tom@brl-tgr.ARPA (Tom Harkins ) (08/17/84)
Sex education and readily available birth control are often advocated
in this newsgroup as being a solution to the abortion issue.
A recent posting by Brian Peterson states:
"What we really should be doing is giving people the opportunity to
be responsible. That means sex education and available birth control"
-and-
"Right now the task is to make sex education and birth control plentiful
(prevention is the best remedy)"
I recall reading that Sweden experienced an increase in the rate of
unwanted pregnancies upon implementation of the above advocated policies
rather than the result that Mr. Peterson assumes. I do not explicitly
recall the source of this information. Is anyone out there familiar
with either these findings or similar studies?
Statistics aside, I contest the assertion that a knwledge of biology
and methods of pregnancy prevention/termination in any way leads to
responsible behavior. If this were so, the ownership of and ability
to operate a "fuzz buster" would lead to responsible driving. In each
case, technology/knowledge provide only a means of escaping the most
immediate consequences of irresponsible actions.
tom @ brl-bmdbrianp@shark.UUCP (Brian Peterson) (08/19/84)
~ Sex education and readily available birth control are often advocated
~ in this newsgroup as being a solution to the abortion issue.
~
~ I recall reading that Sweden experienced an increase in the rate of
~ unwanted pregnancies upon implementation of the above advocated policies
~ rather than the result that Mr. Peterson assumes. I do not explicitly
~ recall the source of this information. Is anyone out there familiar
~ with either these findings or similar studies?
Does this mean that rubbers actually cause pregnancy? Maybe there is
something else involved, such as a coincident increase in permissivity.
Until the source is recalled, this example doesn't make sense.
~ A recent posting by Brian Peterson states:
~ "What we really should be doing is giving people the opportunity to
~ be responsible. That means sex education and available birth control"
~ -and-
~ "Right now the task is to make sex education and birth control plentiful
~ (prevention is the best remedy)"
...
~ Statistics aside, I contest the assertion that a knwledge of biology
~ and methods of pregnancy prevention/termination in any way leads to
~ responsible behavior.
(I never said facts and devices >lead< to responsibility. I said that it
>gives the opportunity< to be responsible. If you say that abstinence is
a perfectly good way to be ignorant and "responsible" at the same time,
let me respond by saying that Mama Nature has cleverly designed people so
that abstinence is unthinkable for normal people)
So let us say that such knowledge would make it >possible< for them
to act responsibly. If parents raise animals who have strong sexual
drives, but don't give those animals responsibility, of course problems
will happen. (assuming that a homo-sapiens will get a sexual drive,
indiscriminate sex causes problems, and that yes, you are an animal. :-)
~ If this were so, the ownership of and ability
~ to operate a "fuzz buster" would lead to responsible driving. In each
~ case, technology/knowledge provide only a means of escaping the most
~ immediate consequences of irresponsible actions.
~ tom @ brl-bmd
If you compare fuzz-busters to an early
"parents-coming-home-quick-better-get-dressed" warning device, the analogy
is appropriate. If you compared birth control to automobile guidance
systems which prevented collisions 95% even if nobody was steering, then
your analogy would be ok. However, it is not.
Brian Peterson {ucbvax, ihnp4, } !tektronix!shark!brianp