life groups for statistics — there was an initial spike in abortions to its highest point in the late 70s/early 80s. Bear in mind in this time, abstinence was the most widely taught form of sex education (in terms of safe sex and prevention), and contraception was more difficult for people to get their hands on. There was no correlative turn until this finally began to change. Women from Roe V. Wade on to the early 80s had to contend with poor sex education and contraception availability, but also the stigma against women having sex, single mothers, etc, which was stronger than it is today. As abstinence-only sex education has become less widespread, and access to accurate information and free contraception has become more common, the rate has gone down. It is nearly back to what it was before Roe V. Wade was passed. If you are Pro-Life and you want to reduce abortions in the US, then you HAVE to support proper sex education. You don’t have to LIKE it, but you have to accept that it will help more than expecting everyone to simply be abstinent, which will never happen. Proper sex education. That means teenagers in high school learn how to put the condom on the banana. This means the full gamut of STD information, and also a full informational on all forms of contraception: male and female condoms, diaphragms, the pill, the shot, abstinence etc. That means not shaming teenagers for masturbating and speaking frankly and patiently with them about what’s too much or inappropriate, because it’s helping them handle their hormones without having to go to someone else to take care of it and resulting in pregnancy. That means supporting institutions that provide free contraception, the dissemination of ACCURATE information (not the kind telling people that the pill causes cancer), and free tests for STDs. As these things flourish, abortions will become less necessary, and rates will drop significantly beneath what they were before Roe V. Wade. It won’t need to be illegal (since making it illegal won’t actually reduce the rate at all). I’m not saying it will go away completely, and you have to realize it will never go away completely. If you want to reduce abortion rates in this country, then you HAVE to decide whether or not making that happen is more important than pushing antiquated, anti-sex, slut-shaming views on teenagers and adults alike about safe sex, abstinence, and premarital sex. The fact of the matter is that if that’s the line you push, regardless of what religious significance you put behind it, then your movement will fail, because your movement is self-defeating. It causes MORE abortions. Support of full sex education and widespread access to contraception? Will reduce abortion in this country. Support those, and support programs set to prevent the situations that will continue to make abortion necessary: research to increase the effectiveness of birth control so that there are fewer failures, research to produce condoms that effectively protect that are also not uncomfortable for men to wear, and programs to increase awareness regarding and protections against rape, along with other measures.

Posted by one of the regular Pro-Lifers that likes to post in the Pro-Choice tag.

I don’t agree with the quote, in most cases, because ‘sin’ belongs in the church and not in law. (If you disagree with me, I’m American, I support separation of Church and State despite being spiritual. Get used to being wrong.) I will pause to reflect on the latter part, however: “thrice guilty is he who, for selfish gratification, heedless of her prayers, indifferent to her fate, drove her to the desperation which impels her to crime.”

In today’s society, this would not only include holding a man equally accountable in the act of sex and pregnancy, but it also includes the main Pro-Life movement in the US, which opposes any sex education outside of “abstinence only.” According to the Guttmacher Institute — a reputable source used by both Pro-Choice and Pro-Life groups for statistics — there was an initial spike in abortions to its highest point in the late 70s/early 80s. Bear in mind in this time, abstinence was the most widely taught form of sex education (in terms of safe sex and prevention), and contraception was more difficult for people to get their hands on. There was no correlative turn until this finally began to change. Women from Roe V. Wade on to the early 80s had to contend with poor sex education and contraception availability, but also the stigma against women having sex, single mothers, etc, which was stronger than it is today.

As abstinence-only sex education has become less widespread, and access to accurate information and free contraception has become more common, the rate has gone down. It is nearly back to what it was before Roe V. Wade was passed.

If you are Pro-Life and you want to reduce abortions in the US, then you HAVE to support proper sex education. You don’t have to LIKE it, but you have to accept that it will help more than expecting everyone to simply be abstinent, which will never happen. Proper sex education. That means teenagers in high school learn how to put the condom on the banana. This means the full gamut of STD information, and also a full informational on all forms of contraception: male and female condoms, diaphragms, the pill, the shot, abstinence etc. That means not shaming teenagers for masturbating and speaking frankly and patiently with them about what’s too much or inappropriate, because it’s helping them handle their hormones without having to go to someone else to take care of it and resulting in pregnancy. That means supporting institutions that provide free contraception, the dissemination of ACCURATE information (not the kind telling people that the pill causes cancer), and free tests for STDs.

As these things flourish, abortions will become less necessary, and rates will drop significantly beneath what they were before Roe V. Wade. It won’t need to be illegal (since making it illegal won’t actually reduce the rate at all). I’m not saying it will go away completely, and you have to realize it will never go away completely.

If you want to reduce abortion rates in this country, then you HAVE to decide whether or not making that happen is more important than pushing antiquated, anti-sex, slut-shaming views on teenagers and adults alike about safe sex, abstinence, and premarital sex. The fact of the matter is that if that’s the line you push, regardless of what religious significance you put behind it, then your movement will fail, because your movement is self-defeating. It causes MORE abortions.

Support of full sex education and widespread access to contraception? Will reduce abortion in this country. Support those, and support programs set to prevent the situations that will continue to make abortion necessary: research to increase the effectiveness of birth control so that there are fewer failures, research to produce condoms that effectively protect that are also not uncomfortable for men to wear, and programs to increase awareness regarding and protections against rape, along with other measures.

Tagged: pro choicepro-choiceprochoiceabortion

  1. impuretale posted this