Posts Tagged ‘birth control’

I read this story because I love animal stories. Seriously, the best email I get every day is my LOLCats one.

Reading this article about a lost dog being found with a two-week old baby cuddled next to it warms my heart. Look how kind animals can be…and how cruel human beings can be. Makes me nearly as sad as it does happy.

However, the thing that really struck me about the story was this simple line. The Director of Health for the District in Ghana where the baby was found, said this:

Azure noted that she couldn’t say what had led to the baby’s desertion by his mother, but speculated that the parents were teenagers, and took the opportunity to caution locals against unprotected sex.

Simply cautioned people against having unprotected sex. Especially teenagers since they are the suspected parents.

There was no lecturing about the benefits of abstinence. No arguments over whether birth control should be given to teens. No disparaging remarks about a female “slut” needing birth control. No religious accusations about the sinfulness of birth control Just simple advice: use birth control.

Why are we taking such big steps backwards in our country? Ladies, why are we letting it happen? You know we don’t have to stand by and let the men take care of us. We can vote. Women fought for that right already. Our foremothers set us up for a better life than they had.

Yet, the past two years have been a political hell for women. When November rolls around, what will you be thinking? Will you be voting for the candidates who have the best interest of women? Or will you continue to support old men who believe women are barely better than cattle, are sluts for enjoying sex, or aren’t worth being paid the same as men?

It’s in our hands. It’s in our hands.

I know abortion and birth control have become hot issues once again. Let me just say this: despite what you personally believe in, do you really want to make life harder for your daughters and granddaughters? If your daughter comes to you raped or with a problem pregnancy, do you want her to suffer the indignities that are being put into place?

Do you want your teenagers playing birth control roulette? Male or female? Two people are having sex, two people need to take responsibility. Is a condom or a pill, really so terrible if it prevents an unwanted pregnancy?

Or are these problems the problems of poor people? Indigent people? Immigrant people?

Unfortunately, no. They are the problems of our whole society. We aren’t a country with a surplus of unwanted children because we are doing something right. We are doing something wrong.

And who we elect come November can make the problem worse…or make it better. Let’s take the morality out of sex and look at it as the natural bodily function that it is. Because people–young and old!–will continue having sex. Whether or not you tell them it’s bad, evil, or wrong. Because it isn’t. It’s sex.

It’s a bodily function that carries great responsibility because the consequences are so high. Let’s make the reponsibility easy to access, easy to use.

 

Here’s what’s on my mind. Tell me what you think!

Yup, I told you and told you that when we caved on abortion, we were fair game for the white haired male elite running Washington. Now birth control is on the line. Have we stood up and told them to take a flying leap? Nope, we’re justifying the need to use birth control for reasons other than having sex. This post says it perfectly. By the way, it’s okay to have sex and to enjoy it. Women have that right. Having sex doesn’t make you a slut or a prostitute either.

I was a geeky kid so I loved encyclopedias. I would use the ones at home and at the public library. I used them for school reports and just because. And now Encyclopaedia Britannica will stop printing them after doing so for 244 years! Makes me a little sad. Even though I haven’t touched an encyclopedia since college in the 90s. Google is more convenient…

This one makes me throw up a little in the back of my throat. An Iowa school invited a Christian rock group to perform for the students. Instead of a fun, frolicking little brush with rock music lite, the students were instead served hate-filled messages against the homosexual community, girls were told to be submissive, and, of course, abortion was “discussed.” The administration claims to have been unaware of the band’s hatefulness, but it seems that their ties to a radical right group are readily apparent on the internet. Could it have been a way for a religious right administrator to get the message across “accidentally”?

I’m not linking to this one. I came across a blog post last night with a slew of messages people have been tweeting in case their children are discovered to be gay. The messages were horrible and most included death. As a parent, I can think of a hundred other things that are worse than having a gay child. Gross. The person who started that tweet fest needs an attitude adjustment.

Another one I’m not linking to. There’s some angst in the blogging world over a blogger who is behaving less than nicely. First she pointed the finger at a fellow contestant and wanted her dumped from the contest. Then she was caught plagiarizing. I don’t really care about the drama itself, but with her excuse. What was it? That she’s a mere 27 and just learning her way through the blogging world. Wow, when did 27 become young enough to still get away with being mean and stupid?! I know 50 is supposedly the new 30, but that doesn’t mean every age bracket gets to regress! And I think it applies to the physical body and attitudes, not brain power. Plagiarizing is bad. We learn that in middle school at least. You don’t steal someone’s work without credit. You don’t rewrite their words and claim them as your own. Especially when it’s about the other person’s pregnancy and sex life. Ick.

So what do you think?!

Links and thoughts on a few things. Tell me what you think!

Rush Limbaugh called the college girl testifying about the importance of paid birth control a slut and a prostitute. I also read he wants videos of these sexual acts posted so he can enjoy them. That pretty much sums up Rush Limbaugh, doesn’t it? Gross, dirty old man. Yuck. By the way, even though insurance pays for Viagra and other erectile dysfunction medications (that apparently move you to sit side by side in claw-footed bath tubs and stare at the sunset, while holding hands…), I have no desire to see men like Rush Limbaugh having sex. Ever.

A lesbian woman was denied communion at her mother’s funeral mass and the priest left the altar-area when she gave the eulogy. I’m torn on this one. If I push for a distinction of church and state, I need to be prepared to honor the decisions of the Church. I whole-heartedly disagree with the priest’s choice, but do understand his reasoning. Perhaps the whole situation could have been handled a little differently.

A mother whose child was killed in Monday’s Ohio school shooting has forgiven his killer. I honor her ability to forgive, but I don’t think I could be so quick to do it. I am in no way criticizing her for her choice! It impresses me that someone can be completely forgiving in this situation. I think I would like and admire this woman if I knew her in real life.

A high school teacher has resigned his position, left his wife and sons, to live with a former student. He’s 41 and she’s 18. And the mother is going at this guy full-steam ahead on Facebook. This is one of those situations I can see from both sides (someday I’ll write about that!). When you’re 18 you love who you love and god forbid someone tries to intervene. As a mother, this sickens! I would have tons of questions about the state of their relationship before she turned 18 though…

So what do you think? Do any of these give you the urge to comment?