But since we are not all needed to carry on the species, I don’t personally see any reason to continue to pressure women to be moms if they don’t want to be one.
just read that the 8 billionth person is expected to be born this November. Maybe we should all pitch in, and buy them a nice Tupperware set or something.
It's not necessarily as self-serving and limited as all that. Some people are just "hard wired" to want to nurture -- it's almost a driving biological and emotional drive, dare I say even a "spiritual" one. To want to take a helpless, vulnerable being and infuse it with high octane love and help it to develop into the very best version of itself it can be. Many people find this deeply satisfying and intensely creative.
Yes, in years past -- in societies with no underlying social benefit structure or in agricultural settings - -having many children may have played a practical part where you needed more hands in the field or someone to care for you when you got old. But you are eliminating the emotional side of things which often play a huge part for many parents and children who deeply love each other and want the best for each other. It's way too "reductive" to boil everything down to strictly self-serving needs.
@isabelle my POV on my earlier post was from an evolutionary and societal standpoint. Not from a personal standpoint.
I myself am a mother. And I get what you are saying that we are hardwired (to a point) to want to protect the cute/vulnerable young. But a squee for a cute baby is not the same as inflicting pressure on someone else to get pregnant and have a child.
My pondering was a look at why we as a society would have an interest in pressuring others to have children.
-- it's almost a driving biological and emotional drive, dare I say even a "spiritual" one. To want to take a helpless, vulnerable being and infuse it with high octane love and help it to develop into the very best version of itself it can be. Many people find this deeply satisfying and intensely creative.
That would more or less describe why I elected to have a child. I didn't do it to have someone to "love me", or to take care of me when I got old. In fact I was never particularly interested in babies. I just felt like it was my spiritual duty to have at least one, maybe two children. I waited until it was almost biologically too late. I had felt the spirit of my child buzzing around for several years; when I discontinued birth control he jumped at the chance and I was pregnant on the very first cycle-- even though I was over 40. I elected not to have a second child for a number of reasons-- number one being that I did not think I had it in me to do a great job of raising two children-- one was my limit, two would have shattered my mental health. My child is nearly a full adult and he is AWESOME in every way. I have a lot of accomplishments on my resume' but he is by far the best. I don't even know how such a damaged person as myself managed it. I really don't. But to this day I think raising him was one of my most important (if not *the* most important) duties in this incarnation.
Having said that---- had I gotten pregnant in college or even before age 30 I probably would have terminated. I was nowhere near spiritually or emotionally ready at that point. I think I would have ruined the poor child along with my own sanity.
Here is the latest from the Women Hating Party in North Carolina:
NC Bill 158 would make it legal to murder a pregnant woman who intends to get an abortion if you are “defending the life of a baby”
OK. Understood. I thought you were speaking personally. As you know, I certainly do not think ANYONE should be pressured into having/raising children if they are not interested in it. To be a good parent, to my mind, is like being a good gardener: it takes a specific skill set and commitment, it takes a strong desire to nurture seedlings to maximum full growth, many would say it even takes some passion...but not everyone finds gardening (or parenting) interesting. That fact should be acknowledged and respected! There are many ways humans can express themselves while on earth: not everyone is meant to become "a human gardener".
Your son sounds extraordinary and I love that you felt his soul buzzing around prior to your becoming pregnant. So beautiful!
In my case, I always knew one of the reasons I was put on earth was to become a parent...and I am convinced that my daughter was meant specifically for me. While at the orphanage I was allowed to "choose my own child" (this is highly unusual, long story behind it). There must have been at least 25-30 babies and toddlers there and most were not yet spoken for. I played with them all and thought they were all adorable...but I was waiting "to feel something special" b/c I respect my own intuition. I was beginning to despair! Finally, days later, an infant suddenly appeared whom I had not noticed before. I asked to feed her. She gulped down her bottle, sighed, burped and her tiny hand grasped my forefinger. At that exact moment, I felt a jolt of electricity go through me and I heard a certain, clear voice (in my head) say: "SHE's the one, SHE's the one". I had no doubt, I just knew. Fortunately, she was not yet spoken for. At that moment I knew I had found the daughter meant for me -- even though I had to travel across the globe to find her. It "felt right" then and "it feels right" now. We are a very good fit. We are both deeply blessed and we each know it.
So much is changing by the second (for the worse) and I can’t keep up. But I think in Missouri, a fetus is a person unless a pregnant woman wants a divorce, in which case it isn’t a person until the women gives birth.
Not sure if the fetus’s health rules over the mom’s health in that state.
I am currently trying to figure out how freaked out I should be if my just married Texas daughter suddenly finds herself pregnant . Will they force her to be on her death bed before for they allow for the removal of a non viable life from from her if there is a complication in her planned or unplanned required forced birth situation?
Would her doctor be tried for murder if they saved her life or murder if they don’t?
Also, which republicans from red states want to kill doctors for providing abortions? I can’t keep up anymore.
Also, it is actually against my religion to force me to carry a child if my life is at risk so who would I sue??
Next thing you know, red states will require tsa officials to get training to look for pregnant women during security image screenings and then force them into pregnant detention centers.
Not sure anymore how close that might come to reality.