Abortion was illegal, but it happened pretty frequently anyway, often with disastrous medical complications. There were a lot of shotgun marriages -- or young couples eloping across the state line to get married in South Carolina, where there was no waiting period.
The laternate for girls who didn't get married or have an illegal abortion "went away" for a few months and then returned, with flimsy explanations for their absence ("went to stay with my aunt for a while"). We all knew about the Florence Crittendom homes where unmarried girls could go to have their babies and put them up for adoption.
Then as an intern in a big city charity hospital, I saw my share of the results of botched, back-alley abortions, often brought in to the ER with raging infections, hemorrhages. Many died.
Times changed.
And now some of the Republicans want to return to that, it seems. Glenn Rothman, GOP state senator in Wisconsin, has introduced a bill which would require the State Board of Child Abuse and Neglect to emphasize single parenthood as a contributing factor in child abuse. He cites a study that he says shows that children living with an unmarried mother and her boyfriend are 20 times more likely to be abused than children living with their two biological parents. And another report that 60% of children born to women under 30 are born out of wedlock.
I haven't seen these studies, so I can't say if they're true. But his argument is mixing apples and oranges -- (1) couples who choose not to marry but decide to have children in a stable relationship with the biological father very much involved; and (2) single mothers who live with boyfriends who are not the child's father. One should not lump those two groups together for evaluating the effects on children. But evaluating the studies and conclusions is really beside the point here.
It sounds primarily that Rothman is fighting government programs that benefit people in need -- as well as revving up the War on Women.
He said that the vast majority of these women have children, not as accidents, but to get the government benefits of food stamps, subsidized housing, extra tax benefits, all kinds of support, etc. And "the government is pushing the single-parent lifestyle" by offering all these benefits.
This was from an interview on Fox News Talk Radio, and I was surprised at how challenging the interviewer was. It was an audio clip and the host was referred to onlyas "Alan." He went after the legislator for his stance on single parenthood while also opposing the insurance mandate for coverage of birth control and prenatal care. He also said, "You think women choose to get pregnant so they can get food stamps? . . . I think you're being insulting to these women." Rothman defended his point, saying that with all the benefits, it can be a pretty good lifestyle and just encourages them to get pregnant to get more benefits.
The host also challenged him with studies that show 4 in 10 of the births out of wedlock are unplanned and unwanted -- so how does he say that they are doing it in order to get government benefits, and why isn't that an argument for government sponsored birth control?
The Fox News Radio host was then even more explicit: "We talk about the problem of out of wedlock births . . . but our solution is very different from yours. . . My solution is the same as Barack Obama's, which is to provide services for women, which Republicans want to remove."
This was Fox? A challenging interviewer going after a conservative position? And giving full support to Obama's plan?
Wow !!
But here's the thing that wasn't mentioned at all: There was absolutely no mention of men and their responsibility in out of wedlock pregnancies. Why is it only the women who "choose" or who bear the responsibility? It's all women's fault. See, they're just there to take care of men's needs -- and it's their fault if they get pregnant. No wonder the men take off and feel no responsibility for these children. That's the problem, not the government assistance. And which president has spoken out strongly to black men about taking responsibility? President Barack Obama.
When Alan asked Rothman what would be his solution to this "epidemic" of out of wedlock pregnancies, he said "These women need to be educated."
And the men ? The male dominated Republican agenda that wouldn't even allow women to testify at a hearing on contraception?
The same men who decided that insurance programs can cover Viagro but not birth control pills
Ralph
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