#6 Bright Pebbles: you are right, women should choose for themselves how many kids they want, not governments. But they should also have the social freedom to be able to choose, access to contraception and the power to use it - three things often missing. especially when religion and tribalism come into it
ahh Procopius - v. interesting i recall The Dictator (sascha baron cohen) - so, is it a boy or an abortion?
trailing wife - I am not sure those factbook figures are very accurate, having travelled a bit in africa and the middle east... In the West many women don't have kids. Many are picky and choose no husband rather than a poor choice. But in say, Oman, the picky women who don't want kids/husband are forced to marry. So one man has 4 wives. And then they are forced to breed. 9 kids per wife. So measuring per woman (the number comes down a bit with miscarriages/stillbirths factored in) you get say 5 per woman but that is from 4 women - and every woman has to pretty much. Social coercion. It's not unusual for one man to have 27 children from 4 wives there, and with medical and education paid for by the gas industry, they all survive to adulthood unlike africa.
Deacon Blues: Good point, abortion should never be used as contraception. That's what the pill, implanon and IUDs and condoms are for.
I have no problem with first trimester abortions for women who were raped, for genetic deformities and for emergencies where clearly the woman will be a completely unfit parent and may self-harm (eg: teenagers or chronic drug abusers).
But this is not the same thing as using it as a contraceptive.
|