Moi blogs about education issues so the reader could be perplexed sometimes because moi often writes about other things like nutrition, families, and personal responsibility issues. Why? The reader might ask? Because children will have the most success in school if they are ready to learn. Ready to learn includes proper nutrition for a healthy body and the optimum situation for children is a healthy family. Many of societies’ problems would be lessened if the goal was a healthy child in a healthy family. There is a lot of economic stress in the country now because of unemployment and underemployment. Children feel the stress of their parents and they worry about how stable their family and living situation is. The best way to eliminate poverty is job creation, job growth, and job retention. The Asian Development Bank has the best concise synopsis of the link between Education and Poverty.
For a good article about education and poverty which also has a good bibliography, go to Poverty and Education, Overview So in choosing to comment on the attack of the knuckle dragging idiots against Planned Parenthood, is moi possibly open to the charge that she favors abortion or advocates mass scale abortion? Far from it. Moi considers abortion to be murder. Still, there is no way that this society is going to force women to carry to term a child they truly do not want. This society should be encouraging adoption. For an example of the complications from a rigid program of denying reproductive choice go to Scott Sunde’s Seattle PI.Com, Newborn Found In Hospital Trash Can.
It is very unsettling the attacks on Planned Parenthood by knuckle dragging idiots because Planned Parenthood provides basic health care for many women. Laura Bassett has an excellent post at Huffington Post, Planned Parenthood Defunded In New Hampshire about the consequences to women in New Hampshire:
Until July 1, a low-income New Hampshire woman paid an average of $5 to fill a birth control pill prescription at any of the state’s six Planned Parenthood clinics. She might have even gotten the birth control for free, depending on her poverty level.
But since the New Hampshire Executive Council voted to cancel the state’s contract with Planned Parenthood, a woman now has to pay anywhere from $40 to over $100 for birth control pills at a regular pharmacy.
The latest battle in the Planned Parenthood front is occurring in Mississippi.
Before discussing that battle, here are a few facts from the National Center for Children In Poverty about Mississippi:
In Mississippi, there are 398,312 families, with 746,486 children. Among these children, 54 percent live in families that are low-income, defined as income below twice the federal poverty level (nationally, 42 percent of children live in low-income families). Young children are particularly likely to live in low-income families.
Low wages and a lack of higher education contribute to families having insufficient incomes. Nationally, 46 percent of low-income children have at least one parent who works full-time, year-round; in Mississippi, the figure is 45 percent.
Parents without a college education often struggle to earn enough to support a family, but only 19 percent of adults in Mississippi have a bachelor’s degree. A substantial portion of children in Mississippi whose parents only have a high school diploma—72 percent—are low income.
http://www.nccp.org/profiles/MS_profile_48.html
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution article, 19 percent of Georgians on food stamps; Mississippi at 21.5 percent:
Georgia had 1,851,586 people on food stamps in August, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as noted in The Wall Street Journal.
That’s 19 percent of the population.Georgia ranks among the highest in the category. Mississippi had the highest percentage of recipients at 21.5 percent.
Wyoming had only 6 percent.
Southeast states generally had the largest percentage of people on food stamps, with Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina all over 18 percent.
Nationwide, nearly 15 percent used food stamps.
http://blogs.ajc.com/business-beat/2011/11/03/19-percent-of-georgians-on-food-stamps-mississippi-at-21-5-percent/
When so many Mississipians seem to be in crisis, it is interesting what is currently happening regarding an amendment to the Mississippi constitution.
Mallory Simpson of CNN is reporting in the article, Mississippi gov. supports amendment to declare fertilized egg a person:
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour offered his support Friday for an amendment to the state constitution that would define life as beginning at the moment of conception, saying he cast his absentee ballot for the measure despite struggling with its implications.
“I have some concerns about it,” he said in a statement issued Friday, a day after casting his ballot. “But I think all in all, I believe life begins at conception, so I think the right thing to do was to vote for it….”
Though the text of the amendment is simple, the implications if it passes couldn’t be more complex. If approved by Mississippi voters on Tuesday, it would make it impossible to get an abortion and hamper the ability to get some forms of birth control.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/04/us/mississippi-personhood-amendment/
This proposed amendment could provide work for lawyers on both sides of the abortion argument as the clarification of what it means is fleshed out. Abortion is a choice. No matter what law or laws are on the books, some women will choose abortion. In order to decrease the number of abortions, sexually active individuals must have access to cheap and available birth control. Women should be persuaded that adoption is an option and families who wish to adopt must be provided with assistance. Enacting a law without providing real family support will probably not stop abortion. It will only make abortions more dangerous for the women who feel that is their only choice.
The issue which the anti-Planned Parenthood crowd is not willing to discuss is that ethical issues are sometimes very complicated. It boils down to what is the greater good?
The University of Washington, School of Medicine provides a framework for analysis in The Principle of Non Malefience:
In the course of caring for patients, there are some situations in which some type of harm seems inevitable, and we are usually morally bound to choose the lesser of the two evils, although the lesser of evils may be determined by the circumstances….
The Mississippi legislature should be focused on family planning and improving the lives of their citizens.
We, as a society, should be focused on:
A Healthy Child In A Healthy Family Who Attends A Healthy School In A Healthy Neighborhood. ©
Dr. Wilda says this about that ©
drwilda 