So…the Republican national convention…and Clint Eastwood, talking to an empty chair…happened. I’m concerned. I’m concerned for a lot of reasons, the biggest reason is that the Republican party seems totally out of touch with what we need as a nation. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Democratic party gets it either, but at least they try. As a woman, as a woman who has recently had a slew of health issues that have cost us, as a family, a lot of money to try to diagnose, I believe that our healthcare, as in every other nation, should be guaranteed to citizens of the United States. Australia, a land where English criminals were exiled to, even has healthcare for its citizens; you can buy extra healthcare options, but basic care is guaranteed.
It seems strange to me to not want to subsidize birth control when you’re a republican. I mean, we need to be concerned about population – for a multitude of reasons: economically, socially, job-wise, health-wise, food-supply wise, sustainability wise. It makes no sense to me that a political party that opposes abortion and welfare also opposes birth control. What should we do with the people who have unplanned pregnancies because they can’t afford the costs of condoms or birth control pills? It’s not enough to say they shouldn’t be having sex. Millions of married couples can’t afford basic contraception. They rely upon unreliable methods (early withdrawal) as birth control methods. Then what happens? Then we have a nation consisting of welfare recipients, which costs more over the long-run than providing free and low-cost birth control options. We could ward off abortions if we provided reliable access and education when it comes to birth control.
I’m a member of a different party, and it’s not really relevant to this post. What I do find concerning is the level of hypocrisy I’ve seen in the news reports. I mean, if we want to save money, and cut welfare costs, why not offer free and low-cost birth control options? Otherwise, we wind up paying higher taxes, all of us, in order to support children who wouldn’t be here if their parents have better planned for them.
Also, domestic violence is a real issue. I’m over women being victim-blamed for being single parents. So we’re supposed to allow unhealthy men to rape us and beat us? I don’t think so. I would make the decisions I have made that led me to raising a son alone until just a year ago a thousand times. It is so much better my son and I be safe than my son witness his mother being the victim of a crime. Why is it so bad to help women who are unfortunate victims of this heinous crime get back on their feet? Why force a woman who has already been a victim of a terrible, violating crime, rape, to have a child? I’m not a fan of abortion, however, I don’t think that women who have been victims of these crimes should be further traumatized by unwanted pregnancies.
I think there is a distinction between “unwanted” and “unplanned” pregnancies. Often those who have not planned on having children will go ahead and have those children.
I realize that I’m quite opinionated here. Also, what happened to decorum and maintaining a reputation? It used to be, and I’m not that old, that people actually cared about what people said about them. Nowadays, it seems like people have lost that sense of maintaining a solid reputation. How can we expect that of our citizens?
I’m stepping off my soapbox now. What did you think? Please post your comments in the comments section (and please, be civil to one another. Many of us are all citizens of the same country.)
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