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What you thought you knew about abortions in the U.S.
Posted: Jan 22, 2008 in Things to do
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I admit, I was one of those people who thought that most abortions are performed on teenagers. I have that stereotypical image of a 15-year-old high schooler who doesn't want her parents to find out she's been sexually active . . . or whose parents insist she terminate her pregnancy . . . as the predominant picture that comes to mind when I hear the word "abortion" or think of the girls sitting in the waiting rooms at Planned Parenthood.
However, an article I read this weekend says I (along with many other Americans) am wrong. According to the AP report, more than half of the women getting abortions are 25 years old or older, and many already have a child. The timing of the article struck me as ironic, considering the recent announcement that Pam Anderson was "no longer pregnant" with on again/off again husband Rick Solomon.
Excellent article, thank you for sharing :)
I too was one of those who tended to see "abortion" as a young woman's issue. I was interested to see that the numbers are so vastly different than my perception (albeit, based on media framing of the issue; which they do tend to present as more a "teenage" issue, rather than a woman's health issue)
Many people focus on the "unborn" to the exclusion, and in many cases the detriment to the "living". While I certainly respect life, I have a hard time getting all up in arms about the loss of lives through abortion, considering the number of children that live with daily food insecurity. I suppose I just think it more important to care for those children already in this world... rather than getting upset about the "might have been" children.
Thanks again for the article... :)
~tlwc
Thank you both. I too thought it was a teen thing. and i agree with tlwc i think we need to worry more about taking are of the children that are already here or the ones no one wants and/or can't care for rather than worry about the lives the unborn and the choices their mothers have made for them.
I hate to see a child suffer or be unwanted. And I would hate to see a mother die to bring a baby into the world. it makes me said. I think abortion is a choice and always should be.
I read a add once that said "90% or anti-abortionist were men and 100% or them will never be pregnant"
Great article Kimi!
On a side note when it comes to this stuff I think kids just need to be better educated to prevent teen pregnancies. I knew when I was growing up that I didn't want to do "that" until I was ready to face any consonance. The only 100% affective method is to just not to. I mean I know people that have used stuff that has worked great and some that have gotten pregnant any way.
"I think kids just need to be better educated to prevent teen pregnancies." ~kathrynbelt
I wholeheartedly agree! While my parents certainly harped on the "just don't do it!" message, they taught me first and foremost that taking a relationship to that level was a responsibility and should be done with the utmost respect for myself and the other person. My favorite "Hollywood" line regarding sex during teenhood comes from "Clueless"... "You know how picky I am about my shoes, and those only go on my feet!"
That pretty much sums up how I felt about sex in general when I was a teen.
"I think kids just need to be better educated to prevent teen pregnancies." ~kathrynbelt I ...
GREAT post. I was just going to post on that quote from Alveda King (MLK's neice, it said), where she said sex education and providing birth control is at fault for unintended teen pregnancies. The teen pregnancy rate has actually dropped dramatically since the 70s and 80s, when sex ed was not widely taught in schools. It kills me that people still think that way.
At least imho, sex "education" should be more than just about the physical act of "sex". Teenagers, especially, also need to be taught how to love themselves enough to take the ribbing that comes from being the "last of the virgins". So much of the time teens enter into a sexual relationship out of a need to fill an unnamed void (missing daddy, missing mommy, broken heart, need to feel wanted, need to feel beautiful), and then later find that all the sex in the world is never going to fill whatever void they are feeling.
When I was 16 I had a great teacher (my Lit teacher, are there any better? lol) who sat me down and explained sexual relations like this: "There is sex, and there is making love. If you are lucky, you will never in your life have sex. Physical relations should be about honoring the beauty of the other person, not about the bumping, grinding, and whoa-who! feelings. If you are sleeping with boys whom you don't really care about, you are doing both yourself and the boy in question a terrible wrong." Consequently, what she said had a big impact on me, and I was "the last virgin" in my graduating class, much to my mother's relief.
I think that we have really backward views on sex in this country. We teach abstinince only, yet plaster billboards with barely-legal, barely-clothed "beauties"... and wonder why kids seem so "over-sexed". :|
Two more related stories.
Use of the abortion pill on the rise
and abortion rates the lowest they've been since the '70s!
NEW YORK - The number of abortions in the United States dropped to 1.2 million in 2005, the lowest level since 1974 and down 25 percent from the all-time high of 1.6 million in 1990, according to report issued Thursday.