My body, my choice? The fight for safety of women and children.



“My body, my important choice  for coitus and contraception,” because once a baby exists, she is a mother with another body in her care.

Women have the choice to make wise decisions about their body. Coitus is one example. Contraception is another. Abortion is not a method of contraception although many try to abuse this otherwise legitimate medical procedure which is intended only for emergencies when a medical practitioner has a critical decision to make, saving the lives that can be saved. (Very often that decision is prejudicial to the unborn child. Make wise decisions about coitus and contraception.)


by Katie Alsop Feminine-Perspective Magazine Staff Writer


Women must also make wise decisions for their baby’s body and baby’s health and safety once she becomes a mother.

Regardless of what a woman chooses for her life, her community (society) will determine regulations on what a person may and may not do to another person’s body. Preventing murder is high on the list of important regulations.

  • Resisting that naturally compelling community value is pointless.
  • Seeking positive change for bad decisions of society is everyone’s responsibility.

Criminalizing the medical procedure of induced abortion is a bad decision and should only be made in dire circumstances like the case of US State of Alabama which has legislators who seem to feel the State has an out-of-control quackery performing backroom abortions it wants to prosecute. Alabama created a law that allows those prosecutions. In Alabama the debate over abortion came around to demanding the right to do dismemberment abortions in late term. This polarized the issue.

“That’s insanity. That is murder,” says Michele Francis who has been delivering babies in a Catholic hospital in Venezuela these past eighteen months.

But normally, governments should not be passing laws relating to induced abortion because a politician cannot predict the number of dire circumstances medical teams encounter. Politicians are trying to make  foolish-sounding lists of exceptions but life itself gets in the way.


Feminine-perspective:

Talk rhetorically all you want in Alabama or anywhere, but when a case becomes a real world situation, patients and doctors are alone under a vow of confidentiality. Trained and licensed medical practitioners say nothing while doing what medical procedure must be done.  They are compelled by law to save the lives of those patients they can save. Not doing so is a violation of the hippocratic oath and telling a patient they have a particular problem then refusing to act on that is  a form of torture among other things (A.HRC.22.53_English).


Hence the people in Argentina making their voices heard in the streets are serving society well even though the narrative makes no sense. The only choices that matter for most of those people are those about coitus and contraception.

 

Women make a mistake carrying signs that say “My body, my choice” when their narrative is not about their body but about a child’s body.

“My body, my choice” makes sense when applied to coitus or contraceptives and profilaxis.

In 2019, the schools should be filled with students who know better.

Medical science has come a long way since six decades ago when these slogans came into being.

Induced abortion is a medical procedure decided by patient & doctor.

The human body is not quite perfect. Life is not perfect.  Some times medical practitioners need to intervene in the reproductive process. Get out of the way of their invaluable work.

For each unique medical circumstance, leave medical decisions to the patient and her doctor is the advice of doctors and nurses of The RINJ Foundation, a global civil society women’s group based in Canada but operating mostly in developing nations.

Contraception is the important issue, not abortion. The time for the family of no more than two children has come.

The decision to bring a child into one’s family is seriously complicated by some crucial factors. In some countries, one more child means one more hungry child whose life is under constant threat. People living in rich countries may not comprehend this but according to the World Food Aid Foundation:

Some 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life. That’s about one in nine people on earth. The vast majority of the world’s hungry people live in developing countries, where 12.9 percent of the population is undernourished.”

Today the world population is too high and growing too rapidly to comfortably feed everyone hence many are dying of starvation. The global average total fertility rate needs to be around 2.1 say many planners.

Depending on whose estimate is used, human overpopulation may or may not have already exceeded. Starvation is a problem impacting a growing number of large population groups.

The psychological impact of overpopulation are plentiful but the most notable today are the proclivity for war; the despicable slaughter of minorities; and the drastically reduced value of human life which has accelerated the pro-abortion movement. Nevertheless, family planning and contraception are the things the world needs to relearn. Talk contraception not abortion. Learn to love life, not death.

According to The World Health Organization:

“Total fertility rate (TFR) in simple terms refers to total number of children born or likely to be born to a woman in her life time if she were subject to the prevailing rate of age-specific fertility in the population. TFR of about 2.1 children per woman is called Replacement-level fertility (UN, Population Division). This value represents the average number of children a woman would need to have to reproduce herself by bearing a daughter who survives to childbearing age. If replacement level fertility is sustained over a sufficiently long period, each generation will exactly replace itself without any need for the country to balance the population by international migration.”

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division Photo Art: Rosa Yamamoto FPM.news
Source: 31 May 12:30 AM UTC –  United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division

Some women activists deliberately create confusion carrying signs that say “My body, my choice” when their narrative is not about their body but about a child’s body. They propose abortion as a quasi-afterthought contraception very late in the pregnancy. Proper contraceptive choices in the first place would yield better family planning results.

Family Planning and Contraception is a better choice than abortion According to the World Health Organization (WHO)

  • 214 million women of reproductive age in developing countries who want to avoid pregnancy are not using a modern contraceptive methods.
  • Some family planning methods, such as condoms, help prevent the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
  • Family planning / contraception reduces unsafe abortions.
  • Family planning reinforces people’s rights to determine the number and spacing of their children.
  • By preventing unintended pregnancy, family planning /contraception prevents deaths of mothers and children.
  • Promotion of family planning – and ensuring access to preferred contraceptive methods for women and couples – is essential to securing the well-being and autonomy of women, while supporting the health and development of communities.
  • A woman’s ability to choose if and when to become pregnant has a direct impact on her health and well-being.
  • Family planning allows spacing of pregnancies and can delay pregnancies in young women at increased risk of health problems and death from early childbearing.
  • Contraception prevents unintended pregnancies, including those of older women who face increased risks related to pregnancy.
  • Good contraception enables women who wish to limit the size of their families to do so.
  • Evidence suggests that women who have more than 4 children are at increased risk of maternal mortality.
  • By reducing rates of unintended pregnancies, family planning also reduces the need for unsafe abortion.
  • Family planning can prevent closely spaced and ill-timed pregnancies and births, which contribute to some of the world’s highest infant mortality rates. Infants of mothers who die as a result of giving birth also have a greater risk of death and poor health.
  • Family planning reduces the risk of unintended pregnancies among women living with HIV, resulting in fewer infected babies and orphans. In addition, male and female condoms provide dual protection against unintended pregnancies and against STIs including HIV.
  • Family planning enables people to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health. Family planning represents an opportunity for women to pursue additional education and participate in public life, including paid employment in non-family organizations. Additionally, having smaller families allows parents to invest more in each child. Children with fewer siblings tend to stay in school longer than those with many siblings

In the 21st century, there is no doubt that life begins as a newly fertilised ovum (Zygote) implants in the uterus wall. From that point, a woman’s body makes decisions about continuing the pregnancy based on a genetically imprinted algorithm that even looks at chromosome matching.

My Body My Choice? Some women make a mistake carrying signs that say “My body, my choice” when their narrative is not about their body but about a child’s body. Photo Credit: Lev Lazinskiy from San Francisco, USA

Argentina

The Argentina debate over decriminalizing abortion is complicated by faulty arguments which induce the perceived need for people to discuss morality.

The slogans suggest people in the streets have a wrong-minded idea of womanhood and the right ideas about removing government intervention.

“OMG I am pregnant I better kill it,” sounds like the antithesis to being a woman, doesn’t it?

“My body my decision the signs say,” but the decisions women make about their body could lead  to bearing a child and the responsibility for the body of another human being. Society is inclined to decide what anyone may do to another person.

Somewhere around 1.2 billion Catholics and 1.8 billion Muslims in the world say “thou shalt not kill”. Somehow though, killing has become too common. Women are in the streets chanting for the right to do that to their unborn babies.

Killing someone else’s body is not going to work out in the long run
… better we all fight for the safety of all women and all children around the world.

Induced abortion is a decision of Doctor/Patient. Using abortion as a form of birth control is murder. Violators may end up in prison in some countries.

Two very good methods of contraception.

Item: Description Function Effectiveness Notes
Intrauterine device (IUD): copper Small flexible plastic device containing copper sleeves or wire that is inserted into the uterus Copper component damages sperm and prevents it from meeting the egg Greater than 99% Longer and heavier periods during first months of use are common but not harmful; can also be used as emergency contraception
Intrauterine device (IUD) levonorgestrel A T-shaped plastic device inserted into the uterus that steadily releases small amounts of levonorgestrel each day Thickens cervical mucous to block sperm and egg from meeting Greater than 99% Decreases amount of blood lost with menstruation over time; Reduces menstrual cramps and symptoms of endometriosis; amenorrhea (no menstrual bleeding) in a group of users

Source: World Health Organization

Glossary of Key Reproductive Terms

1. Ovum: A female gamete, also known as an egg or oocyte. Ova ( pl) are produced by the ovaries of the woman.

2. Spermatozoon: A male gamete. Sperm (or spermatozoa, pl) are produced in the testes of the man.

3. Ovulation: The release of an ovum from the ovary. In humans, ovulation usually involves the release of a single egg in each menstrual cycle.

4. Fallopian tube: A narrow tubular extension of the uterus, which opens out next to the ovary. It is also called the oviduct. Following ovulation, the ovum passes into the opening of the Fallopian tube and travels towards the uterus.

5. Coitus: An act of sexual intercourse between a man and woman, usually resulting in the deposition of sperm within the reproductive tract of the woman.

6. Menstrual cycle: An interval of approximately 28 days, which commences with the onset of menstruation. Ovulation occurs mid-way though a menstrual cycle, approximately 14 days before the onset of the next cycle.

7. Amenorrhoea: The absence of menstruation. A missed menstrual period is often the first observable sign that pregnancy has commenced, although there are many other causes.

8. Fertile period: The time in a woman’s menstrual cycle during which coitus may result in pregnancy. This period probably varies considerably between women. Coitus up to 6 days prior to and 1 day after ovulation may result in pregnancy although the most fertile days are the day of ovulation and the 2 days beforehand 40.

9. Fertilization: The fusion of a spermatozoon and an ovum, which usually takes place in the fallopian tube up to 24 hours after ovulation.

10. Conception: A biologically imprecise term meaning either ‘the coming into existence of a new human being’ or ‘the beginning of a pregnancy’. It is often used synonymously with fertilisation but may also refer to implantation.

11. Embryo: A newly fertilised ovum until the eighth week of development.

12. Zygote: The newly fertilised ovum: a one-cell embryo.

13. Blastocyst: An embryo approximately 5-6 days after fertilisation.

14. Implantation: The biological process that begins when a blastocyst attaches to the lining of the uterus approximately 6–7 days after fertilisation. The embryo subsequently becomes embedded within the uterine lining.

15. Human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG): A protein produced by the embryo. It signals to the mother that an embryo is present and prevents menstruation and the loss of the embryo. Elevated levels of hCG can be detected in the serum or urine of a woman from around the time of implantation.

16. Fecundability: A measure of reproductive potential. It is the probability of becoming pregnant in a single menstrual cycle. Fecundity is often used to mean the probability of achieving a live birth in a single cycle. A fecund cycle is one in which fertilisation occurs.

17. Pregnancy: The condition of a woman harbouring an embryo, fetus or unborn child. When pregnancy begins is a matter of some confusion 7 ( Figure 1). Pregnancy may be considered to commence with fertilisation and lasts approximately 38 weeks. Clinicians often time the onset of pregnancy from day 1 of the last menstrual cycle, 2 weeks before fertilisation, and refer to subsequent time as a period of gestation. On this account, pregnancy or gestation lasts approximately 40 weeks. Some scientists and legal judgements define pregnancy as beginning with implantation, one week after fertilisation. This definition is of particular utility in the context of IVF treatment where evidence of implantation is the earliest sign that a transferred embryo has developed normally and that fertility treatment has, up to that point, been successful. For some women, the start of a pregnancy may be noted with the first missed menstrual period, approximately 2 weeks after fertilisation, or a positive pregnancy test.

18. Miscarriage: The premature termination of a pregnancy leading to loss of a developing embryo or fetus. Embryo loss may occur before a woman knows she is pregnant. Miscarriage late in pregnancy is often called abortion, with a cut-off of approximately 20 weeks gestation used to distinguish between miscarriage and abortion.

19. Early Pregnancy Loss: This usually refers to the loss of an embryo very early in pregnancy, even before a clinical diagnosis is made, when a woman would not be aware of the pregnancy. Such losses are also called occult, because they are hidden, or biochemical, because they can only be identified by detecting hCG. Pregnancy loss shortly after a clinical diagnosis may also be described as early.