Re: This Wednesday is the Back Up Your Birth Control Day of Activism!!

[http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert (Robert)]

--- Forwarded mail from Bill <http://www.slonet.org/~bdenneen>

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 20:44:42 -0800
To: "Kathy Buek" <http://www.zpg.org/~kbuek>
From: Bill <http://www.slonet.org/~bdenneen>

Hi EC folks,
My article that should be in our local paper March 20th, Bill

MOTHERHOOD:
by Bill Denneen

In the news recently has been a mother convicted of murdering her five
young children.  I speculate that this 'news' has deeply disturbed everyone
as much as it has me. This is not an isolated event as locally a young
mother put her newborn baby in the trash.

I believe that not all females should be mothers. The role of 'mother'
takes very special skills---skills that at least half of all women, in my
opinion, do not have. I spent a half hour with my grandson recently and was
exhausted. Women might be excellent microbiologist, engineers,
mathemeticians, bulldozer-operators, journalists, CEO's but being a mother
is just NOT where they excell.

 Maybe the time has come to educate young people about what causes babies
and that women do NOT have to have a baby to be 'female'. Enjoyment of
sexual intercourse does not have to result in babies. I believe 'abstinence
only' too often ends up with  unintended pregnancies (PG). What young
people need is solid sex-education, easy access to contraceptives and
availability of abortion when the contraceptives fail.

As a sailor a long time ago the role of the male was to 'make out' without
any thought about PG. It was sort of a 'game of chance'. At the time
contraceptives and abortion were illegal in Mass. Post D-Day I worked on an
ambulance. We picked up young girls in puddles of blood (coathanger
abortions).
It was then that I became a lifetime supporter of Planned Parenthood (PP)
and supporter of Roe v Wade. 

Did the woman that murdered her children actually know what causes babies?
Did she have knowledge of contraceptives? Was her husband encouraged to get
a vasectomy after the first baby? Did she know she could have enjoyed sex
without 
having another baby? Did her religion tell her contraceptives were 'wrong'?

I met a woman recently, Helen, who has 5 children. Being an older, gruff
male my only comment was: 'ever hear of contraception?' Her response
pointed out she loved kids, wanted more, was an excellent mother and was
even a teacher with a roomfull of youngsters. Her yard was designed for
kids with all sorts of play houses, swings, slides open grass and a
trampoline. I thought, here is an excellent mother---the kind that ALL kids
should have.

Every child born has the right to be born planned, wanted and loved. That
is the role of Planned Parenthood; that is why I have supported PP for over
half a century. That is why I set-up my table in front of PP on Wed.
morning when anti-PP people stand and pray across the street. I too am
opposed to abortion which accounts for 4% of PP activity. I feel
contraception, sterlization, solid sex-education are the answer rather than
forcing a woman to have an unwanted, unintended baby because she briefly
enjoyed sexual intercourse. Let's admit sex and orgasms are pure pleasure.
What everyone, particularly the young, need to know is that intercourse
does NOT have to result in a baby. I like the modern bumperstickers:
"RECREATE NOT PROCREATE" and "COPULATE NOT POPULATE'.

The age of first intercourse in our country like it or not is 17 and even
younger in the lower socio-economic (poor) groups.  Teen pregnancy in our
country is the highest in the entire industrialized world with Santa Maria
leading. Yes, I urge young people to practise abstinence until marriage but
also as an elder suggest: never go out on a 'date' without a selection of
condoms "just-in-case". 

In other cultures there are many potential female lawyers, biologists,
professors, mathameticians that are born but are given only one
choice---motherhood. That is the situation in India, Afganistan and
Bangaladesh today. Women have no say in their culture. I have enjoyed
seeing women achieve so  much in our culture in the past half century.  I
enjoy seeing women in sports as that is a role that they were not permitted
when I was a kid.  

It took two  million years for human numbers to reach our first billion in
1830 but only a century to reach our second billion in 1930 (about the time
I was born). Since then human numbers have exploded and are now headed to
7,000,000,000.---much like rabbits in Australia. 

This, on a planet where 80% of the people live in substandard housing, 70%
are unable to read, 50% suffer from malnutrition(starving) and less than 1%
with computers. Global warming, polluted air, species extinction,
contaminated water, loss of wetland and social pathology are all a product
of too many people consuming finite resources. 

At one time India tried to slow the explosion by offering a transistor
radio to any male that would get a vasectomy. China made it illegal to have
more than one child. The world population explosion can no longer be
ignored. The US leads the developed countries with: 1 in 10 women aged
15-19 get pregnant each year resulting in a million births, 66% of these
births are unintended (accidents) and the US and Santa Maria leads.
Ignoring the problem will not make it go away.

Young women need to know early that they have a WIDE selection of what they
do with their lives. It is a good time to be female; you could be an
editor, truck driver, financial planner, pilot, mechanic, congresspersons,
firefighter, supervisor, not necesarily only one choice-- motherhood.  Most
women in the world today have only the last choice.

 All aid to other countries should included contaceptives (e.g.condoms).
Abstinence is an interesting abstraction but we are not biologically
designed for it ----responsible behaviour should be the main emphasis.   To
me if you do not like abortion---support Planned Parenthood--they offer sex
education and make available contraception both of which prevent the need
for an abortion. The Dark Ages ended long ago.

--- End of forwarded message from Bill <http://www.slonet.org/~bdenneen>