"The Leftovers", is still in the process of moving from WordPress.com.
This post is a continuation of, "An Open Letter to The Right".
_________________________________________________________________________________
There's a term quickly rising in popularity when describing Democrats, Liberals, or "The Left", in general.
"Baby Killer".
I can't remember the first time I heard the term being used but, it's time to dive into the subject of abortion.
I can understand people's objection to abortion, I can understand why it's difficult for people to talk about abortion, however, I can not understand what would make someone think it's ever appropriate to describe someone you disagree with, as a murderer or a killer, simply because they don't vote the same way others do, or because they support the right to choose, or because they support Women's Rights and Healthcare.
When I registered to vote, I don't remember abortion being a factor in choosing which political party to align with. Abortion was legalized before I had the right to vote, it was legalized before I was even born.
I don't wake up every day thinking about what our government is going to do about abortion. The fabric of our country is not in jeopardy because Americans aren't giving birth more often.
There are more pressing and important issues to be taken care of and at this point, abortion is a deeply personal decision the government uses in rhetorical talking points to create a smokescreen.
Abortion, as a medical procedure, is described as ending a pregnancy by the removal of a fetus or embryo before it can survive outside of the uterus.
This definition was taken from Wikipedia.org.
It brings to light a point many people use to combat abortion. My opinion on this matter is, it's not killing a baby, or taking away life. Abortion is ending a pregnancy, it is ending the continuation of the creation of one life.
Still, no easy decision or task.
Since the Center for Disease Control has been monitoring abortions in 1969 the rate of abortions has significantly dropped since it's practice.
The highest number of recorded abortions being in 1990 has been reduced by more than 50% in recent years.
This is in large part due to the increase in family planning, access to birth control, and sexual reproduction education.
If you look at the most recent piece of legislation written during the Trump era, the GOP wanted to defund Planned Parenthood but, only for one year. The reason is the Congressional Budget Office told lawmakers if they defunded Planned Parenthood for one year, the amount of money saved would be significantly lower than the amount spent by taxpayers in the years to come when young mothers would have to rely on help through government programs to pay for their newborn children.
Teenage pregnancy is a large factor in abortion rates. The CDC reports 80% of teenage pregnancies are unintended. 2010 reports show out of the majority of adolescent pregnancies 60% will end in live birth, 15% are miscarried, and 30% are aborted.
The highest rates of teenage pregnancy are in the Southern United States.
Sex education is performed through two primary ideologies.
One is comprehensive sexual and reproductive education, the second is abstinence-only education.
The regional sex education policies are widely varied from state to state. However, there are clear highlights as proof of statistical trends to point out.
13 states require sex education to be medically accurate. Only one of those states is located in the South (North Carolina).
26 states require abstinence be stressed in their curriculum. The list of states includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
19 states require instruction regarding the importance of waiting until marriage before engaging in sexual intercourse. The list of states includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The 25 states with the highest recorded rates of abortion in 2008, included Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Florida.
Notice the clear pattern of abortion rates in the Southern region of the United States in combination with states teaching non-comprehensive sex education curriculum and high rates of teenage pregnancy.
The Southern United States is predominantly conservative, evangelical, and Republican.
Defunding Planned Parenthood is not the answer to eliminating or decreasing abortions, neither is hard lining abstinence-only sex education or trying to establish new legislation in an attempt to amend Roe V. Wade.
This past Monday, there were a lot of new happenings under the Trump Administration's watch. Besides all of the much larger stories, the Senate had a vote on legislation banning abortions after a period of 20-weeks. It failed, by 9 votes.
The Republicans care so much about being, "Pro-Life", they'll do just about anything to side with people who will lobby against abortion. Meanwhile, they're fine with not educating teenagers about the realities of sex or pregnancy, defunding family planning organizations, forgetting about funding the Child Healthcare Insurance Program because they were busy pushing through tax cuts for the wealthiest, sidelining any meaningful conversations about gun control, cutting spending on Medicaid and Medicare, and promoting politicians like Roy Moore over Doug Jones for their differences on these exact issues.
This post is a continuation of, "An Open Letter to The Right".
_________________________________________________________________________________
There's a term quickly rising in popularity when describing Democrats, Liberals, or "The Left", in general.
"Baby Killer".
I can't remember the first time I heard the term being used but, it's time to dive into the subject of abortion.
I can understand people's objection to abortion, I can understand why it's difficult for people to talk about abortion, however, I can not understand what would make someone think it's ever appropriate to describe someone you disagree with, as a murderer or a killer, simply because they don't vote the same way others do, or because they support the right to choose, or because they support Women's Rights and Healthcare.
When I registered to vote, I don't remember abortion being a factor in choosing which political party to align with. Abortion was legalized before I had the right to vote, it was legalized before I was even born.
I don't wake up every day thinking about what our government is going to do about abortion. The fabric of our country is not in jeopardy because Americans aren't giving birth more often.
There are more pressing and important issues to be taken care of and at this point, abortion is a deeply personal decision the government uses in rhetorical talking points to create a smokescreen.
Abortion, as a medical procedure, is described as ending a pregnancy by the removal of a fetus or embryo before it can survive outside of the uterus.
This definition was taken from Wikipedia.org.
It brings to light a point many people use to combat abortion. My opinion on this matter is, it's not killing a baby, or taking away life. Abortion is ending a pregnancy, it is ending the continuation of the creation of one life.
Still, no easy decision or task.
Since the Center for Disease Control has been monitoring abortions in 1969 the rate of abortions has significantly dropped since it's practice.
The highest number of recorded abortions being in 1990 has been reduced by more than 50% in recent years.
This is in large part due to the increase in family planning, access to birth control, and sexual reproduction education.
If you look at the most recent piece of legislation written during the Trump era, the GOP wanted to defund Planned Parenthood but, only for one year. The reason is the Congressional Budget Office told lawmakers if they defunded Planned Parenthood for one year, the amount of money saved would be significantly lower than the amount spent by taxpayers in the years to come when young mothers would have to rely on help through government programs to pay for their newborn children.
Teenage pregnancy is a large factor in abortion rates. The CDC reports 80% of teenage pregnancies are unintended. 2010 reports show out of the majority of adolescent pregnancies 60% will end in live birth, 15% are miscarried, and 30% are aborted.
The highest rates of teenage pregnancy are in the Southern United States.
Sex education is performed through two primary ideologies.
One is comprehensive sexual and reproductive education, the second is abstinence-only education.
The regional sex education policies are widely varied from state to state. However, there are clear highlights as proof of statistical trends to point out.
13 states require sex education to be medically accurate. Only one of those states is located in the South (North Carolina).
26 states require abstinence be stressed in their curriculum. The list of states includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
19 states require instruction regarding the importance of waiting until marriage before engaging in sexual intercourse. The list of states includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The 25 states with the highest recorded rates of abortion in 2008, included Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Florida.
Notice the clear pattern of abortion rates in the Southern region of the United States in combination with states teaching non-comprehensive sex education curriculum and high rates of teenage pregnancy.
The Southern United States is predominantly conservative, evangelical, and Republican.
Defunding Planned Parenthood is not the answer to eliminating or decreasing abortions, neither is hard lining abstinence-only sex education or trying to establish new legislation in an attempt to amend Roe V. Wade.
This past Monday, there were a lot of new happenings under the Trump Administration's watch. Besides all of the much larger stories, the Senate had a vote on legislation banning abortions after a period of 20-weeks. It failed, by 9 votes.
The Republicans care so much about being, "Pro-Life", they'll do just about anything to side with people who will lobby against abortion. Meanwhile, they're fine with not educating teenagers about the realities of sex or pregnancy, defunding family planning organizations, forgetting about funding the Child Healthcare Insurance Program because they were busy pushing through tax cuts for the wealthiest, sidelining any meaningful conversations about gun control, cutting spending on Medicaid and Medicare, and promoting politicians like Roy Moore over Doug Jones for their differences on these exact issues.
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