Saturday, November 9, 2013

Providing women better access to opt out of parenting

It today's National Post we learn that it's not enough that women can "opt out" of  being pregnant. Now men want to "opt out" too: Opting out: Women can have an abortion,some men say they should have a choice over parenthood too.

Laurie Shrage professor of philosophy and women’s and gender studies says:
“If a man accidentally conceives a child with a woman, and does not want to raise the child with her, what are his choices? Surprisingly, he has few options in the United States,” Prof. Shrage argued in an op-ed published in The New York Times in June — the piece that began the wave of notes from worried men. “In consenting to sex,” she writes, “Neither a man nor a woman gives consent to become a parent.”
Is that like, if I consent to drinking and driving, and then run over a pedestrian, it's okay? After all, I didn't give my consent to kill the pedestrian.

In the same article we also learn Joyce Arthur's take on the subject:
“[But] before we expect men to be given that option of opting out, we need to make sure women do have really good access to abortion and we need to ensure the government can step in for men who opt out.”
I think Arthur has a point. We really do need to make sure women have really good access to abortion.

We know that women can now have an abortion in most hospitals in Canada. And that women can now have an abortion in numerous stand alone abortion clinics across the country. Women can also have an abortion in many doctor's offices in Canada.

But I think that from now on, women should also be able to get an abortion at all the small hospitals in Canada as well. Also, they should be able to have an abortion at all walk-in medical clinics too.

Then I think we should seriously consider providing abortions for women who want to "opt out", at dental clinics across the country. After all, dental clinics have doctors and technicians on staff, it would be easy to do and this would ensure that women have really really good access to abortion.

Last but not least, we should also consider providing abortions in Nursing homes across the country. As the Canadian population ages, there will be more and more of these institutions opening, and this would go a long way in ensuring that women have really really really good access to abortion. This would allow a woman to "opt out" of pregnancy, when she's visiting her old mother or father. Assuming they haven't already been euthanized that is.

Yes, the possibilities are endless.

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