Women's Rights, Gone with the Sixties

[seren]

Confusion leads to misunderstanding,
Significantly impacting the available
Amount of options for a girl with none
To few allotted personal choices. She
May be sexually mature, but, after all,
The state and her father have sole
Rights to her womb and any decisions
Impacting it; it was never really her body.

"Serves her right," they quip, "for luring
Men into peeling away her white covers,
Inviting them to stay in. She should be in
Charge of her hormones but not her body--
That's theoretically ours. What's yours is
Mine, and what's mine is still mine. It's for
Your sake--well-being and happiness--that I
Struggle to protect you from the phantom."

So when your hips are wide for birthing,
You'd better damn well birth the kid
Or perish trying, that way a life is saved
In the process--the more valuable one.
There's nothing wrong with forcing
A woman to bare children to contribute
To an already vastly over-populated society;
It's not as if she has any ambitions.

Beaks are never kept fully shut.
Secrets, as of now, shouldn't be
Trusted to any citizen, for it will surely
Only reach the news--front page headlines
By tomorrow. They tell us that the
Doctors are our allies who won't betray
Our personal information for any sum,
But they too are mere men and women,
Bound by the law to tattle to our parents,
No matter how abusive these guardians
May prove themselves to be. We should
Give up; the dirty laundry's been aired.

So when your hips are wide for birthing,
You'd better damn well birth the kid
Or perish trying, that way a life is saved
In the process--the more valuable one.
There's nothing wrong with forcing
A woman to bare children to contribute
To an already vastly over-populated society;
It's not as if she has any ambitions.

[dragon]

It shows your point on this very very well. Strong and to the point. I like it.

[seren]

Thanks. I was inspired after remembering what one of my mum's conservative "friends" said about me during one of their abortion arguments. My mum was arguing that the woman shouldn't have to tell her parents because--believe it or not, and a lot of people don't--there are abusive, explosive parents out there (shocking, right?) who would kick the girl out or beat/bludgeon her. This particular friend couldn't understand that because she lives a fairly privileged life and has parents who ,when she was a teenager, she could've actually talked to about sex without being brutalized.

[dragon]

Wow. My family and i have had discussions and they said that they wolud kick me out without any word from me if they heard I was pregnant. Just goes to show why I'm not intimate with anyone....

[seren]

My parents have never said anything about me personally being pregnant. I've never heard my dad talk about abortion, and my mum is pro-choice like I am and, like I mentioned, understands how delicate the situations can be. Not to say that my parents wouldn't want to kill me if I got pregnant on my own accord right now...

[Kala]

See, the abortion thing is a well touching topic for me. Simply because my birth mother was going to abort me when I was in the womb, but like a split second before the doctor went through with it, she stopped the doctor saying she wish to put her unborn child up for adoption. Still scares me today thinking about it.

Yet I'm all for abortion if it in the mind to save the mother or the child or sometimes both. Also for a rape victum. Though that is how I see it. If you are foolish and get pregant every single time you have sex and abort every single child that begin to grow in your womb, then no. You must bear your mistake. It was your fault that you were stupid.

My parents have told me if I ever become active in sex, to tell them. They also say that after I tell them and I still get pregant, they will help be abort it if I chose so. But if I don't tell them and I get pregant, than I must go through with it. O-o so yeah

[seren]

But, the thing is, who are you really punishing if you deny the irresponsible woman an abortion? Obviously not every situation's the same, but it is a possibility that the unwanted child will be made to feel--well--unwanted and may be abused by the parents. Plus, if the parents or parent cannot afford to take care of the child, then they will have to mooch off of family, friends, neighbors, or the welfare system. Or, before the child's even born, the woman might attempt to get a back-alley abortion, which is considerably more dangerous than if a doctor were to do it. My point is, that we cannot pick and choose who has the rights to abortion; either everyone does or no one does, and I'd prefer it if everyone did.

I have a friend whose father raped her mother, and her mother could've chosen abortion, but she didn't. INsterad, she chose to raise my friend, which is quite admirable. Ultimately, it's about doing what you think is best, and I fully respect those who put the children up for adoption, get an abortion, or attempt to raise the child on their own.

The way I view this issue is that everyone is asking ther wrong question: "Do you think that abortion is moral or immoral?" What we should be asking is, "Do you think that a woman should have more options and the right to choose concerning abortion?"

Of course, I don't like thinking about abortion, but it's unavoidable. I recognize that there are plenty of women who would and do abuse the option, but that's their choice. That's what it comes down to for me.