Opinions, Opinions

Welp, I seem to be getting over this strange cold I've had. This whole week, I wake up barely able to breathe, with swollen and painful tonsils. (This may be disgusting, so bear with me) I also poked around a bit thinking I had a tonsillolith, but nope, nothing there.  This morning, I was more chipper than I've been in awhile, and my throat isn't so sore.  Maybe it had something to do with me drinking over 50 oz. of water every day.

Unforfunately, Natty's husband Pepper was very very ill last night and the night before.  He went to urgent care this morning, where they proclaimed it was food-related and non-communicable and prescribed him some anti-nausea pills, so...  He went to work (he's an engineer).  Insanity!  Two nights of what I'd label as acute misery with work during the day?  That's hardcore.

I spent my break this morning writing an extra-long post on abortion after reading this article in the New York Times.  It tracks the evolution of abortion provision in the United States from its roots to today, when physicians and advocates are taking steps toward covering the family planning as a part of basic women's health coverage. More power to these young, tough, dedicated physicians. They are saving the lives of women around the world.

I am pro-choice.  I didn't start out pro-choice, but I am firmly so now.

I myself would probably never opt to have an abortion - but I have the education, the wherewithal, the authority over myself and the financial resources to be able to prevent pregnancy. I am married to a man who supports me and believes in the importance of my independence and authority. In the extreme case that I become pregnant and don't desire to carry to term, my course of action would be to visit my OBGYN and induce rejection of the uterine lining. In the even more extreme case that this procedure was not effective, I would likely carry to term. If I became accidentally pregnant and Caspian wanted to keep the child, I would be more likely to agree to carry to term. However, he doesn't want children right now and would be happy to have a childless marriage. His opinion might change, but if it doesn't, it's fine by me.

When we began talking about marriage, Caspian and I both agreed that children, while they may be welcomed and joyfully anticipated in the future, were not our primary reason for marrying. Motherhood has never been one of my ambitions; in fact, I believe that motherhood is not an ambition, but an essential experience. I didn't dream of having babies as a child. I didn't reject the idea at all, it just didn't even enter my mind as an option in my future. Don't get the wrong idea - we're not anti-child at all, we don't hate babies (we rather like them, a lot!). At this juncture, we simply do not want to be parents. At this juncture. If we decide too late [to concieve] that we did want children, it is our responsibility to accept that fact, or to accept the costs associated with fertility treatments or adoption.

I believe that women should have the right to control what happens to their bodies. Pregnancy is one of those things. This doesn't mean that I believe that pregnancy, childbirth, and parenthood are not amazing and miraculous, and I'm not rejecting that fact or underestimating the responsibilities that come with these things. Reproduction IS a natural, common thing as well. Sometimes it can be a huge unwanted burden, sometimes caused by sick crimes, that results in suffering, oppression, poverty and neglect. A perfect world wouldn't contain those things, but we don't live in a perfect world.

All women (and little girls, sadly), especially those who can't provide for more children, who are drug addicts, who are raped, who are suffering in conditions of extreme poverty, etc. should ALWAYS and READILY have the option to prevent future needless suffering and neglect. Either it is an initial choice (in which contraception is the responsible course of action), or an option of last recourse, which I firmly believe is a mercy.

I could go into the origins of socio-cultural values that have historically rewarded men and punished women for promiscuity, but I'll leave that for another time.  I could go into the morality surrounding family planning, but I believe that anybody who adamantly opposes family planning (in any of its forms), no matter how soft their hearts are, are either too ignorant to understand its implications, or socialized to support the oppression of women.

I have found that almost all of the alternate solutions to the problems that are solved by family planning, set forth by many who adamantly oppose family planning, oppress women.