(no subject)

[wildestranger]

An amusing thing on the radio this morning. On the BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Wine show, they were discussing whether parents should be informed about an under aged child having an abortion, or asking for information about it. An interesting question by itself, but two of the people who called in, both men I might add, were particularly entertaining in their views. One suggested that they should stop giving information about sex in schools, since this is the cause of promiscuity in the land, and is resulting in the breakdown of the family. Another demanded that under sixteen-year-olds who engaged in sex shuld be prosecuted since it was against the law. This would stop teenagers having sex since they wouldn't want to go to prison.

A most delightful instance of what ignorance about history, sociology, and common sense can produce when combined with narrowmindedness, such as the following examples of faulty thinking:

Young people didn't have sex until the state began to provide sex education.

Information produces promiscuity: if you are told about the many diseases and other unpleasant results of sex, this will create an unsurmountable desire to have sex, which would not exist otherwise.

Making something prohibited by the law will stop teenagers wanting to do it.

The law exists to guard itself. not, say, to protect people from arbitrary powers.

Penalising pregnant teenagers for having had sex serves any kind of purpose.

Well, this has amused me muchly today.

Also, I haven't had a poll in three days. Something should be done. If you have an idea about what kind of a poll you think I should do, let me know in comments.

Comments

it's on the ballot

[tesseract-5.livejournal.com]

in California.. today.

bleh, A conservative "pro-life" group managed to get enough signatures to put an initiative on the ballot that would require a clinic to notify the parents before giving a girl under 18 an abortion.

OKAY! think about this, WHY would a girl HAVE to sneak off to have as major and life changing as an abortion? Uh, her parents are abusive and disfunctional?
no way! abortion is just expensive birth control right?

*flails* I seriously doubt it'll pass

Re: it's on the ballot

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

This is the problem exactly. If a girl gets on with her parents and can expect them to be supportive, then there is less chance of her not telling them anyway. However, if she can expected to, say, be called a filthy slut and thrown out of the house, then she might be less inclined to share this information with her parents.

What annoys me about this is that the girl is not treated as an individual before the law. Her decisions, concerning her body and her future, must be dictated by somebody else. This bothers me a lot.

Re: it's on the ballot

[tesseract-5.livejournal.com]

exactly, just like our current nominee up for Supreme Court Justice backed a court decision that a woman had to get her husband's permission before getting an abortion. Uh, there's OBVIOUSLY something horribly wrong with a marriage if you can't tell the other person. Uh, and you want to enforce this kind of fucked up relationship?

*flails some more and runs off to vote*