This is so true. I had a friend who recently was going to get a tubal ligation. She's in her mid-30s and has had a child, so she finally, after 6 months of meeting with the doctor, got approved to do it (you have to be really persistent if you want to do this!). Her health insurance was even going to cover it. Then, she found out, even after health insurance "covering it" she had a co-pay of $1500!!!! Unfortunately, that was so unexpected and beyond her means that after all that, she wasn't able to get the surgery.

I also have met with doctors, as I indicated before, but they basically laughed in my face. They were somewhat sympathetic to my plight, actually, but they basically said, "It ain't gonna happen."

Re: vasectomies being reversible. What you say makes sense. However, I would point out that, as I have been doing some reading lately, I have learned that the success rate for reversal of vasectomies decreases sharply as time goes by. I believe I read that if it's not done within three years, the success rate drops off (or maybe it was 7?). This is why they often resist doing vasectomies for males still in their 20s. Even if you're in your late 20s, 7 years later, you are still young enough to have lots of babies, and change your mind! And if you change your mind then, it might be too late. I'm not sure about the liability an individual physician incurs, and it doesn't seem fair anyway, but ethically, if I was a physician, even knowing myself, I still wouldn't do it, knwoing that some people WILL change their minds, and I would have taken away their opportunity to choose.

I think that's part of it, but I think that society's obsession with women wanting to have kids is part of it too. It seems really, really hard for many people to believe that there are women who have no desire for children -- people say things like "You'll change your mind" or "Someday you'll meet the right man and want to have his babies" or "All women want children" -- crap like that annoys me to no end.

I don't think it's an issue about women's rights. If it was consensual sex, then it is as just as much a man's issue as it is a woman's. If we can slap a man with all kinds of child support once the child is born, then they should have some right to what is equally their child before it is born. We don't have the right to take a child away from its father when it's born, so we shouldn't beforehand, either.

^ all Im saying.

oooooh!! pick me! pick me!

i am pro-life, and i am pro-pill, pro-condom, pro-all that!!! :) bring on the sex-ed classes that show herpes, warts, the clap.....all that! scare the hoo-hah outta ppl! you have to know ALL the facts (or you NEED to know) b/4 engaging in sexual activity. i'm all for brown bag specials and free birth control pills......i'm just not all for abortion AS birth control.

I'm not sure how it's just as much a man's issue as it is a woman's. The man doesn't have to carry the baby for nine months. He doesn't have to deal with the irreversible changes to his body and emotions. He doesn't have to deal with the emotional scars of adoption or abortion. He CAN just run off and not pay child support if he wants to. There aren't a bunch of single dads out there trying to raise kids on their own because their wives ran off.

Although personally I think that if a guy can prove that he told his girlfriend that he would want her to get an abortion if she got pregnant (hmmm, sex contracts, anyone?) and that he would pay for half of the abortion, I DON'T think we should be able to force him to pay child support. Just as I think it's unfair to force a woman to support a child she knew she didn't want, I don't think it's fair to do the same thing to the men.

i haven't read all 170 some odd posts, but here is my stance.

I am pro-choice to an extent. I don't think ladies should be going around and sleeping with everyone without protection and then if they get pregnant, they have abortions... multiple times.

However, I swing more toward the pro-choice side when the mother's life is in danger. To have abortions done away with completely may not leave this option open for high risk mothers and potential mothers, like myself. I can't have an unplanned pregnacy. It would be harmful to me and very harmful to the future child. However, if my life was in danger for having a child, I would not have the child. I would rather stop the pregnancy and adopt one of the zillions of children that need a home than to pass away from child birth and have my child grow up without a mother/family.

pro-choice

This might be a bit off-topic, but tell me this... Why can't someone be considered a feminist w/out having to believe in abortion? I mean, why has an obscure medical procedure become the defining factor for women's rights? I happen to be anti-abortion, but I am all for women's rights, so where do I stand?

You stand with many, MANY women who share your feelings.
It doesn't have to be all or none-even though it's an arguable point. You are part of a crowd called independent thinkers.

This isn't a topic like piercings or even premarital sex. Most of those who are against it, deeply believe it is ending a child's life.

Sometimes I wonder, when that special day comes, who all will say-

"We're having a fetus!"

Women's rights include the right to choose. I don't think anyone can be "all for women's rights" if he would try to dictate that she can't have an abortion.

What else does women's rights include?

-Rudey

I think you can be a feminist and say that an abortion may not be the best decision for yourself. When someone starts saying that other women do not have the right to choose what is best for themselves and their bodies, I don't consider that person a feminist. Just my opinion although I know many won't agree.

Don't like the idea of abortions, but I don't believe the choice should be taken away. So...pro choice.

What I find hard to understand is how some people are against the death penalty and yet pro choice. It really does seem to be a contradiction. IMHO, there is a better argument for being for the death penalty and against abortion than pro abortion and against the death penalty.:confused: ...unless you want to get into the viable life discussion-then, you've just come full circle yet again.