This is an article I heard about from the northern part of my lovely, yet chronically fucked-up state. For the record, I love Alabama, and it is for that reason that the myriad problems, acts of stupidity, and demagogues drive me to distraction. Anyway, this story is on the website of the Decatur Times Daily, Alabama ranks 4th in public funding of contraceptives. That's very good news, though as stated in the article, the news could be better. I personally favor an emphasis on education, and I think abstinence should be a part of that education. After all, unless you're a Christian Biblical literalist, you are aware that abstinence is the only 100% foolproof way for preventing unwanted pregnancies and the spread of STD's. However, as unfortunate as it is, the simple, ugly fact of the matter is that at least some teenagers are going to fuck, and Alabama's numbers reflect that with the 15th-highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation. With that in mind and with a deep concern with the possibility for the spread of sexually-transmitted disease, I think it would be a fiscally-responsible use of resources to spend some money on education and expanding the accessibility of contraceptives. Furthermore, I believe that some form of emergency post-coital contraceptive should be available OTC as opposed to being strictly a prescription-only product.
While I echo (and I shudder at this) former President Clinton's expressed belief that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare, I also believe that reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies is good fiscal policy. By allowing for a greater number of options in terminating and preventing unwanted pregnancies, a real and measurable improvement in the lives of the women in question can be found. Also, not to put too fine a point on it, the rate of growth of the ranks of those in need of public assistance is reduced, thereby reducing the strain on an already overstressed system. I don't know if this is the conservative thing to do, or the liberal, or the libertarian thing to believe, but frankly, I don't care. Furthermore, I would love to see the same occur in the several states, but I believe the best way for that to be decided is at the state or local level, not the national level.
Aaaah, there's the libertarian (or am I a neolibertarian?) y'all have grown to know and love, or at least be driven to distraction by... I look forward to seeing what you guys and ladies have to think.
3 comments:
I tend to agree with most all of what you have to say. I do not have a problem with abstinence education. I would also tend to agree with some who complain about all the emphasis on sex in the media and the entertainment industry, in that our kids have so much conflicting information bombarding them that they may not know how to sift through what makes sense and what doesn't.
Abstinence education is good, as is availability of birth control. Parents can also help their kids sift through all the information, and possibly learn parenting skills which might foster more awareness of what their kids see and hear every day.
I know that as a parent of teenage daughters, I have always thought abstinence is their best way to keep from having babies. That is what I have hoped for, anyway, is that they'll practice abstinence... but if not, that they have access to various methods of birth control and protection against STDs.
If I ever have kids, and I sincerely hope I do, if I have daughter(s), I will be absolutely terrified for them. And if I were to have sons, I would be terrified for them and give them the same warning most fathers should give their sons: You knock a girl up, you're responsible. That'll shrivel the little bastards up. lol
There is a great poster in the commons area at our local middle school. It says: "A baby costs $870 a month. How much is your allowance?" It has been up for about the last 5-6 years, including during the time my daughters went to school there. I asked them once what they thought of it, and they just shuddered! Some of that kind of stuff can be really effective...
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