No pun intended in the title, though oral sex is a decent form of birth control (though not STD prevention).
I like your idea of inducing labor if the fetus could be viable. I'd rather the mother pays the lesser of the costs of an abortion or the inducement and subsequent care, as sometimes resources can be the factor that makes a potential mother choose an abortion. After the induced labor the mother should have the choice of having the baby remain with her until adoption, or putting it into the custody of the state. This is for two reasons: if she feels hateful towards the baby she may not care well for it and it would cause her psychological harm, and because should she change her mind during the adoption process it would cause even more pain and suffering on her and the prospective parents.
I am strongly in favor of increasing sex ed and cheap and easy access to multiple methods of birth control. Hilary's motto of "safe, legal, and rare" is much more effective if we can make the need/want for abortions rarer at every stage. In my job I meet many young college students with children. Some of the children are old enough and mothers young enough that the mothers had them while in high school. I wouldn't want to take away the happiness that most of them have from their children, but I would like to give them more choice. Discussing it with one student, he told me that he had been an unintentional pregnancy himself, but he felt that the most important thing is that the baby is loved. I feel that it's also important that the baby be wanted.
Regarding the offer of free/subsidized IUD, Depo-Provera, or vasectomy, I worry that Depo-Provera at least tends to be disproportionately over-prescribed to people with low incomes. There appears to be a systematic bias towards forcing them to have fewer children. Many people would argue that's a good thing, but I don't agree. Condoms yes, IUD no, because it places the burden (emotional, monetary, time) on her to take action to become non-sterile again. Enforced or highly encouraged sterilization is eugenics in action.
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timeasmymeasure
Blow-by-blow reply
Date: 2005-11-07 03:17 pm (UTC)I like your idea of inducing labor if the fetus could be viable. I'd rather the mother pays the lesser of the costs of an abortion or the inducement and subsequent care, as sometimes resources can be the factor that makes a potential mother choose an abortion. After the induced labor the mother should have the choice of having the baby remain with her until adoption, or putting it into the custody of the state. This is for two reasons: if she feels hateful towards the baby she may not care well for it and it would cause her psychological harm, and because should she change her mind during the adoption process it would cause even more pain and suffering on her and the prospective parents.
I am strongly in favor of increasing sex ed and cheap and easy access to multiple methods of birth control. Hilary's motto of "safe, legal, and rare" is much more effective if we can make the need/want for abortions rarer at every stage. In my job I meet many young college students with children. Some of the children are old enough and mothers young enough that the mothers had them while in high school. I wouldn't want to take away the happiness that most of them have from their children, but I would like to give them more choice. Discussing it with one student, he told me that he had been an unintentional pregnancy himself, but he felt that the most important thing is that the baby is loved. I feel that it's also important that the baby be wanted.
Regarding the offer of free/subsidized IUD, Depo-Provera, or vasectomy, I worry that Depo-Provera at least tends to be disproportionately over-prescribed to people with low incomes. There appears to be a systematic bias towards forcing them to have fewer children. Many people would argue that's a good thing, but I don't agree. Condoms yes, IUD no, because it places the burden (emotional, monetary, time) on her to take action to become non-sterile again. Enforced or highly encouraged sterilization is eugenics in action.