I find this a very humane discussion, pointing to the difficulties of raising children in societies that value productivity over everything else. The difficulty I have is that those who wish to outlaw abortion ignore the predictable consequences. Women had abortions before Roe and would certainly continue to have them if Roe went away. The need to control one's own body is primal, and no law will abolish that desire. As in the past, women will take matters into their own hands, without medical attention, assuming all the attendant risks. Repeal of abortion rights would also likely provide openings for organized crime, which usually provides what people want that the law forbids. I am old enough to remember pre-Roe days, and the deaths of young women that resulted from abortions done extra-legally. The saddest thing of all was hearing that these women deserved what happend to them, leading me to doubt the humanity of those who professed to be pro-life.
first, we should be clear that the US is a culture that does not like children. we do whatever it takes to placate them but we do not expend either the personal time (look at what parents and other caregivers are doing at the park while their kids are playing) or the tax dollars (underfunded schools and all kinds of child services), we don't offer any sort of support for working women so they can become mothers or maintain a family (paid parental leave - not just for mothers, flex schedules to handle kid sick days, allowing mothers to take calls from home at work, etc), we don't sufficiently encourage fathers to understand that their role is key to their child's development, and children are too often exposed to adult emotional situations they must learn to navigate far too early. for millennia, women have, and still have, the main caregiver and protector role, which puts them at odds with every other situation they encounter. what happens to far too many women is they are forced to overcome their nurturing desires to turn on the 'work mode' to compete in the office or on the production line so they can be both mom and dad at home by bringing home the paycheck too. if we, as a culture, treasured our children, we'd place their care and well being above the workplace fray. but, we don't. we could - paid family leave, universal child care, safe schools. we could.
I love that closing quote, and think it gets to the heart of the matter: what machine? and whose?
Some people think that we can't build (anew, again) a world where sex is for procreation, not pleasure, where contraception is practically banned and so are LGBTQ 'lifestyles'. I'm not in that camp, I think that machine can absolutely - and horrifically - be recreated. I think it is currently (re)entering operation.
Some people think that we can't build (anew, again) a world where autonomy is respected and interdependence is celebrated. I think that's a machine that can be built, and that many people are in the practice of building. Focusing on destruction in the hopes that out of the ashes can come something good is a certain type of depressing idealism, willing to sacrifice too many and too much.
Which isn't to say throwing bodies on gears isn't a useful tactic! But it does have its limits. And it always comes with pain.
I find this a very humane discussion, pointing to the difficulties of raising children in societies that value productivity over everything else. The difficulty I have is that those who wish to outlaw abortion ignore the predictable consequences. Women had abortions before Roe and would certainly continue to have them if Roe went away. The need to control one's own body is primal, and no law will abolish that desire. As in the past, women will take matters into their own hands, without medical attention, assuming all the attendant risks. Repeal of abortion rights would also likely provide openings for organized crime, which usually provides what people want that the law forbids. I am old enough to remember pre-Roe days, and the deaths of young women that resulted from abortions done extra-legally. The saddest thing of all was hearing that these women deserved what happend to them, leading me to doubt the humanity of those who professed to be pro-life.
first, we should be clear that the US is a culture that does not like children. we do whatever it takes to placate them but we do not expend either the personal time (look at what parents and other caregivers are doing at the park while their kids are playing) or the tax dollars (underfunded schools and all kinds of child services), we don't offer any sort of support for working women so they can become mothers or maintain a family (paid parental leave - not just for mothers, flex schedules to handle kid sick days, allowing mothers to take calls from home at work, etc), we don't sufficiently encourage fathers to understand that their role is key to their child's development, and children are too often exposed to adult emotional situations they must learn to navigate far too early. for millennia, women have, and still have, the main caregiver and protector role, which puts them at odds with every other situation they encounter. what happens to far too many women is they are forced to overcome their nurturing desires to turn on the 'work mode' to compete in the office or on the production line so they can be both mom and dad at home by bringing home the paycheck too. if we, as a culture, treasured our children, we'd place their care and well being above the workplace fray. but, we don't. we could - paid family leave, universal child care, safe schools. we could.
I love that closing quote, and think it gets to the heart of the matter: what machine? and whose?
Some people think that we can't build (anew, again) a world where sex is for procreation, not pleasure, where contraception is practically banned and so are LGBTQ 'lifestyles'. I'm not in that camp, I think that machine can absolutely - and horrifically - be recreated. I think it is currently (re)entering operation.
Some people think that we can't build (anew, again) a world where autonomy is respected and interdependence is celebrated. I think that's a machine that can be built, and that many people are in the practice of building. Focusing on destruction in the hopes that out of the ashes can come something good is a certain type of depressing idealism, willing to sacrifice too many and too much.
Which isn't to say throwing bodies on gears isn't a useful tactic! But it does have its limits. And it always comes with pain.