OUR OWN WISE DECISIONS

Yet another radio discussion about the  abortion legislation. Two men chawing away at it.

GUYS….

Do you still not realise that it will NEVER be  more than  an intellectual issue for you? 

No matter how caring, thoughtful and responsible you are, no matter how good a father, there are some things you can never fully understand because you can NEVER experience them.

THINGS THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN TO MEN.

1. Live in fear of the  wrath/ disapproval  of father/brother/ priest/doctor if they learn you’re sexually active.  

2. Be called a slag, a bicycle, a ride, a whore etc whether you are sexually active or not.

3. Spend days checking the calendar scared that your period is late.

4. Need to buy a pregnancy testing kit.

5. Wait those heart-stopping minutes for the result.

6.  Experience the ecstatic high when the result is positive…  assuming you wish to be pregnant now.

7. Experience the disappointment and sense of failure when the result is negative… assuming you wish to be pregnant now.

8. Experience the  enormous  relief,  the weight lift from your  shoulders when the result if negative… assuming you do not wish to be pregnant.

9. Experience the stomach-churning dispair, fear and confusion when the result is positive .. assuming you do not wish to be pregnant.

10. Recognise the true seriousness of the choice facing you:    Continue or terminate?

11. Have to calm yourself down and consider all aspects of the situation.  

12.  Know that your decision is irrevocable and will affect the rest of your life.

13. Make your decision.

AND SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO CONTINUE

14. Suffer weeks and maybe months of daily nausea,

15. Have your body change size and shape totally over a period of 9 months.

16. Have a miscarriage and lose the child you already love beyond reason.

17. Suffer aching breasts and back pain.

18. Suffer the pain of contractions.

19. Suffer the hours, perhaps days, of agony and exertion  pushing a live human being out of a small aperture  in your body and into the world.

20. Have to take powerful drugs or have  surgery to deliver the baby.

21. Have to feed that infant several times daily with milk from your own body.

22. Have to take care of the child for a minimum of 18 years – with help if you’re lucky, by yourself if you’re not.

23. Discover that your body has changed for all time.

24. Have men make “jokes” about your post natal  body-shape.

25. Read articles approving of  women who regained their post-baby figures in. record time.

26. Read articles mocking women who have not regained their post-baby figures.

27. Notice that  every media story featuring  a woman , irrespective of  position or achievements, comments first on  her age and appearance .

GUYS…

We have enough to contend with without you interfering.

We are intelligent.   As drivers, pilots and land-mine removers, we have proved that we are less likely than men to take risks or make hasty decisions.  

LET US MAKE OUR OWN WISE AND SOBER DECISIONS ABOUT WHETHER WE WISH TO BE PREGNANT OR NOT.