The very discussion of the ability to obtain an abortion in American is a “red herring”. A topic put out to distract us from real issues. We are fighting about shutting down abortion clinics when we should be talking about why we need them.
Approximately 20,000 American girls, under the age of 15, become pregnant each year. Shouldn’t we be talking about who is having sexual intercourse with our 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 year old girls?
Colorado is promoting the use of IUDs, a more reliable form of birth control than pills, among sexually active teen girls. Shouldn’t NM be looking into a similar public health initiative not only among teens but also among women addicted to drugs?
Almost every abortion is the result of a man having unprotected sex with a woman who cannot or chooses not to have his child. Shouldn’t we be talking about how to get men to take responsibility so their “lucky night” doesn’t turn into a nightmare?
As a country we rank 42 on the Gender Inequality Index (GII) prepared by the United Nation. Other nations that rank 42 include: Hungary, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia. Some factors that drive our low rank include,
Material Mortality Ratio: 21 women in America die for each 100,000 live births, on par with Hungary and Iran (New Mexico 16.5 on par with the Republic of Korea);
Teen Pregnancy Rate: 27.4 of every 1,000 births in America are to Mothers ages 15 to 19, on par with Pakistan (NM 93 of every 1,000 highest of any state and on par with the average for the least developed countries in the world);
Women with Seats in the US Senate: Women account for slightly over 50% of the population, 20 out of 100 seats in the US Senate are held by women (NM 6 of 42 or 14%). Women in political positions i.e. with control of spending resources are more likely than men to invest in family and community, health, education and eliminating poverty. Shouldn’t we be talking about how we can get more qualified women to run for local, state and national offices? Men frequently make political deals to step aside for other men. Shouldn’t we be talking about how to get men to step aside in support of qualified women until we reach gender equity?
Don’t we have some things to talk about before we begin reducing health services for women?
Responses to “Sex and red herrings”