I don’t like to talk about politics via social media. I find it completely counter-productive. My mind has never been changed or even remotely influenced by a meme or ranting Facebook status, so I don’t really see the need for all of that. And now, in the midst of election season, it’s impossible, even from a continent away, to escape the chaos. Many Italians have asked me my opinions, or who I’m voting for, so it’s obvious that this election is a big deal to the world. Also, my vote has already been sent in, so don’t try to campaign to me if you think you may change my mind. And, to all you people who say you aren’t voting because they’re both idiots, it’s you who is the idiot. Regardless of who you’re voting for, it is important to exercise your right, because as Americans, we fought long and hard for that right. Of course they’re idiots; they’re politicians. You won’t ever agree with one of them about everything, and they’re bound to screw up sometime. But to not have an opinion at all, or not let your opinion be heard (because everyone has an opinion, believe it or not), is just a poor attitude.
Anyways. Off my soapbox now. I say all of that to say that I found an article today that was quite interesting to me. It deals with an issue that has been a hot topic this election season, and really, every election season: abortion. I found it interesting, because rather than just debating the right and wrong, as we have for so long, it offers a solution to the problem. As you can probably guess, I’m pro-life, and can’t say that I agree with everything in the article, but I can really relate to women facing unexpected pregnancies and think the author makes some great points. You can find the article at this link:
http://us.cnn.com/2012/10/29/opinion/frum-abortion-reality/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
If you don’t want to read it, here’s a brief summary. Basically, statistics show that the rate of abortion is directly related with economic status. Poorer women have more limited access to birth control, thus resulting in more pregnancies. Because children are expensive to raise, and the US doesn’t offer very generous maternity leave or other benefits to mothers, these poorer women are more likely to have abortions, either because they can’t afford another child, or they can’t afford a child at all. The author of this article compares the US with Germany and the Netherlands, which both have much better benefit packages for mothers, and also have much lower abortion rates. The abortion laws in these countries are not very restrictive, but by giving mothers some assistance, the incentive for abortion is much less.
Ok, now the reason this article is so interesting to me is that I’ve realized in the last few weeks how limited the US is with their motherhood benefits. We give food stamps to everyone, and have many government programs that are completely stupid and a waste of money, but we can’t give new mothers anything. We discussed this at one of my Italian classes last week. Each country represented by someone in the class went over their country’s laws, and out of Ukraine, Portugal, Egypt, Morocco, India, and a couple others I can’t remember, the US was by far the worst. Six weeks maternity leave is barely enough time to recover from having a baby, much less get to know the baby, and spend any time with him/her. Many mothers are forced to return to work simply because they have to. In Italy, mothers get 6 MONTHS maternity leave, and the father also gets some time, which can be used at once, or can be transferred to the mother to compound her time. Other countries offered even more; I think Ukraine was the most generous, but I can’t remember exactly how much was offered. The other women in my class were appalled at six weeks, they couldn’t understand how you could possibly breastfeed, or leave the baby with someone at that age. I have to say, it’s something I haven’t thought about until now, but it really is difficult in the US to work and have children. It’s almost like you have to choose one or the other to be great at, or just be mediocre at both. I’m very blessed in that I have parents on both sides that are willing to help out, but not everyone has that.
I know the author of this article is probaby not pro-life, but I like that he offers solutions to at least reduce abortion. It can never be completely eliminated; people will find ways, but if the number could be cut to 1/3 of the current number, it would be a great advancement. We can go back and forth for many years over when life begins, or whether unborn children have rights, but many babies will be lost in that time, not to mention the millions of women that will be emotionally damaged in the process. Or, in the meantime, we can offer alternate solutions to help women desperate enough to consider abortion as an option, and to put motherhood back in a positive light, even for working women.
I hope I didn’t offend anyone; it was certainly not my intention. I realize that abortion is a very complex issue, and I could talk for much longer about it, but in the essence of time, I just wanted to comment on that particular article. Remember, go vote!! It may seem like your vote is insignificant, but if everyone thought that way, what would happen?
Ciao for now,
Kathleen
First, access to birth control is not limited. Pretty sure it's free at the health department, so that is an option over abortion for the poor. Also, just because some countries with lower abortion rates have more benefits than the U.S. doesn't prove cause and effect. The fact that the author says "maybe not coincidentally" is not very convincing and good social science must account for other variables.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, not sure where 6 weeks comes from. While some companies offer 6 weeks maternity leave it's not required they do so as far as I know. And with the Family and Medical Leave Act a woman may take up to 12 weeks off though not necessarily with pay - it just preserves her job. For smaller businesses to pay for someone to be off for 6 weeks and then hire someone to take their place would be very difficult if not impossible. We don't need government interfering by imposing further burdens on businesses. Now if a business wants to offer more time that's great but it doesn't have to be something the government gets involved with.
In short, if our abortion rates are higher let's not try to blame someone else. It's primarily the fault of those who have them. The reasons are complicated and probably multifactorial but the individual is ultimately accountable.
I definitely agree that birth control is an option that many overlook; however, that's another issue in itself. Schools should do a better job teaching about that. Whatever they're doing here to teach birth control is working much better than what the US is doing; there's virtually no unplanned pregnancies and a lower abortion rate. I also said that I didn't agree with everything that the author says. I know that abortion is a multifaceted issue, but I also think that it's going to take so much time to actually change any laws, that maybe the way to go about fixing the problem is to do something else in the meantime. As far as companies paying for the maternity leave, here it's paid for by the state. Which I'm sure is incredibly expensive, but I also think it's very important, and probably much more so than many things our tax dollars go towards.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, it is a choice, and those who choose it must bear the consequences; I realize that, but I have also known people who made that choice, and it was usually done out of desperation. That doesn't make it the right decision, but it does mean that maybe something should be done so that so many American women don't feel like they need to make that choice. In my opinion, birth control is the first area that needs reform, but I think the maternity leave can also be a factor. Our abortion rates are alarmingly higher than most other countries, and I think it couldn't hurt to try to analyze why that is, and find a solution while Washington passes the issue back and forth for all eternity.