Babies

I am very much pro choice. I donate money to NARAL and vote almost solely on the basis of women's reproductive rights. Aside from my conviction that it's my body so stay the fuck out of it, some people should be encouraged not to have children.

This morning, when Stern went on break, I switched over to Chio in the Morning, my guilty pleasure morning show. Today's call-in topic was Britney's pregnancy. Most people seemed to agree that she's a trainwreck with a marriage that can't possibly last and that she shouldn't be having a kid. Others, mostly uneducated young mothers, felt that Britney would be a great mom. Idiots. The woman enters gas station bathroom in her bare feet and smokes like a chimney. What makes her a good candidate for motherhood? Despite her millions, she's uneducated trash. Any teacher will tell you that children who come from homes with educated parents, whether the families are black or white, rich or poor, is more likely to be successful than a kid who comes from a home where his parent(s) dropped out of school to raise him. Britney's kid may have all the money in the world, but there's no question this baby will be a fucked up adult.

My experiences working in North Philly (in da house, yo) changed my outlook on life. When I was an idealistic young college student in Sociology 101 I truly believed that welfare and government assistance was a necessity to help level the playing field. My first year teaching in the ghetto I learned that some people have babies just to get the monthly checks. Parents with eight or nine kids, all with FAS, kept having more children to collect SSI. These people, who couldn't be bothered to change out of their bedroom slippers, get the booze off of their breath, or change their marijuana drenched clothes kept having more kids. And their 13 year old kids had kids. Noone should be a grandmother at the age of 30. I worked with the kids of families who didn't have money for field trips, yet gave their kids a dollar a day to buy hugs and potato chips, and families who couldn't pay their electric bill but drove a Mercedes. These people were collecting my tax dollars to buy a third big screen tv for their falling apart house. And they kept having more babies.

Then there are the teenagers. Not even the ghetto poor ones, I mean the middle class kids who accidentally get knocked up and keep the baby anyway. (Like Kirsten Dunst in that Lifetime movie Fifteen and Pregnant.) There's a woman whose journal I read. She links to her younger sister's journal. Reading this young girl's site makes me want to cover my eyes. This poor kid, the president of her high school's chastity club, got knocked up her first year of college, started failing classes, withdrew and moved home. This 18 or 19 year old young woman, who's due in a few months, writes like she's a twelve year old girl. I had seventh graders who were more mature than she is. She peppers her writing with anyhoos and hahas, describes herself as preggo or preggers, and can barely write a sentence without including and exclamation point or ellipses. She writes about going outside to play. My fifth graders ask to go outside to play. This girl should not be responsible for a baby. She should have used a fucking condom and played with dolls for a few more years. Why on earth, aside from their antiquated religious beliefs, would her family support her misinformed decision to keep the baby? It's none of my business, but it's infuriating.


Fuck chastity clubs or abstinence education. People need birth control and open access to abortions. I don't know why I'm so pissed off about this today.