Are pro-choice advocates a bunch of selfish angry feminist women & irresponsible men who have waged a personal intafadah on infants? Or are pro"lifers a bunch bible thumping religous zealouts who's sole purpose is to force everyone to think & believe like them? Well, depending on who you are and how passionate you are on this particular subject, you probably believe one of these. However, you can't really lump people who disagrees with your argument in to one of these narrow minded groups.
I understand many people in our country don't really get into politics they don't listen to the politican who supports there side. They don't take part into the democratic process by voting on the politician who supports there side. Or engage into social protest by letting your voice be heard to add to the sea of others who are on your side to make your side 1 person louder than the others. Furthermore, some of us don't even watch CNN, MSNBC, Fox News or even the local news for that much to get up to date news on the issue. With all of that being said, the abortion fight is very unique, it seems to be one of the few issues where everyone seems to have an opinion on whether they are knowlegable of the history of the fight or not.
What I have realized in my growth of wisdom, political awarness & constitutional rights is that it doesn't matter what I think in this subject. The fact that I have a penis makes my opinion null & void. Now before you pro-choicers get excited by that last statment, you also have to realize that the men who support your side, there opinion is null & void as well. I'm not here to argue one side over the other, I'm not here to judge anyone. What I will attempt to do with this article is explain why the current abortion law violates our constitution and why the religious right is wrong, and why men cannot be apart of the fight until it's equal by law.
If you approached anyone who is pro-choice and simply asked them "Should any woman be forced into motherhood?" They will answer you before you even finish the question with a very confident & stern NO! However, on my day to day dealings with dads as a fatherhood outreach worker, I can confidently say around 70% of the fathers were forced into parenthood even though they weren't ready.
When we a woman & particularly a young girl become pregnant she has a very important decision to make. She decides whether to keep the child or not. If she keeps the child she becomes a young mother, she has brought a life into this world, experienced one of the world greatest miracles. Or, she can choose to have an abortion. If she goes this route, in the opinion of some people in our society she has made a very responsible decision, she has chose to focus on her future, she chose to establish financial stability, she chose to get her education. And whenever she does decide to have a kids, the child will have a greater chance of success in life. Either way she is hailed as a very responsible person making responsible decisions. Here is the problem.
Men or even young boys aren't given that choice. If this same young girl gets pregnant and chooses to have the kid but the dad says he isn't ready to be a dad for the same exact reasons I stated in the above paragraph for the young girl, He is immediately ostracized, he is called irresponsible, he is demonized for even brining up the idea. He is told "If you are man enough to lay down & have sex you should be man enough to take care of the child". Or, if you didn't want any kids you should've kept your pants up, or you should have you used a condom. I'm sorry that is just empty rhetoric used to justify a means. We don't tell the girl she should have kept her pants up and nevermind the fact that she allowed him to be down there in the first place without a condom.
Many people are unware that during the original Roe v Wade arguments the pro-choice side argued that all men do is provide to the female a "Viable Tissue Mass" (sperm), but it is soley the females decision or choice to allow the tissue to cultivate and become a embryo or a child, so the man has no right to decide whether she should keep it or not. So I will ask this question, because she is the one who soley decides alone to allow the tissue to cultivate & decides to keep the child. Why are we going after men for child support, why are we telling them they have to support something they had no choice in creating. We tell these men it took 2 to make this child when its time to rape their pockest for weelky child support payments, but then on the other hand we tell them its none of their business, its between the woman & her doctor if the child is to even come into existence.
I've been married almost 8 years, and if my wife becomes pregnant, it is her choice and her choice alone to keep the child. I as the husband legally have no rights to that decision, I cannot tell her she has to keep it nor can I tell her to abort it. However, if she was to have an affair & get preganat from the affair, I as the husband by Michigan Law is legally responsible for the child even if the DNA proves I'm not the father. So if I divorce her because of the affair I still have to pay her child support for that child because the laws says any child born in a marriage automatically belongs to the husband. There's your EQUAL RIGHTS.
I want to briefly touch on this whole responsibilty issue because as I said before we often tell the boy or man that he should keep his pants up, zipper closed or condom wrapped tight but we don't tell the girls this. The only equality both the male & female have is the decisions they make right before they have sex. But right after sex is over, that is were the men or the boys rights & choices end. After that every decision belongs to her. Young girls and women are given numerous ways to evade responsiblity and are provided different methods of prevention. Lets take a look.
Women/Girls options before after & during pregnacy
1. Surgical Abortions
2. Non-Surgical Abortion
3. The Abortion Pill RU-487
4. Birth Control Pill
5. The morning after pill
6. Condoms
7. Adoption
8. Legal abandonment (Safe haven laws)
9. Abstinence
Men/Boys options before after and during pregnancy
1. Condoms
2. Abstinence
Now let me kill this argument now before you start trying to use this as a cornerstone for your case. I am not talking about cases of Rape or Incest, were studies show that this is less than 0.01% of the reasons for abortions. I believe educating our young girls and is some cases grown women about the services provided in cases of those two horrific events that reporting it immediately can do 2 things.
1. Have a greater chance of bringing the criminal who raped them or the the relative who impregnated her to justice
2. Terminate or prevent a unwanted pregnancy by using the morning after pill, or the RU-487 pill
Some of my critics say that if men are given a choice like women, then we are going to have men running around having kids by the dozens & not supporting them leaving the mom to support them alone (scoff) like thats not already happening, and is it any worse than her dropping the child off at the local church, police station, fire station, or hospital legally leaving the child with no parents let alone just one.
So as I close this I will explain why both sides have it wrong and why men can't be either.
Pro-Lifers: The whole religious argument is ridiculus, especially in a country where there is a separation of Church & State. The United States is a Republic not a Theocracy nor really is it a Democracy. What do you tell a couple who are atheist. You may not agree with their outlook on life, but they are just as American and patriotic as you are, and deserve protection under the law.
Pro-Choicers: Your argument fails because the Equal Rights Amendment is suppose to affirm that women & men have equal protection under the law, even if that protection is from unwanted parenthood that is afforded to women.
Men: Until that amendment is fully recognized and enforced you really can't be either because you have no power to excercise that right whether you are pro-choice or pro-life.
So until then i'm telling the extremist on both sides "Get a life" no pun intended....Until next time...Peace
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