If I knew that I would not be able to provide an adequate life for that offspring, if I knew that I would not be able to provide that offspring with a residence of sufficient size, with financial resources to provide the best education, with even my presence more than a few hours a day, I would gladly take advantage of that opportunity to prevent that offspring from coming into being, before it is sentient, before it is anything more than a thumb-sized bundle of cells, even if only to increase the chance I'll be able to provide future offspring what I consider to be an adequate life. Why do we not judge people for not having pets? Millions of cats and dogs die every year in shelters - these are sentient, thinking beings who feel pain - yet no one screams at every pet-less person that they are morally obligated to run to the nearest shelter and save a life. It is acceptable for someone to say "I'm not home enough" or "I'm allergic" or even "I don't like animals". I feel that it should be acceptable for a pregnant woman to say "I don't have the money" or "I'm not ready to give up my career" or even "I don't want children". The only way for a woman to be completely sure that she will never get pregnant is to never have sex. Even tubal ligations fail. So the woman is faced with a choice: risk getting pregnant or forgo pleasure? The man has none of the risk. Honestly, if I didn't live in an area where abortions were legal, the choice to have sex would be very, very hard. I'd hate to give it up, but I'd rather not ever have sex than be forced to have a child when I wasn't ready. A child needs to be a choice, not an obligation. I think that you agree with me that children who are not "choices", those born to teenagers and drug users and to families whose religion prevents them from having a choice, often end up with inadequate lives, lacking in parental presence and one-on-one time, material goods, and education opportunities. Having the choice to have a child is important. Even including marriage, it is probably the biggest decision one makes in his or her entire life. It is my hope that women will always have the chance to make that decision, instead of having governments make it for them.
Thank you for the complement about the writing. I think we both understand that neither of us expects to change the other side's opinion, but it is a worthy discussion just to gain some understanding of why the other side feels the way they do. I wrote that line because I was feeling defensive, and I was feeling defensive because the thought of being forced to have a child is utterly terrifying to me. Having a child is pretty much the last thing in the world that I would want to happen to me right now - nine months of untold physical changes, the incomparable pain of childbirth, followed by at least 18 years of complete responsibility. It's very, very scary, and that's why I feel so strongly about it.
Such a touchy topic. If I woman is raped or incest, there is a damn good argument. But as you stated above, that if you had consensual sex with your boyfriend and got prego, you would have an abortion. Selfish fuckin' bitch is what you are, no doubt. If you don't want to get prego don't have sex...that FUCKING SIMPLE. "I want to play like an adult but when the adult responsibilities creep up on you, you don't want to step up to the plate" MAKES ME FUCKIN' sick.
Bullshit. Stronger how? He fails to go back MONTHS. The summer rallied had virtual 100% correlation to McCains bounce. The market rally into election day had NOTHING TO DO with Obama but EVERYTHING to do with 60 D-Sen as an over under. Obama's victory has been a foregone conclusion since the bailout vote/first debate.
"To find out, I plugged the two years' of Intrade data into my PC's statistical software, along with daily returns of the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index , a benchmark that represents the combined value of all publicly traded stocks in the U.S. I found no statistically significant relationship between the two data series." - Mark Hulbert 2 years = 24 months. Anything else I can help you with?
Then where's the chart? http://data.intrade.com/graphing/jsp/closingPricesForm.jsp?contractId=409933 You tell me where since May after Obama became the de facto nominee that you don't see pronounced Obama strength-market weakness or vica versa.