Texas: "Want an abortion? Take a 24 hour guilt trip first!"

Please don't let that be real.

"Every sperm is sacred" is a Monty Python quote, so I'm pretty sure that it's a fake.

Electron Blue wrote:

"Every sperm is sacred" is a Monty Python quote, so I'm pretty sure that it's a fake.

I think it's a fake protest.

Lady Anne wrote:

Electron Blue wrote:

"Every sperm is sacred" is a Monty Python quote, so I'm pretty sure that it's a fake.

I think it's a fake protest.

It's a fake, but it's not too different from beliefs that have existed in many different cultures at many points in history.

Be glad those beliefs aren't likely to come back.

Science gave reproductive rights a tremendous boost when it conclusively proved that semen wasn't full of miniature babies, and that putting it somewhere other than inside a woman wasn't even slightly like aborting fetuses.

There are still religions that frown on putting it somewhere else, but at least it's just frowning and not "anti-murder" fervor.

Reproductive rights now are fucked up, but at least they're not that level of fucked up, and likely won't be again.

Notanoni wrote:

Lady Anne wrote:

Electron Blue wrote:

"Every sperm is sacred" is a Monty Python quote, so I'm pretty sure that it's a fake.

I think it's a fake protest.

It's a fake, but it's not too different from beliefs that have existed in many different cultures at many points in history.

Be glad those beliefs aren't likely to come back.

Science gave reproductive rights a tremendous boost when it conclusively proved that semen wasn't full of miniature babies, and that putting it somewhere other than inside a woman wasn't even slightly like aborting fetuses.

There are still religions that frown on putting it somewhere else, but at least it's just frowning and not "anti-murder" fervor.

Reproductive rights now are fucked up, but at least they're not that level of fucked up, and likely won't be again.

Knock on wood.

You just wait. Soon enough it will be compulsory for women to have babies every 9 months.

Skopje, will you please just knock it off? It wasn't funny hours ago and it's even less funny now.

So, are you the pot in this situation?

SkopjeFest makes Harley look rational.

See, I told you he'd be gone in less than 24 hours. Anyway, about that guilt trip... what is it with all the endeavouring to make women feel worse and worse about abortions? Why don't they just push straight ahead with what they want to do and ask for abortions to be illiegal.

Possibly while they're at it, they can make it legal to kill people again, since they have so little respect as it is for a person's body post-womb.

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

what is it with all the endeavouring to make women feel worse and worse about abortions? Why don't they just push straight ahead with what they want to do and ask for abortions to be illegal.

They've been trying; the direct approach isn't working (thank the Maker for that). Thus, they're trying to get it instituted in a round-about way: getting smaller semi-related laws passed and then use them all to be able to outlaw abortions without a law that outright says so.

Ah, I get it - close the time limit to smaller and smaller times until it's so small that by the time the woman realises she's pregnant it's too late to get an abortion.

A WOMAN MUST ABIDE BY THE LAWS OF NATURE AND HAVE BABIES!

TheHermit wrote:

Owlish wrote:

I honestly think it has something to do with belief in the Christian afterlife. It doesn't really matter what this world is like, because all the "good" people are going to live happily ever after Heaven. In fact the more this world sucks, and the more we all suffer, the better for our eternal souls.

I have seen this exact argument used as a justification for genocide. By a modern theologian, no less. Yes, really. (link leads to a very harsh takedown of the essay in question, but links to the original at the very beginning. Not linking the original because it is down at this precise moment.)

I actually read that awhile ago, oddly enough. When I first read it, I thought this William Lane Craig guy was the definition of a theological ivory tower, just twisting himself around in his own words, but then I remembered that you hear the same damn stuff on Fox News. Thank God Beck's days are numbered...

karmyn31 wrote:

I've known women who wanted their tubes tied after they had children and the doctor still tried to talk them out of it. My sister had it done after her second child. They decided two was enough. She even had the almost impossible to reverse kind done.
And now Rick Perry wants to run for President.
This is where we long for the days of Bush.

This asshole? President? I'd rather have Sarah Palin in the White House.

If he gets in, I'm moving my family back to England where people are relatively sane.

This is really awful. I mean, abortions and tying your tubes AREN'T things to be taken lightly but that's not the reason these politicians want the women to have the baby.

A 16 year old girl without a job shouldn't need to be asked repeatedly if she really wants this baby when it's clear she barely has the responsibility to control her own life.

They don't care about the life (or perhaps education and healthcare would be a little more important). They're treating the woman like she's commited a crime by having a baby she doesn't want, and they're treating the life inside her like it's her punishment.

You catch that? The baby isn't a baby, it's a means of punishment. Even though a teenage mother without a job really benefits nobody.

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

This is really awful. I mean, abortions and tying your tubes AREN'T things to be taken lightly but that's not the reason these politicians want the women to have the baby.

A 16 year old girl without a job shouldn't need to be asked repeatedly if she really wants this baby when it's clear she barely has the responsibility to control her own life.

They don't care about the life (or perhaps education and healthcare would be a little more important). They're treating the woman like she's commited a crime by having a baby she doesn't want, and they're treating the life inside her like it's her punishment.

You catch that? The baby isn't a baby, it's a means of punishment. Even though a teenage mother without a job really benefits nobody.

Harley, pat yourself on the back. You hit the nail on the head with this statement.

Lady Anne wrote:

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

This is really awful. I mean, abortions and tying your tubes AREN'T things to be taken lightly but that's not the reason these politicians want the women to have the baby.

A 16 year old girl without a job shouldn't need to be asked repeatedly if she really wants this baby when it's clear she barely has the responsibility to control her own life.

They don't care about the life (or perhaps education and healthcare would be a little more important). They're treating the woman like she's commited a crime by having a baby she doesn't want, and they're treating the life inside her like it's her punishment.

You catch that? The baby isn't a baby, it's a means of punishment. Even though a teenage mother without a job really benefits nobody.

Harley, pat yourself on the back. You hit the nail on the head with this statement.

Thanks, Anne. I know a say a lot of dumb things... which makes it all the sweeter when I come out with something intelligent and thoughtful.

A baby shouldn't be a punishment to make a woman's life (and for that matter, the life of the father) difficult. That'll only make her resent the child, and maybe feel like the baby has ruined her life. The child will catch on that and will grow up unhappy, regardless of education, welfare or healthcare. The unhappy child risks falling in with bad company, possibly contributing to crime. The mother can either get a job and provide for the baby, or stay at home and care for it and not have a job. That, or rely on her parents, who also need some free time to look after the baby.

"Get a job!" shouts the politician making millions a year.

"Uh, we're in a depression... I can't find a job," says the new mother, "I have few qualifications and I'm left working tills or parking trolleys for minimum wage while the baby needs taking care of either by a nanny, which I can't hardly afford, or by my parents. The baby will be miserable."

"Stay at home and take care of the baby then!" shouts the politician.

"But how am I ever going to afford to take care of the baby!" asks the mother, "Must I leech off my parents forever? They don't exactly have stellar jobs either."

"Fine, maybe we'll charge you with child neglect and take the baby away!" shout social services, "The taxpayer can look after it instead!"

"You mean I went through all the hassle of being called a slut by my peers, having a baby I didn't really want anyway, and paying a load of the money I'd been saving to get to college on it, and now all I'm getting is a criminal record that will see me despised by mothers universally?" asks the mother, "Well thanks a lot."

A baby should be a joy - maybe sometimes a surprise - "Gosh, I wasn't planning for a baby, but I wanted one sooner or later - hey, let's go with the flow! I'm glad to have it!" - but nobody should ever be bullied into having it, the way these politicians act.

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

*snip*

Harley, I like you. So I hope you won't be offended when I say that these last two messages of yours are the most insightful and intelligent things I've ever seen you post here and I'm very proud of you.

Another problem arises - not just for teenage mothers, but for teenage fathers too. Suddenly he's an asshole is being pressurised into getting married with this girl. She may be a girlfriend. She may be a one-night-stand. But he sure don't want to marry her.

Trouble is everybody's calling him names regardless of his age. If he's under 20 he's finding his parents and the parents of his girlfriend want him to get married. If he's over 20 and still with his parents... same deal. If he's living alone he's suddenly expected to help with child support or something. If he's over 30 he may be considered a disgusting pervert. It depends on whether his friends back him up or not. If they do, the friend of a disgusting pervert is a disgusting pervert so, no backup.

So unless he totally vanishes from the girl's life he's just backed himself into his own corner too. The guy with no conscience has no trouble with this since he just walks it off. The guy who feels guilt or something is the one who suffers more.

There's no incentive for the guy to stick around, which makes it even harder for the teen single parent. In fact there's no incentive in America to have a baby period and yet all politicians can do is guilt-trip people into keeping kids they don't have money or time for.

"You don't keep the baby, then you're a murderer! And you, if you don't get married to the girl you knocked up because of ignorance, you're a stain on society's ass and everybody hates you!"

"You know, if you'd been a little more instructive in sex-ed lessons... you know, telling kids that yes, virgins can get pregnant, that pulling out early isn't a guarrantee, and weren't so bitchy about people buying things like condoms and The Pill, we might not even be in this position of having to consider abortion-"

"Shut the hell up!"

"But won't any petty benefits I can claim be a drain on the people who can contribute to society - you know, taxpayers? You'll have to up taxes or lower benefits and before your election you kept mentioning tax cuts so the people who need the money most will as per usual be the ones who suffer-"

"Shut up or we take away the baby!"

"Fine, take it. I hope you can feed and clothe it too, cus that's most of why I didn't want it in the first place..."

"Hey, that's what moving kids from foster home to foster home so that they develop huge social problems is for! Hey, TAXPAYER! Another baby for you to pay for!"

"So how many kids am I paying for now?"

"Meh. Don't know, don't care."

"Say, you love kids, how many have you got?"

"Uh... three."

"You mean you've only had sex three times in your life?"

"Well, uh..."

"And I suppose you don't masturbate either, since you think that's murder also..."

"Uh..."

"Yeah, that would explain a lot. Alternatively you're a liar and a hypocrite... which is why you're a politician!"

Lady Anne wrote:

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

This is really awful. I mean, abortions and tying your tubes AREN'T things to be taken lightly but that's not the reason these politicians want the women to have the baby.

A 16 year old girl without a job shouldn't need to be asked repeatedly if she really wants this baby when it's clear she barely has the responsibility to control her own life.

They don't care about the life (or perhaps education and healthcare would be a little more important). They're treating the woman like she's commited a crime by having a baby she doesn't want, and they're treating the life inside her like it's her punishment.

You catch that? The baby isn't a baby, it's a means of punishment. Even though a teenage mother without a job really benefits nobody.

Harley, pat yourself on the back. You hit the nail on the head with this statement.

Yeah, good for her. She said something that several of us have said before in many other threads.

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

Another problem arises - not just for teenage mothers, but for teenage fathers too. Suddenly he's an asshole is being pressurised into getting married with this girl. She may be a girlfriend. She may be a one-night-stand. But he sure don't want to marry her.

Trouble is everybody's calling him names regardless of his age.

Oh BOOOO HOOOOO. It's a lot easier for the guy to walk away. The social stigma and financial burdens don't even compare to the ones placed on single mothers. Not to mention that he can, if he so chooses, tell everyone that the bitch tricked him/trapped him/just wants money/murdered his baby/was fucking twelve other guys so it probably isn't his and he stands a good chance of finding at least one sympathetic ear.

There's no real incentive to keep the baby. Cash or otherwise. You keep the baby, and apart from it costing you a fortune, you've just mucked up your life. Everybody's calling you names and you're out of pocket.

You don't keep the baby, people still call you names, but only if they find out, and at least you're not broke.

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

There's no real incentive to keep the baby.

Well, unless you actually want the baby. That's sort of why people have kids in the first place, despite being money-sucking black holes (giving the lie to the stereotype of [insert demographic here] popping out babies for the fabulous wealth the gubmint/babydaddy provides).

Yeah, I'm saying roughly that. Babies are expensive and the idea that a woman would have them just to suck some child benefits from people in general, when the baby costs many, many times that to keep, is ludicrous.

First you've got to have things like prams, pushchairs, cots... unless you plan on the baby sleeping in a cardboard box. Then you need to feed and clothe the baby. Then there's healthcare, and that's not even going with the possibility the child might have special needs.

That baby is gonna suck up what few savings you have like a black hole.So you'd better WANT it, because besides love, (awwww, no, really, awwww) you ain't getting nothing out of that baby but lessons in responsibilities.

Ever had a dog? A baby's like that, only it lives longer and costs more and it learns to talk back, use your credit cards, and people put up more of a fuss if it gets neglected.

oh god would you stop repeating everything I say

didn't I just say that children were money-sucking black holes

jesus christ have an original thought for once