This and that
Asguard said:
i especially found it funny that you posted about teenage boys getting one temporarly prevent teenage pregancy
Well, as to that, you
did raise the issue.
There is nothing at all selfish about accessing IVF, and its dam hypocritical of you to suggest there is.
I can only reiterate again what your argument appears to fail to account for:
There's nothing wrong with having one's own kid. But having someone else have it for you? I'm not opposed to the principle, but in the face of the number of children who need homes and stable families?
The problem is that it's about the parents, not the kid.
My disgust in this situation pertains
specifically to this couple, and only grows as their representation of their circumstances proves increasingly disingenuous.
To the other, there is also a symbolic aspect to that disgust, or, rather, a symbolic value with which I am disgusted: The proposition that parenthood is about the parents.
I have herd stories of marriages breaking up over infertility ....
In my youth, I was surprised to discover that, at the time,
impotence (the term seemingly specific to the male) was grounds for divorce in California. I do not know where the law stands at present. A quick Google search turns up the following: "Impotence is a male's inability to have sexual intercourse. Impotence can be grounds for annulment of a marriage if the condition existed when the couple got married, and grounds for divorce whenever it happens under the laws of many states." (
Lawyers.com)
Suddenly, a Stevie Ray Vaughan lyric comes to mind: "And that's a cold shot, baby. Yeah, that's a drag."
Im sorry if im being harsh but this is personal to me, its quite likly PB will be infertile and that the $100s we have spent on the pill and condoms was compleatly unessary.
It's not the harshness of your approach—indeed, there are those who would surpass you in that—but, rather, the angle of attack (see the reiterated point above).
And, in truth, I'm pretty sure your lament about birth control spending wasn't intended to be as cold as it sounds.
• • •
GeoffP said:
Is the 110K unadopted children issue really going to affect world population much? Really?
Yes and no. It is largely a matter of perspective. Social instability and the challenges of education under such circumstances suggest that many of these, statistically, are more prone to unplanned reproduction than those raised within secure and stable families. In a nation like the United States, the concern for hunger and food insecurity is less than, say, Africa. Then again, have you heard of our Appalachian situation? (See
Calhoun,
Garden Harvest.)
Another aspect to consider is the impact of the situation on society. In truth, the economic obligation—e.g., the public finance burden—of so many kids in the system is the least of my concerns, unless of course we are prepared to up the ante and pay for more substantial work than a poorly-organized foster system with unacceptably-high exploitation rates and a penchant—in some locales—for losing track of children entirely. Add to that those that Max reminds: the kids on the street. In the late 1990s, I encountered a statistic declaring that one in four gay males under twenty-five in the Seattle area was HIV positive. A tremendous proportion of this circumstance originates on the street; the issue of homeless youth extends beyond concerns of human dignity, and in many cases overlaps public health and safety concerns. Crime against the community, against the homeless themselves, and communication of disease all present challenges that society must eventually address. Family instability—economic and psychological—drives a large number of American youths to the street.
And all of this is cyclical. In the end, there will necessarily be sacrificial lambs that the system will not include because it cannot. But the longer we wait to address the problem, whether for pride or mere convenience, the greater that number will be.
As to your longer post, I would not ignore it. I'll get to it soon, as it is next on my list of priorities for this discussion.
_____________________
Notes:
"Grounds for Divorce: Impotence". Lawyers.com. Accessed November 16, 2008. http://family-law.lawyers.com/divorce/Grounds-for-Divorce-Impotence.html
Calhoun, Melissa Rake. "Study: Rural Appalachian Households with Children in Head Start Face Increased Rates of Food Insecurity". Ohio University Research Communications. February 26, 2004. http://news.research.ohiou.edu/news/index.php?item=138&page=87
"The Need in Appalachia". Garden Harvest. Accessed November 16, 2008. http://www.gardenharvest.org/appalachiamain0704.htm
