Abortion

Well here is a touchy subject to talk about, that has once again took the national spotlight because of the unfortunate shooting of the late Dr. Tiller. It seems as if abortion is one of the few topics that really drives a wedge in our society. On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court ruled on the now infamous Roe vs Wade case, And since that date few issues have polarized us more.

First allow me to say I support womens right to decide on this issue. I also want to say personally I abhor abortion. Now I know what you may be thinking, how can you say you abhor abortion then claim to believe it should stay legal?

Well for starters as a man I feel regardless of my personnel feelings it's not my place to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body, I believe this is a fundamental right we all share, and no person or government should ever be allowed to tread upon this idea. I also believe it becomes a complex issue with the medical issues behind it.

I want to share something with you that my girlfriend recently shared with me. She recently turned 40, As many of you may know women who have children past the age of forty statistically have more issues with children being born with mental illnesses. They also have the ability now to test in the early stages of pregnancy for problems with the fetuses such as mental defects, commonly called mongoloid etc.

I bring this up because I think it's an important view on the subject. It allows a woman or a couple to decide early on if they wish to terminate a pregnancy if they know there are medical problems with the fetus. Raising a child who is born with mental retardation is no easy task, I applaud anyone who has done it, but on the same note I completely understand any couple who would decide to terminate a pregnancy over this issue.

We also have the issue of a womans health, certain conditions can cause serious health risks for the expecting mother. While rare, a persons health should never be put into jeopardy because someone else believes an unborn fetus is more important then a mothers life.

We also have a huge issue with unwanted pregnancy in this country. And ironically I blame the Republicans who have made the issue worse for years now. For years the conservative right has pushed abstinence only education in schools, This has been a terrible decision and multiple studies have shown it simply does not work.

Here is a disturbing fact for you, a recent national study said 1/3 of teenagers will contract some form of venereal disease in their teen years. 33% of our children will contract a VD... I don't know about you but those numbers should scare the hell out of any parent Liberal or Conservative. The fact is our children are having sex, and short of locking them in a room until they hit legal age it's going to be hard to stop them. So what can we do? For starters we must start educating them again, make them understand oral sex is SEX and yes you can contract a VD from it.

The reason I am trying to hammer this home is that recent statistics show on a yearly basis about 20-30% of all abortions in the U.S. are girls under the age of 19. And that repeat abortions by teen girls has risen a staggering 70%. People we have to start educating our kids on safe sex, if your schools sexual education classes wont do it we as parents have to step up.

Let's look at this logically, people have been attempting for decades to make abortion illegal. Regardless of what certain right wing groups claim they are no closer now then they was 30 years ago when it comes to getting it banned. It's a unfortunate fact of society, and it will continue. And that changing it would be a horrific step backwards, We don't need women going to back alley doctors for $50 abortions because they can no longer do it legally.

But what we can do is change how we think about the subject. Imagine if instead of throwing millions of dollars at the issue in a failing attempt to try to outlaw it conservative groups instead used that money to educate teens, and young mothers to the alternatives. Unfortunately we as a people cant seem to have a logical discussion in this country, it quickly deteriates into questions of what god wants. I simply feel instead of presuming to know the mind of god we make an attempt to understand each others minds on this issue, we may actually get somewhere.