Guide to Informed Choices
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acknowledged, ―The Constitution does not explicitly mention any right of privacy!‖ 1033
Furthermore, an earlier case ruled against it, 1034 they couldn‘t decide which law it might be under 1035
and
acknowledged that privacy in all cases cannot be absolute. 1036
all for it. I think as Justice White realized, the difference here is that there is no moment where the human fetus turns into a baby, and so this decision needs to be recognized for its differences to other privacy laws. 1037 When dealing with someone‘s right to privacy versus life, life weighs more. Indeed, how can you enjoy any other rights if you are not alive to experience them?
Contradiction! When the Supreme Court didn‘t find the word ―unborn‖ in the Constitution, they said that human rights mustn‘t apply to them.
But when the Supreme Court didn‘t find the word ―abortion‖ in the Constitution they decided to assume it was intended and legalized abortion!
In conclusion, you‘ve now heard the background to this topic and the three reasons why abortion is not really legal. Abortion was not voted in legally by our representatives, was not the will of the people and is not found in our Constitution. Just because it‘s legal doesn‘t mean it's right, but more to the point, it‘s not even legal!
Could the Supreme Court ever overrule its own decision on the matter? Sure, they‘ve reversed major decisions only about 100 times! 1038
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Quotable Quote ―Our nationwide policy of abortion-on- demand through all nine months of pregnancy was neither voted for by our people nor enacted by our legislators — not a single state had such unrestricted abortion before the Supreme Court decreed it to be national policy in 1973.‖
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—Ronald Reagan, former U.S. President Reason #77 ―Abortion was illegally made legal!‖
Reason #78 Have a child now while you can
Not everyone can have a child when they want to ave you ever thought about the large numbers of women who can‘t get pregnant when they want to? Okay, maybe you haven‘t. Especially if you‘re pregnant now and don‘t want to be! But, think of it now. Imagine being one of those who can‘t conceive because of complications from an earlier abortion or maybe never finding the right person or maybe a health condition that means you can‘t carry a pregnancy to term. (There are a couple of stories like this in Reason #29: Abortion may affect your future fertility . ) I think many people want to be pregnant, just not
now
, not under these
circumstances . The weird thing is — and I‘m just as guilty as the rest of us here — is that we spend so much of our youth trying to avoid getting pregnant at all costs; and then when we get older and suddenly wake up and the baby urge kicks in, we‘ll try anything if it will just give us that wanted pregnancy. Some do get pregnant. Others don‘t. You just don‘t know what the future H
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holds. The popularity of country music star Kellie Coffey‘s song, ―I Would Die For That,‖ shows that it touched people‘s hearts. For those who don‘t know the song, it‘s about how her best friend made the choice (to abort) and how she would die for that chance, how her husband and her both wonder whose fault it is that they can‘t get pregnant, how all she wants is a family, before her time is up, to have that chance, how she would die for that. It‘s a powerful, emotional song, and when you read the comments on You Tube
you realize just how many people are really struggling with not being able to conceive. I know, it‘s mind boggling. So much emotion. So many people are just hoping and praying they can have a child. So many people crying in response to her song and wishing each other good luck with getting pregnant. When you read all the comments about how many years they‘ve been trying to conceive and all the miscarriages they‘ve had, it just makes you realize. You could be more lucky than you think.
Your biological clock lright, since many of you reading this book are possibly between 15 and 25 — possibly — I am going to bring up this topic but I‘m not going to rehash it. Here are just a few things for you to consider:
Your fertility peaks between 20-30, an age when many today are just starting their career or considering commitment in a relationship. 1040
A major cause of infertility is age- related. With all
the career
advancement going on — often at the sacrifice of a child (quite literally), women are now starting families in their thirties and forties. For some women, though, this will be too late.
Between 1989-1999, less than 200 women over the age of 50 actually succeeded in giving birth. 1041
No amount of money or technology can turn back the clock or make you younger.
Are women missing out? study of 1,168 professional women across America found that ―high achieving‖ women 40 years old had a 33% chance of being childless, despite the fact that only 14% of them had ever planned it that way. For ―ultra-achieving‖ women, 49% found themselves missing the achievement of motherhood. 1042
They didn‘t plan to be childless yet at age 40 when the cost of IVF is something like $12 000 per round 1043
and A A
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the success rate a short 3-5%, 1044 they found themselves looking down the barrel of a future without children. Agency and private adoptions can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $40,000. 1045
someone bear their biological child. 1046
Even radical pro-choicers like Germaine Greer have their moments. Upon turning 40 and childless she was reported to have told a British magazine, ―I was desperate for a baby and I have the medical bills to prove it. I still have pregnancy dreams, waiting for something that will never happen.‖ 1047
children in their life, but a large majority do. The fact is, if you leave childbearing till you are too old, no one is going to be able to give you back those lost years. I guess what no one knows for sure is, will you get another chance? Most of you will, but statistically, a small few of you will not.
Reason #78 A future pregnancy is not guaranteed Reason #79 The population explosion is an urban myth
Too many people? I don‘t think so! id you know that many countries around the world today have birth rates that are below replacement levels? Want some examples? After an earlier population boom, Iran now has lower than replacement birth levels — helped in part by free condoms and vasectomies — not to mention reduced maternity benefits. 1048
replacement level. 1049
Russia is shrinking by a staggering 700,000 people per year. 1050
This should come as no surprise since abortion is now twice as common as birth. 1051
The government is now trying desperately to reverse this de-population trend by holding pregnancy competitions and offering rewards such as a fridge or TV to successful couples.
1052
Western Europe currently has 1/6 of the population aged 65 and over. By 2030, 1/3 D
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of the population will be gray. 1053 A growth in the aging population means a tremendous burden on Social Security. As their medical and nursing needs skyrocket, there will need to be more young workers in the population to provide taxes for their Social Security. This is also an issue in America. 1054
Q. ―But the cities are crowded!‖ A. ―Yes, but over-concentration of people in cities is not the same as overpopulation.‖
What can be done as the percentage of old people gets bigger and the medical system get worse and worse? The government could run out of money with which to fund these projects, leaving old people without
services. Or
the government could increase immigration with nationalities that include workers and future parents to help boost the economy. Or, we could stop aborting our children. Some countries such as France are trying to remedy this lack of babies. France now offers incentives such as a year‘s maternity leave for a woman‘s third child and many discounts, subsidies and tax breaks. It seems to be working and the birthrate is increasing. Maybe they will soon be at replacement level. 1055
In Japan an estimated 63,000 teachers have lost their jobs and more than 2,000 schools have closed down due to lack of students. The baby shortage is so real that Japanese department stores are closing down play areas and replacing them with adult recreation spaces. Theme parks for children are closing down, while another was opened recently for adults. 1056 This is only the tip of the iceberg for Japan. The low birthrate is changing many areas of their society. 1057
In our own country, America, we are just over replacement level with 2006 being the first time since 1971 that we are not below replacement level. 1058
If you‘re wondering how we could have had such low levels but still be a large nation, the answer is immigration. Immigration boosts our population levels by bringing in many more families and nationalities more willing to give birth. This is evidenced by the fact that the general percentage of births are down but Hispanic births have almost doubled. 1059
average of 2.1 children per woman to sustain the population at zero population growth? In other words, no change in the current population size. The United States is actually under replacement level, having been listed as having 2.05 children per women for the 2009 estimate by the CIA — and yes, I didn‘t know they did population
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figures either! 1060 In third world countries where you might not live to have a child the replacement rate must be higher, up to 3.3 children per woman. 1061
Are some countries still growing? Sure they are. Particularly in Africa. But I hope you‘ll see further down that people are not the root cause of our problems.
The nutty side of population fanatics I was once severely criticized for describing human beings as being the ―AIDS of the Earth.‖ I make no apologies for
that statement…reduce human populations to fewer than one billion… Who should have children?…a very small percentage of humans . 1062
—Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
The
hopeful alternative to the
extinction of millions of species of plants and animals is the voluntary extinction of one species: Homo sapiens... us. 1063
—Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
So the first task is population control at home. How do we go about it?... One plan often mentioned involves the addition of temporary sterilants to water supplies or staple food… The option isn‘t even open to us, thanks to the criminal inadequacy of biomedical research… 1064
Obviously, such measures would need coordination by a powerful governmental agency… In the first area it would promote intensive investigation of new techniques of birth control, possibly leading to the development of mass sterilization agents such as were discussed above… Many people‘s lack the incentive to use the Pill. A program requiring daily attention just will not work… We need a federal law guaranteeing the right of any woman to have an abortion... 1065
The Population Bomb
At present the population of the world is increasing... War, so far, has had no very great effect on this increase... I do not pretend that birth control is the only way in which population can be kept from increasing. There are others... If a Black Death could be spread throughout the world once in every generation survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full... The state of affairs might be somewhat unpleasant, but what of that? Really high-minded people are indifferent to happiness, especially other people‘s . 1066 —Bertrand Russell (advisor to presidents) in The Impact of Science on Society
Would you have guessed? Many of the individuals who were involved in the eugenics movement went on to direct the birth control programs that are around today. 1067
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So if it‘s not overpopulation, what causes starvation, war and environmental problems? Starvation In the modern world, people starve en masse not because famine is unavoidable. They starve instead because their own rulers happen to be indifferent to their plight, or because the state under which they live has actively contrived to bring about their death…. 1068
—Nicholas Eberstadt, political economist
there are problems, yet I don‘t buy into the idea that people per se are the cause of these problems. There are too many
greedy people, but not too many people. One aspect that I believe is often overlooked is bankers. Yes, large banks such as the International Monetary Fund come up to a third world nation and offer to lend them all this money so that they can develop their country. The country accepts the loan but for whatever reason cannot pay it back on time. Maybe the leaders were corrupt and wasted the money, maybe it was just not enough, or perhaps the bankers knew they could never pay it back — whatever. However, now the bankers come back and say, I want my money NOW. You have to pay high interest and we‘re going to dictate your economic policies so that you can pay us back soon because you owe us big time. And so, the people no longer run the country‘s policies; the bankers do. Here is a tragic example of how bankers, not large families, cause hardship and suffering. In 2000, the World Bank required Bolivia to privatize their public water system as part of the deal for re- financing. The new privatized corporation forbids collecting rain (!) and charges such high rates that the poor people are faced with a very real crisis. For a poor person, the cost of water may be a whole quarter of their income. To obtain water they must now forgo their child‘s education, needed medical care or maybe even dip into their food budget. As you can imagine, the need for water is only second to the need for air. It‘s not a luxury. That means the rest of living standards fall while people pay exorbitantly for plain old tap water. I know, it‘s hard for us even to imagine. Of course, there are also other ‗natural‘ causes of poverty, such as drought and floods and other natural disasters which affect crop production. Infighting between neighboring tribes can cause food shortages. Limited access to farming technologies can hinder production levels. There are many reasons for poverty — but let‘s look at them I
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all instead of just assuming that population is somehow the cause.
War ust as war can contribute to poverty, so poverty
can contribute to war.
Ignorance and hate, as well as the interests of multinational companies, all play a part. Remember, war is a very profitable endeavor. War does not exist because there are too many people. War exists because people can‘t get along. Actually, I think that‘s oversimplifying it. There are big profits to be made in war, and whenever the economy gets really bad you can always count on it to boost industry. Sad but true.
Environmental Degradation 5% of the World‘s Population consumes a third of its resources and makes nearly half its waste. That 5% is US . —Anonymous bumper sticker
ep, that‘s us, America. Despite our very low birthrate, we consume 1/3 of the world‘s resources and make nearly half of its waste. While we are barely above replacement birthrate, we do far more damage than any of the developing nations who are still growing. People aren‘t the cause of the problem. Well, maybe uneducated ones. But we can educate people, and even if we can‘t educate the big corporations, we can boycott them and force them to use better business practices that way. Remember, it‘s not the number of people on Earth; it‘s how they treat the earth. It doesn‘t take a lot of corporations to wreck the environment nor do lots of people mean we can‘t live in harmony.
Difficult Questions If you can agree with abortion to promote the goal of decreasing the world‘s population, why not start with those already living?
Why make the upcoming generation pay for the faults of the current generation?
What? I didn‘t address your concern? You were thinking about global warming? Good question. That‘s a big one in the news these days. The interesting thing about global warming is there is no universal consensus. (I know, that‘s not what you hear in the media.) We do know that temperatures absolutely do fluctuate and the earth goes through cycles. Whether Yüklə 4,63 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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