Strollerderby : unplanned pregnancy

"Pro-Choice Women Shouldn't Cry Over Miscarriages"

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:30:00 GMT

Just in case your day is going a little too smoothly, let me share an article that will make your blood boil—particularly if you are one of the numerous women who has suffered the pain of a miscarriage and also happens to believe in a woman’s right to choose.

A guest blogger named Gina over at Mom Logic has written a gem of offensive inanity called “Pro-Choice? Quit Crying Over Your Miscarriage!” Here’s how Gina characterizes the pro-choice women who “break down in hysterics” over a miscarriage: “It's a baby when they want it to be, it's a bundle of cells when they don't.”

This is such a shameless confusion of the issue that we need to put Gina’s thinking in perspective with an extreme—but real-life—example: do I believe that a 12-year-old rape victim should be forced to keep her baby? Absolutely not. Would I be heartbroken if I lost the baby I was carrying, whom I had carefully planned my life around for years? Absolutely. These are two entirely different issues. One has to do with my belief in the universal right to reproductive freedom, which is essential to ending the oppression of women; the other has to do with my personal feelings about motherhood.

Many women who would not choose to have an abortion themselves (except perhaps in extreme cases such as rape or incest) respect other women’s right to choose—as do many men, who will never face the decision of whether or not to have an abortion. That’s why it’s called pro-choice, not pro-abortion. By Gina’s line of thinking, no one who wants kids—male or female—should support a woman’s right to choose.

Gina also writes of pro-choice women who have the gall to want kids of their own: “Suddenly the monthly visitor that they were relieved to get when they were 20, now, at 32, plunges them into the depths of depression.” Well, Gina, this is a little something called “family planning”: making life choices that give both you and your future children the best chances for happiness and success—and therefore, bettering the world. How could anyone take issue with women who were responsible enough to avoid pregnancies when they were too young to care for a child? If it weren’t for unplanned pregnancies, there would be no need for abortion in the first place.

Gina claims that she “respects women’s right to choose.” If she truly is pro-choice—which, by her own definition, means believing that all babies are nothing more than “a conglomeration of microscopic cells” until they are out of the womb—then I sincerely hope she never gets pregnant. It’d be pretty difficult to avoid things like smoking and drinking if you have zero emotional attachment to your baby.

Photo: Flickr/Steve Rhodes

New Abortion-Opposition Strategy to Cripple Planned Parenthood

Shannon LC Cate — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:00:00 GMT

That the far-right Family Research Council is gunning for Planned Parenthood is nothing new. Their latest tactics, however, are uniquely timely. The Wall Street Journal reports that the latest volley in the reproductive health wars is a claim from the far-right that government money should not be used to fund the health clinics in these difficult financial times.

Arguing that the clinics are well-funded without states' money, they say it's time to let them go it alone. In fact, about a third of Planned Parenthood's budget comes from state contributions. To remove them would severely damage the clinics, leaving low-income women and teen girls even fewer options for health care. Because even though Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the United States, abortion services account for only 3% of their work. The other 97% includes contraception provision, STD testing and treatment, cancer screening and prevention and other Ob/Gyn and some men's reproductive health care.

I have taken advantages of Planned Parenthood's low-cost, basic women's health services, as have many, many women I know at times when we've been uninsured, or under-insured students or working for peanuts in retail, food service, or those dues-paying jobs for middle-class young adults that pay in little but prestige. I can only imagine how vital Planned Parenthood's services are to people in a more permanent state of financial challenge. It would be criminal to cut support for them now, when more and more people are losing jobs and thus healthcare.

Abortion Blogger Gives Liberal Parents a Bad Name

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:22:00 GMT

The popular new blog “What to Expect When You’re Aborting” may be the worst thing that’s happened to the choice movement since Sarah Palin. And, in a shout-out that promises to make anti-choice Republicans proud, the writer thanks her “lefty parents” for forming her beliefs.

The anonymous blogger is an anti-choice caricature of the kind of woman who would choose to have an abortion. She is a financially stable white woman in her early twenties; she has been on the pill since she was 13, though she has been "pretty f***ing lax" about it; she glorifies alcohol consumption (beginning her description of the day of her abortion with the headline, “Let’s get some cocktails and de-brief, shall we?”); and she takes glee in parading her hatred for all religion. I don’t have a problem with any of these things in and of themselves—I just don’t want this young woman to be the spokesperson for reproductive rights.

When the blogger sees her fetus, which she refers to as “Tumor,” in a sonogram, she writes, “This was not my Juno moment, where all of a sudden I bit my lower lip and recognized the ‘life’ inside of me. If I could have I would have ripped the f***ing thing our [sic] with my bear [sic] hands on the spot.” She is only concerned that the “tumor’s freakshow head” will mean she’ll be in more pain during the procedure.

The way a woman reacts to a pregnancy is entirely personal: she may feel nothing but relief to have an abortion, or she may decide, at 16, to become a mother. But I don’t want to hear a callous woman broadcasting her hatred of her fetus as an example of why reproductive rights are important, any more than I want to hear an evangelical teenage mom self-righteously defend her choice as heroic or moral.

This blogger, not surprisingly, minces no words in expressing her rather juvenile hatred for the “culture warriors.” She’s got no time for intelligently discussing policy issues (though she does occasionally include a meaningful quote from more nuanced thinkers); she just loathes the bastards and she takes joy in making that perfectly clear, entirely unaware that she is only giving anti-choice activists lots of grist for the self-righteous hatred mill.

This blog epitomizes my concern about the attitude amongst young people that it’s cool not to care too much about anything. If this is what teenage girls stumble upon on the Internet as they try to navigate the very difficult questions surrounding sex and relationships, parents need to work doubly hard to raise thoughtful, intelligent young women.

Photo: What to Expect When You're Aborting

Elderly Man Resues Abandoned Baby

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:00:00 GMT

An 81-year-old man from a quiet Boston suburb stepped out to pick up the mail yesterday and was surprised to find a tote bag sitting on his doorstep. He was even more surprised by the contents of the bag: a newborn baby girl, sleeping peacefully. After John Tuckerman put his hand to the infant’s cheek and she stirred, he hurriedly called 911.

The baby was rushed to the hospital and is in excellent health. She had been cleaned and dried before she was abandoned, although her umbilical cord was still intact. Whoever abandoned her also left a pillow, a blanket, and a note asking that the baby be well cared for.

Newton police are trying to find the baby’s parents and hope that anyone with information about the newborn will come forward. This seems unlikely to me, however, since the parents could potentially face child abuse charges if they were identified.

Some are arguing that this case underscores the need to publicize Massachusetts’ Baby Safe Haven Law, which makes it legal to abandon an infant who is seven days old or younger at a police station, a firehouse, or a hospital. The parents or mother who abandoned this baby girl clearly cared about her welfare. It’s likely that they would have left her at one of these “safe havens” had they known about the law.

Fortunately, in this case the baby is unharmed and will go to a loving home.

Admitting a Pregnancy Wasn't Planned

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:56:00 GMT

Most people would agree that asking someone who has just announced they're pregnant whether the baby was planned is incredibly rude. Most of us will cop to a few ill planned tussles under the sheets, but will anyone admit their pregnancy was unplanned?

Kadi, a blogger at Imperfect Parent, admits that all seven of her children were unplanned and can't understand why more people aren't willing to admit the same. Clearly, she needs to read Babble more often. She gives a variety of reasons for this, including...

faulty birth control, idiocy, and poor execution of the rhythm method.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that people are not interested in admitting something that could potentially shame them or make their kid feel unwanted. But it's still interesting that so many of us (myself included) don't tell the truth about the genesis of our progeny. Maybe it falls under the "too much information" category. But I can't help but think that more honesty in this department might lend itself to better family planning.

Out of Wedlock Births. National Catastrophe.

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:35:00 GMT

History's most terrifying contraceptives have nothing on out-of-wedlock birth (the national catastrophe). So says Slate's Emily Yoffe.

Ms. Yoffe views the rapidly increasing percentage of children born to unmarried parents (from 5% to 40% in the last 48 years) as indicative of a greater socio-economic unraveling.

Bolstering her claim is the usual parade of statistics showing the likelihood that children with single mothers are poor (very poor) and that parents who don't get married are much more likely to split up than those who do.

The matter of raising children and starting a family is serious, most would agree. But isn't it better to live in a world that no longer requires ill-advised shotgun weddings than one in which two people make a mistake and live out long miserable lives paying the piper for one (or two or three) nights gone wrong?

History's Most Terrifying Contraceptives

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:01:00 GMT

Contraception is terrifying. If you look at the failure rates of most commonly used methods, it's no wonder unplanned pregnancy rates in some states (and only those reported as unplanned) are soaring. The kind of terror Cracked catalogs in their history's scariest contraceptives is a whole other bottle of mercury.

Animal intestines get you in the mood? How about deadly poison?

Others read like some sort of wild animal smorgasbord or weird 6th grader's idea of a witches brew -- weasel testicles, beaver testicles, and diaphragms made of gold and silver, comfortable and valuable.

For more fun with historical contraception, go here.

Woman Conceives Twins, Miscarries One, Still Gives Birth to Two Babies

Madeline Holler — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:40:00 GMT

What is going on with these U.K. women's hair-trigger ovaries shooting out eggs no matter what the circumstances.

Remember the non-twin twins last year? Well, another woman there defied the "you can't get pregnant when you're pregnant" caveat and, after conceiving twins, went ahead and got pregnant again ... while pregnant!

Here's what happened, according to the Daily Mail:

The 28-year-old mother of one got pregnant with twins. At seven weeks pregnant, she miscarried one of the twins. A follow-up ultrasound showed that while the one twin was still viable, it would not have to go through the rest of the pregnancy alone. The technician found another blob at the initial ultrasound, and doctors figured it was another egg that hadn't yet dissipated. Two weeks after that, at yet another sonogram, they realized that the blob was actually another, much smaller one,another fetus about three weeks the surviving twin's junior. Two babies after all.

The second fetus was possible because of a rare (but obviously not THAT rare) twist of nature called superfetation, where the body continues releasing eggs even after conceiving.

The parents said:

The pregnancy was not without a hitch. Harriet did not grow as quickly as her brother and had to be monitored carefully.

Thomas was born at 6.32pm on May 4, weighing 5lb 6oz, and Harriet at 6.33pm weighing 4lb 1oz.

Photo: Daily Mail

Pregnancy Movies Make a Larger Point

Amy Kuras — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 14:35:00 GMT

I didn’t realize it until I saw this Dallas Morning News article by Chris Vognar, but the recently released Juno is the third in a trifecta of wide-release movies about women who face an unplanned pregnancy and choose to carry the pregnancy to term – and in the case of the adult women, raise the baby, while the teen featured in Juno places her child for adoption.

The only one I saw of the three was Knocked Up – the other one is Waitress – which was a big swollen bellyful of disappointing. I've got a pretty low bar for crude humor (I wanted to see Knocked Up in the first place because The 40 Year-Old Virgin makes me laugh like an idiot every time) but this was just too much crude and not enough witty.I'm looking forward to seeing Juno, though, since I'm a sucker for anything about smart, snarky, goofy teenage girls.

But I thought the point Vognar made was interesting – that while no one would call any of these "family movies" in the traditional, treacly sense, they are all life-affirming, in all life's messy, imperfect glory. And that's not to say they follow some pro-life political script. The "family values" crowd would likely find all three of these movies horrendously offensive for their irreverence.

But they do celebrate the kinds of weird families we form when we find ourselves in a tough spot and need help finding our way out, and the ways in which becoming parents changes us. A man-child grows up, a woman leaves a crappy husband, and a young girl through an act of courage and generosity gives a couple the baby they long for. These movies all feature people trying to make the best of a tough situation and find some meaning, and that I can’t argue with.

Some Maine 11-Year-Olds Can Get The Pill at School

Madeline Holler — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 17:33:00 GMT

I was surprised to read that a middle school in Maine will soon be making contraception available to students. Not just condoms -- but birth control pills and patches.

Remember, middle school is grades 6 through 8 and students are typically 11 to 13 years old.

Then I was really surprised to read this: about one quarter of all student health centers that serve adolescents 11 and older give out some kind of contraception, according to a spokesperson for the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care. (Though dispensing pills and patches is, the spokesperson says, rare.) Huh. I had no idea..

My kids are just starting school, so I get to be blissfully ignorant of all of this. But, apparently, not for as many more years as I thought.

Anyway, of course some school board members voted against the amped up student health center offerings, thinking this will encourage sexual activity or that it’s up to the parents to deal with their young tween/teen’s sexuality. Something tells me these services won’t be available for very long – I’m imagining lots of picketing any day now. But maybe the people of Maine will surprise me.

There’s no evidence that available contraception encourages sexual activity. And sure, I’d like to be the one who first and thoroughly informs my kids on all matters of sexuality. But I remember 8th grade and I know for certain there were girls who would have used and benefited from such services. These friends had the kind of parents who either ignored the evidence, ignored their kids, or so smothered themselves in thick blankets of morality that they unwittingly left their daughters to fend for themselves. Lucky for some Portland, Maine, middle-schoolers, there are people backing them up.

Non-Twin Twins Born to Same Mom, Same Day

Madeline Holler — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:07:00 GMT

Two Scottish girls born to the same mother minutes apart are not twins. Hmmm. How does that work?

Defying million-to-one odds and everything you ever knew about fertility and hormones and monthly cycles, a 29-year-old mother of two got pregnant a couple of times within the span of a few weeks.

After she initially became pregnant, her menstrual cycle soldiered on none-the-wiser and released an egg the following month, which also became fertilized and eventually implanted. Oh, and Mom was on the pill the whole time.

The mother found out she was pregnant with two non-twins at a routine 12-week ultrasound. While checking over the older fetus – flailing arms and legs and all – the techs also saw a blob, which appeared to be more like a fetus nine weeks along. And it, too, was alive. A subsequent ultrasound showed that the younger fetus was still hanging in there and developing according to schedule -- three weeks after the first one.

Mom continued to grow along with the fetuses, which, while housed in the same uterus at the same time, were technically not twins, but still must suffer the fate of all sisters close in age -- identical outfits.

The girls were born at 29 and 34 weeks gestation after an emergency c-section but are now home, thriving and happy.

Armchair Family Planning Counselor here suggests this mother find an alternative method for birth control. This woman got pregnant not only while she was on the pill, not only while she was already pregnant, but while she was already pregnant and still taking the pill. Her ovaries are firing off rounds of eggs like automatic weapons.

Photo: worldwidefeatures.com

Unplanned Pregnancies Rise With Age

Madeline Holler — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:13:00 GMT

The good news is teen pregnancies are down. The I-kind-of-don’t-care news is unintended pregnancies for adult women are up. But I might be a little defensive since my first pregnancy, at 31, was a surprise.

It’s important, though, to know the numbers and understand the trends, particularly at a time when reproductive rights seem up in the air and access to birth control is legally at the whim of what could be a self-righteous pharmacist.

Let’s break it down:

First, teen pregnancies are down 36 percent, the lowest in a long, long time, maybe even since cars started featuring backseats.

However, the rate of unwanted pregnancies for women in their 20s increased 54 percent and more than half of those unwanted pregnancies were for women between 20 and 24.

Unintended pregnancies, a category that included unwanted pregnancies, as well as poorly planned or ill-timed ones, also rose for women in their mid- to late-twenties from 66 to 71 per 1,000 women. For women in their early to mid-thirties, unintended pregnancies rose from 38 to 44 per 1,000.

The question is why do teens seem to be doing better at preventing pregnancies than women in their twenties and thirties? Some experts offer that fewer pregnancies are the unintended consequence of teens not wanting STDs (that’s a good thing). That mentality carries over into their twenties, however, and once in a committed partnership, where STDs no long feel like a possibility, the condom gets thrown out with the baby’s bathwater, so to speak.

Also, the increase of unintended pregnancies for older women, some experts argue, is the consequence of the rising age of marriage – there’s simply more time to get accidentally pregnant. That and societal acceptance of pregnancy and motherhood outside of marriage may all play a role in this increase.

I bristle at studies that lump unintended pregnancies with unwanted (which this report does not). In any case, I think this information would be helpful in leading toward better laws, policies, support and protections for all females of child-bearing age.

Surprise! It's Baby Number Three!

Kelly Mills — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:29:00 GMT

Blogger Mothergoosemouse tells a nice story about boyfriends that has to do with expectations and fantasy versus reality, and how it's better not to set yourself up for disappointment. Then she goes on to say, "I much prefer to be unsure about an idea, and then be pleasantly surprised by the reality of it. And that’s how I feel about the baby in my tummy right now." In other words, her family is expanding. And even though it wasn't at all intended, she's ready for it.

Congrats to her, and I love the idea that surprises sometimes bring the most to our lives because we can't load 'em up with dreams that may not match the reality. She's also very upfront about the fact that this pregnancy happened while she was using birth control, and that she may tell her little addition about the surprise factor in her arrival to mothergoosemouse clan. I can say as one half of Irish twins, knowing you (and your sis) weren't planned for is just fine, as long as everyone is glad when you get there.

Miss World Competition To Miss Jamaica: Your Pregnancy Is O.K. With Us

Alisyn — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 23:01:00 GMT

Founder and Chairwoman of the Miss World Limited, Julia Morley, has come out to support Sara Lawrence, Miss World Caribbean, and made it clear that she will not expect Sara to relinquish her title due to an unplanned pregnancy. In fact, she has given Sara her unwavering support during this time, and made it clear that she expects local pageant promoters, including Mickey Haughton-James, head of the Jamaica pageant, to do the same.

Sara made headlines around the world when she when she announced that she was pregnant and forfeiting her Miss Jamaica World title. But when Julia Morley caught wind of the announcement, she quickly intervened, claiming that Sara "is a warm, compassionate, brilliant girl whose behaviour and promotion of Jamaica is second to none... it is not for anyone to condemn Ms Lawrence, but to give her the love and support she needs during her pregnancy." (Click here to read Julia's full letter of support.)

Wow... just... wow. I am happily stunned to hear someone speaking up so loudly for a mother's rights. While some people have argued that Sara's pregnancy compromises her role as a safe sex advocate, I think her announcement, and Julia Morley's support of it, make a strong and necessary statement about the value of women in our society - particularly pregnant women. Why can't a single, pregnant woman be a good role model? Sara Lawrence is an exemplary person in every way - and the fact she is a safe sex crusader who became pregnant unexpectedly underscores the very important fact that protected sex, while lowering your chances of contracting an STD or becoming pregnant, is not 100% effective. Unplanned pregnancies are common the world over, and there is still a stigma attached them that only women are affected by. Sara and Julia are working hard to debunk the myth that pregnant women, and single mothers, don't have a place in this world; Single mothers are, in fact, are a large part of our society, and they have value, and they matter.

I applaud Sara Lawrence and Julia Morley for their strength and conviction.

Pregnant Aussies Drink Up

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:46:00 GMT

Pregnant and enjoy an occasional drink? In Australia, you are apparently in good company. Researchers at Perth's Telethon Institute interviewed 5,000 12 weeks after delivery. Of those interviewed, nearly half reported drinking during pregnancy, but many did so because the pregancies were unplanned.

The researchers focused on alcohol consumption during the 3 months prior to pregancy and during each trimester. The study found a correlation between the percentage of pregnancies that were unplanned (47%) and the percentage of pregnant women who reported drinking during the 1st trimester (58%). The number of women consuming more than 2 drinks per day declined in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters. Overall, 15% of women drank outside the current Australian guideline for alcohol consumption in pregnancy. Unlike the American Medical Assocation, which recommends eliminating all alcohol consumption during pregnancy, the Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council recommends 'limited' usage.

When it comes to pregnancy and drinking, the mainstream American approach seems to favor shaming and excoriation (remember Rachel Weisz?). But even in laid back Aussie land, the issue is still hot button. Any way you look at it, drinking and pregnancy will always be a divisive issue, and government rules on the topic appear to hold little sway.