Tuesday, January 23, 2007

anti/pro/life/death

I didn't jump on last week's delurking meme, and I was safely sailing along not going to worry with this week's cause du Monday because enough people are going to discuss abortion that my point of view wasn't going to matter two shits.

"Ooooh, look! Another conflicted dude with no uterus actively attached to him. His opinion drives the masses. Let's read his blog for enlightenment."

I seriously wasn't going to bother. Hell, I didn't even know it was have-an-abortion-day until I read it at Zero Boss. But then I went back later, after a couple of comments had built up, and I read the two words. There are two words that bring me to life, that cause me to empreachify to the masses.

I don't remember the exact story from the commenter, but it involved some amount of teen girls worried that they were late, you know . . . like . . . late, yeah. One girl was sure she was okay because her boyfriend pulled out.

It's those last two words that are part of my life's work, pull out. Pulling out is not birth control.

There's only one way to get pregnant, but there are lots of ways to have sex. Sometimes people have sex and don't want to, and sometimes people would prefer to use birth control but aren't afforded the option. Some people really don't want a baby, and some people really don't need a baby. Some people, especially the younger ones, do things without the amount of knowledge they might need to make the decisions that they might face.

Of all the situations mentioned above, any one could end up with someone pregnant. Sometimes we make decisions, and sometimes we have decisions forced on us. Sometimes, no matter what we feel about certain decisions, as people, we are obliged to make sure that those decisions are best left to those who must bear the consequences.

And that's why I'm pro choice, because those of us voting can't vote away all those random things that may make abortion an option for a single particular person. Many of us have the luxury of not having to worry about it. Many of us are not so lucky.

Seems like we could have found a way to teach these things by now. It's sad that the people so vehemently against abortion are also so vehemently against teaching girls and women about their bodies.