Yesterday it was all over the news that our governor Matt Bevin signed a law that says that women have to have a face-to-face meeting with their doctor before having an abortion. For some reason just really upset me, but I couldn’t understand why. This morning I figured it out.
We as women are given 100% of the blame of anything having to do with reproductive issues. Here in this great state of Kentucky most of the schools teach abstinence only education, many of the people are against birth-control, and if they can’t make abortion illegal they want to make it as difficult as they can to have it done.
To completely understand where I’m coming from I want you to knowthat I do not believe abortion is the answer. However I also do not believe in the laws we put in place are the answer either. As young girls we are told that it is our job to keep men and boys from being sexually attracted to us. We have to completely cover up in schools wear baggy clothes and are sent home or sent to detention for not wearing correct clothing. We are told that we cannot and should not learn about sex even though “our male counterparts can’t control their sexual advances towards us”. We are told that it is our fault if we are raped. We are told that if we do have sex and get pregnant that is not our right to determine what happens to us and the baby. And if we do choose to have a baby it is up to us to figure out how to take care of it, and God forbid we ask for assistance. As a society we require almost zero accountability on the part of our partner. I say almost because there is child-support.
So what do I feel is the answer? The same answer that I have for every problem. Education. Education. Education. It has been shown over and over that states with abstinence only education have the highest rate of teen pregnancy.yet we continue to think that this is the answer. When abortion was illegal hospitals had entire wings dedicated to women suffering from botched abortions. Women died, frequently. I am not ok with that. Education is the only method that has ever been proven to work. By educating our children we are not showing acceptance towards sex. We can still teach our kids abstinence over anything else but you better believe I’m teaching my kids how to protect themselves if they do decide to have sex. By educating our kids we put the power in their hands. It’s our job to teach them how to have the moral standards that we believe in not to force it on them by forcing them to be ignorant. We need to teach both girls and boys how to control their sexual urges. We need to stop blaming girls for the actions of their male counterparts. instead of forcing women to be intimidated by their doctors with the hope that they will feel bad enough that they won’t do it we should educate them before these things happen to know what their choices are if they do become pregnant,and how to prevent themselves from getting pregnant in the first place. And above all if women are going to have to jump through hoops then men who get these women pregnant should have to go through A state mandated sexual education class too. Stop making women the problem.
