Amidst the media hysteria about the U.S. population reaching 300 million this month, it seems an opportune moment to reflect on the deeply subjective nature of the concept of "overpopulation." One example: how is it that Europe's low birth rate is a population "crisis," whereas Africa's high birth rate is also a population "crisis"? Three guesses.
Bill Smith of SIECUS opened the 4th Annual "Back to School" briefing last week by saying, "Abstinence is a great thing, a wonderful choice - but it shouldn't be the only thing being taught." This is the major disconnect between advocates for comprehensive sex ed and abstinence-only sex ed: the latter group thinks that the former one does not value or teach abstinence. To the contrary, we gladly support abstinence as it delays sexual behavior and decreases the risk of pregnancy and disease. And comprehensive sex ed programs do stress the importance of abstinence, as well as providing vital knowledge about how to prevent sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancy. However, what abstinence-only advocates ignore is that not everyone chooses abstinence -- regardless of their education -- and even those who do will most likely become sexually active at some point outside of marriage.
This critical lack of information is not the only problem with abstinence-only programs. Ab-only advocates also blame comprehensive sex ed for all sorts of irresponsible behavior, including an outrageous link to pedophilia (see the video below of Wendy Wright's offensive comments). Add the fact that many abstinence-only programs rely on shame and fear to try to manipulate adolescents into abstaining from sex and, well, we've got a serious problem with sex ed in our nation's schools.
Dr. Connie Mitchell is a nationally recognized expert on the health care of victims of violence and abuse. She serves on the AMA National Advisory Council on Violence and Abuse and is a member of the Board of Directors of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health.
If Prop 85 passes, teens in California will be forced to wait until their parents are notified before having an abortion. The more I think about the impact this initiative could have on young women in my state, the more I've found myself contemplating what passing this law would mean in real life. Just how long will a pregnant young woman have to wait before she can have an abortion?
Former Republican Congressman Mark Foley brings up many issues for people. You can compound that by a factor of ten, at least, if you are gay. He also represents a teachable moment, albeit a negative lesson, about the consequences of denial, repression, and stigma. Unfortunately, Wendy Wright of the Concerned Women for America is missing the lesson and continues a pattern of generalization trying to link healthy gay people with unhealthy predatory behavior.
If you understand repression, of anything, you understand pressure makes people do some strange things. One can empathize with Foley's alleged substance abuse, the numbing that denial might seem to require in moments of despair. One can even understand the notion of "arrested development" with respect to sexuality. As we witnessed in the Roman Catholic priest scandal, people who choose to sacrifice some part of themselves to pursue or accentuate another, or who suffer trauma like molestation, can create "age inappropriate" behavior.
Greetings from Nicaragua, where abortion is about to be made even more illegal than it already is. On the eve of a heated presidential election, the executive committee of the Nicaraguan National Assembly is poised to accept a proposal that would remove the 130-year-old therapeutic abortion provision from Nicaragua's penal code. Their action would make abortion illegal in Nicaragua without exception - including, that is, in cases where a pregnant woman's life was at risk, or in case of rape, incest, or fetal malformation. If the proposal is accepted, Nicaragua will join El Salvador and Chile as one of the few countries in the Western Hemisphere where abortion is totally illegal. For a thoroughly chilling portrait of how this will affect Nicaraguan women's lives, read Jack Hitt's "Pro-Life Nation."
In Missouri, State Auditor Claire McCaskill took a huge step toward defeating social conservative Senator Jim Talent on Meet the Press with her clear, candid and respectful articulation of her views.From Iraq, to a scandal-plagued Congress, from stem cell research bans to abortion, she demonstrated why American voters are tuning out social conservatives and their no longer subtle manipulations of the truth.
“I respect people who disagree with me on principle.”
If there is one thing that pro-lifers are good at, it is creating posters intended to shock and blame. The most disturbing and extreme pro-life poster I have ever seen is, by far, the "Malachi" poster (circa 1993), which shows a blown up photograph of a supposedly aborted fetus. Lately, the pro-lifers have been less graphically disturbing but just as relentless, displaying phrases like "Abortion is Murder". Last weekend posters like these were on exhibit at a pro-life rally less than one mile from my school. Over 50 people came out to stand with National Life Chain Sunday, a project of a Christian pro-life ministry based 45 miles north of Sacramento, CA called Please Let Me Live. These "life chains" are held in numerous cities across the U.S. on the first Sunday of every October (for a list of cities that participated, click here).
Rewire has featured several guest bloggers writing about Prop. 85. If passed, this ballot initiative would prohibit abortions for California teens until 48 hours after their parents have been notified.
While watching Match Point on DVD the other night, I was dismayed to encounter one of my least favorite movie cop-outs of all time: a conversation about abortion where the characters refuse to say the word abortion. Lame, lame, lame.
