| cambion wrote: |
| a letter written by some pro-life fundie catholic zealot claimed that birth control promotes promiscuity and that it's wrong to dispense contraception to teens for that very reason. This man also went on to mention how teen pregnancies have gone up over 600 percent in the past 40 years, and how there was a highly noticeable increase in sexually transmitted diseases and teen suicides. |
teen pregnancy, like all pregnancy, has decreased continually until it plateaud (sp?) around 2002/2003. In fact, the us experienced it's highest teen pregnancy rate in 1957. You know, when there was absolutely .N.O sex ed, no birth control, and very little access to condoms.
The claim about std's is wrong as well. There are a lot more people in the world now than there were 40 years ago. In fact, almost three generations have reached sexual maturation within that time period. Some sti's have increased but in all fairness, many sti's roots and causes were not discovered until quite recently. All sti's have seen a decline in the numbers of new infections than 40 years ago and it is precisely because condoms are more easily accessible and comprehensive sex education is more available.
And, finally, sex is not the cause of teen suicide. There are many different factors present and other factors are more important indicators of the threat of suicide.
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| what the idiot doesn't realize is that teens are no longer being educated about sex or protection, which is why there is an increase in such things as teen pregnancy and stds. So how does he propose that refusing to give teen birth control will fix the problem of teen pregnancies? |
people are nostalgic for a time in our history that was displayed as being more simple and pure. What they don't realize is that that time never actually existed. Everyone, no matter what they believe, should read the way we never were. The author describes, in great detail, what it was actually like in the 1950's and it isn't the pie-in-the-sky image that the media represented. Lack of sex education and refusing teens access to birth control will increase the numbers of young women becomming pregnant. Since "abstinence-only" policies have been adopted by many states, those states are beginning to experience an .I.N.C.R.E.A.S.E in teen pregnancy. keeping people ignorant and then taking away the tools that they can use to keep themselves safe has never stopped them from having sex. Just ask the millions of young women who gave birth in 1957.
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| forcing women to give birth will just put even more unwanted children in the foster system, or force children into homes where they are not wanted. |
or result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of women who resort to a home, illegal, and unsafe abortion.
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| I would almost guarantee that, if either abortion is banned nationwide or funding for clinics is cut, there will be a significant increase in the number of cases of child neglect, abuse, and mur/der. |
there was a study out two years ago (i think but could be mistaken) that made the correlation between roe v. Wade and the drastic decreases in crime that we began experiencing in the late 1980's and early 1990's in nearly every major city in the us. The authors of the study theorized that, since roe in 1973, the women who would have most likely produced criminals sought a legal abortion instead and thus, crime decreased when the number of criminals decreased. Criminal behavior is most likely to occur among young people who are poor, unemployed, have low levels of education, and report feelings of hopelessness. Like I said though, the study found only a correllation and not a cause but it was very controversial when it was released.
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| apparently that is what pro-lifers really want...To see women suffer through unwanted pregnancy, deliver an unwanted child, then hope the woman is put in prison for abusing or killing her child so she can suffer even more. |
don't get into stereotyping. From my experience with a few "prolifers", I have found that they want an ideal that has never been a reality. They feel that if the government just takes away a few civil liberties, then eventually the reality will start conforming to the ideal. However, there is no evidence that reality has ever or will ever fit in with the ideal, even if you try and force people to confrom to it.
Part of this ideal does seem to include women who are more subservient and who stay at home whether they want to or not. However, in the way we never were, survey results were listed from the 50's that found that a majority of the women were .N.O.T happy in only that capacity. But, women don't really know what's best so that's why we need a group of unrealistic ideologues to tell us what to do! Just kidding.