How the pro choice movement saved America, freedom, politics, and the war on sex: Entry #4

When talking about the possibility of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Page refers to the idea that even if abortions became illegal someday, women would still find ways to have abortions, such as an underground system. Page goes on to talk about how even when abortions were illegal, people were still having them. This reminds me of the current situation with marijuana. Currently, and always marijuana has been illegal. Like abortions, there is no scientific facts that say that marijuana can lead to any serious medical condition, but it is illegal nonetheless. Even though it is illegal, you will always be able to find people who are currently smoking marijuana. This is because there are people who grow and sell marijuana because they think that it should be legal and don't have prejudice against it. Like marijuana, if abortions ever became illegal, Page refers to the idea that someway, women would find a way to still have abortions in emergency situations. Regardless of the law, people will always consider to do what they feel is right, and if that happens to be breaking the law, then those people say, so be it. Page talks in this passage of the importance of abortions to women and how no matter what they will never go away. This is intriguing to me because for me it is hard to picture an underground abortion going on. This seems like a stretch to me, but regardless it shows how important Page and other women alike feel abortion is, and that it should be legal. This what if, for if roe was ever overturned, made me ponder what our world would be like if abortions were illegal. This alternate society, seems unfathomable to me, and i wouldn't want to live in a society where in extreme cases such as rape, women do not have the choice to or not have the baby. I feel that I have to agree with Page on this, that no matter what, abortions will always go on, but I still don't support all abortions.

How the pro choice movement saved America, freedom, politics, and the war on sex: Entry #3

In chapter 3, Page brings up the pro-life story of parents in Texas trying to keep their kids from having sex, by telling them that condoms don't work and don't keep you safe from diseases and pregnancies. Because of this, instead of refraining from having sex, as the parents thought the kids would, they just have sex without condoms thinking that, "they didn't need them because they don't work. This is one of the ways that pro-lifers are unintentionally steering kids in the wrong way. They think that this is going to stop kids from having sex because they will think that there is no way to protect themselves from diseases, but in actuality, the kids have sex anyways and expect the worst thinking that there is no way to stop themselves from getting diseases because items such as condoms are told to them to be ineffective. This is just one the many ways that pro-life people are steering people they care about in the wrong direction with their extremist points of views. For the pro-life campaign to be more successful in showing the way the feel about abortions to teens and young people, they need to correctly educate them and tell them their point of view and then allow them to make the decision that they feel is best for them. The world is the way it is because not everyone agrees with each other. As long as the pro-life people continue to try and force their ideas upon the younger generations, their ideas and lifestyle choices and going to be hard to appreciate. I feel that there are plenty of other ways to approach trying to make your kids understand the risks of sex, and why in the case of pregnancy they should feel a certain way. Until the pro-life campaign realizes that, they are going to turn away a lot of people with the same beliefs as themselves.

How the pro choice movement saved America, freedom, politics, and the war on sex: Entry #2

Page brings up a whopping fact in the second chapter. "A sweeping poll down by ABC news revealed that the average american has sex once a week, and that's any adult married or single. If you're in a relationship then 85 percent of you have sex every week." This fact that Page brings out is almost unfathomable. It is hard to believe that it can be true, but it does explain why there are so many abortions every single year. Page goes on to say after the previous quote, "to understand the competing agendas of the pro-choice and pro-life movements; its essential to consider the central role of sex in our lives." Thinking about this, I completely agree. to be able to have any argument for or against abortions, you have to consider who big of a role sex is in our daily culture. According to the statistics, the average American adult has sex once a week. Which means that 52 times a year, the average american adult even if using protection such as a condom or birth control, has a chance of getting pregnant. Leaving about 52 chances a year of unwanted pregnancies is absurd. Either the American people need to start to realize that their actions if not taking extreme precaution could lead to a drastic change in their lives, or they need to stop having as much sex as their is going on right now, because apparently the American people cannot handle having sexual relations and being careful. "Sex to pro-lifers is considered a means to an end. This end is a baby." Page says this when arguing that people need to figure out what the sex is for. This perception by pro-life people is what should be more common, but because of the role sex plays in our society, it is hard to perceive sex in that manner. I agree with the pro-life movement here because many Americans can't handle casual sex, and protecting themselves correctly.

How the pro choice movement saved America, freedom, politics, and the war on sex: Entry #1

In the beginning of this book, stories are told of people who were not able to receive birth control due to the beliefs of certain pharmacists. A story which intrigued me was of a rape victim. After being raped, the women went to her doctor and was prescribed (EC), emergency contraception, which is a birth control pill that works up to 72 hours after conception. While at the pharmacy trying to get her medication, all three pharmacists refuse to give the women her prescription because of their beliefs on abortion. While reading this, i was shocked that for one, pharmacists are allowed to refuse to fill a prescription, and also that because of their beliefs they would not let a rape victim receive the medicine she needed to stop the rapist from making her pregnant. It is not fair to the women who was raped, to not allow her to abort this child. Parenthood should not be forced on a woman, and the choice to abort or keep the baby is in no way the pharmacists decision. Trying to understand the opposing side, i tried to think about this issue from a very religious point, in which people do not condone abortion. Trying to put myself in the shoes of the pharmacist, I can't find myself able to force a child upon a woman who was raped. Birth is a sacred thing, and because of that, birth should not given to an unwanted baby. This text that was at the beginning of the book really puts you in the shoes of the woman who was raped, and makes you feel awful that she would be refused service. For this woman to be refused service is wrong, and even being pro-life myself, and can't find a reason that would make me agree with the pharmacists. This opening to the book has helped me broaden my horizons on abortion and is allowing me to see the picture from all sides. My Viewpoint has not changed from this, but it has made me rethink my viewpoint and get a clearer picture of the entire situation.

Abortion: Pro-life vs. Pro-choice

After looking at both the Pro-life and Pro-choice websites, I found a lot of similarities, and a lot of differences. One similarity that stuck out to me was that each website spent a lot of time away from the issue at hand to talk down the opposing side. This seemed childish to me because when people are looking at websites to find out information on abortions, they are looking for factual information to be presented to them and to see the pro's of that choice. This bad talking of the people with opposite opinions from both sites, irritated me because it went in a different direction than the issue at hand. I think that this similarity is one that each website should try to fix, and clean up. If the website is presentable and displays the pro's and con's of their option, it would be doing the right thing and helping young women make the choice that is best for them. I also saw many differences between the two websites. The pro-choice website was much more opinionated in my choice, and played off the emotions of a women and her possible situation. They tried to make the women realize the "burden" of a child if you're not ready to support and care for one. The pro-life campaign went more in depth on the factual evidence that they had, though not all of it was relevant. Each of these websites presented good information and made a impact on the way I feel about abortion today. After reading the two articles, I feel I would still have to characterize myself as pro-life. Though I would say I'm pro-life, I would allow for abortion in cases of incest and rape. This may seem wishy washy as to what side I am on becuase I am allowing some pro-choice beliefs, but this is only becuase I can't find any reason in my heart that would make a person who was forced to conception, have to have that baby. My core beliefs are still that all people are created equally and that we need to protect all people the same way, even those that are most vunerable and in the womb.

As a 17 year old, I think that the parents of a child that is under 18 years old should have to sign off that they approve of the abortion. For our entire life, our parents have been responsible for us, and have made hard decisions for us becuase they know that they are the right one. I dont feel that this decision should be any different. Many teenagers don't know what is best for them and what choices they should be making and for that reason, our parents are in charge of us. This decision is probably if not the most, one of the most important choices somebody would have to make, and because of that, our parents should be included in the decision making process.

As a male, I think that the to-be father should be notified as soon as the realization of a baby is made. The baby is as much the father's as the mother's and for the mother to make any decisions without the father's conscent or understanding is not fair. For father's to-be it is hard to be involved in the decision making because they are not the one's carrying around a baby for 9 months, but you have to remember that without the male, there would be no baby. It takes two people to concieve a baby, and for that reason the father needs to be involved from the minute a baby is known of. The right to conscent should be necessary for an abortion for a father and should be made to be had before an abortion.

The state of Illinois has an abortion ban after 12 weeks of conception. This seems fair to me. Three months is a long enough time to make the decision to have a baby or not. I agree with this law and would not like to have it changed. My opinions on abortion are that I'm pro-life. That doesn't mean that I think that other people shouldn't have their own opinions too and feel differently. In life there is a marketplace of ideas, and everyone has their own. For someone to reject and idea is to be stubborn and will not help find the best possible answer. I feel that the laws set in place are perfectly fine.

Bullying

In class we watched a film called, Bullied, which told the story of Jamie Nabozny, a kid who was bullied and harassed every day while at school. Jamie, went through very difficult times. He was yelled at, joked about, and even beaten up while at school because of his homosexuality. This caused Jamie to run away multiple times, and cause a deep depression to creep into not only his but his families life. Jamie tried to get the school involved with constant meetings Witt school officials but change never happened. Finally, Jamie decided to sue the school for failure to act upon his safety. Jamie won the case and 900,000 dollars from the school district. I think that Jamie had every right to sue the school. The presented school officials who were there to stop harassment's like the ones that Jamie faced, did nothing and said merely that, "Boys will be boys." This negligence lead to more brutality that Jamie had to face, and did not protect the students that entered the school. Any and every school is supposed to have a harm-free learning environment, and Jamie did not have a harm-free learning environment while at school. For this reason, Jamie Nabozny had every right to sue the school, for the failure to protect him from the harmful environment he faced while at school.

In class we read and talked about the Rutgers student, Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide because his roommate left a video recorder in his room while he was with another guy, to publicly out Tyler of being homosexual. Tyler's suicide has caused a huge stir and has brought the mere reality of bullying that is going on all across the world. Currently, the the roommate and another student have been charged with invasion of privacy, and authorities are considering whether to add a hate-crime charge. What seemed to be merely a joke in the eyes of the roommate, has turned into a situation where he may face charges of manslaughter, and face time in prison. This in my eyes, is a punishment that the roommate and his accomplishes should have to face. It is not okay to invade someones privacy and publicly show parts of their life they would like kept a secret. This form of electronic bullying is too prevalent in schools, and hopefully this act of injustice will be acted upon and show the consequences of bullying kids and pushing them over the edge.

After reading and writing about bullying in other schools, i was brought back to the bullying right here in DHS. Is it as bad here as it is at any other school? Yes. There is bullying that's goes on at DHS everyday. The problem is that the kids here think that if its a joke, its okay. Just because it may be a joke to one person, doesn't mean it is a joke to another. At school and out of school I was bullied by one of my best friends and he didn't realize the emotional distress he put on me. When I tried to approach him about it, he grew very defensive and said that it was my fault that i didn't understand his jokes. What he didn't understand was that his jokes were hurtful and constant. This form of bullying was one of innocence but of negligence and of the society today. Because of the constant bullying, I had to stop talking to one of my best friends, and I ha vent hung out with him since about Sophomore year of high school. Abandoning that friendship was hard but for me it was necessary, and has made me a happier person. This is just an example of all the bullying that goes on. Most of it is intent ed to be a "joke" but ends up hurting many people in the process. There are many ways though, for this to stop. Schools need to take time to not just talk about extreme bullying, but normal everyday bullying that can really affect the other person. If students could see how those "jokes" really hurt the people around them, i think it could make a difference.

Drug testing in school

“The Marion county public schools district compiled statistics on its random testing program demonstrating that drug-use among students has dropped by one-third since the program’s inception in 2004.” Since the first day I walked into Deerfield High School, teachers, parents, and even an unexpected tragedy that had an effect on so many of the student’s, has not been able to keep kids from making the wrong decisions, and using drugs. Being a senior at Deerfield, I can tell you that out of the twenty five to thirty kids in each class, I can name about twenty that have tried or currently use drugs. This sad realization has made it clear to me that drug testing is necessary in our school for kids who want to participate in extracurricular activities.
Participating in extracurricular activities is a privilege that we students have. In these extracurricular activities we are representing Deerfield High School. Because of this, I think that to be able to have these privileges, we as students should have to meet certain requirements so that we can represent our school to the best of our abilities. In my opinion, it is understandable to think that while students are under the influence they will not be representing the school to the best of their ability and actually creating a liability for the school. While at our respective sports, the school is liable for all the activities that we participate in. It is very unsafe to be participating in rigorous activities while under the influence and for this reason, the school has the right to make sure that the students are being smart and keeping themselves from dangerous situations.