NEWS: Why Meth Users Matter

CULTURE: Why Meth Users Matter

So, why am I so on about the rights of pregnant drug users? Simple. First, because it's fundamental that if we're going to say that people have rights, we have to include everyone. If I argue that women have the right (as they do) to make their own reproductive decisions, then I mean all women, not just the ones whose choices I approve of. If I only mean "women who make good decisions," then that's not a right: that's me granting permission. That way lies the proverbial slippery slope: if I get to condemn pregnant meth users, than some other asshole gets to condemn pregnant women who have the occasional drink or cigarette, and asshole number three gets to argue that pregnant women who work or have sex are putting their babies at risk and should be forbidden from doing so. Nope, not going down that road.



The second thing is that I believe in reality. Pregnancy is a basic reality: it happens. It happens even to women who are extremely careful about using birth control. It happens even to women who believe in abstinence. It's one of the fundamental things our bodies do, like cellular regeneration and growing hair and putting on weight if we're lucky enough to have plenty to eat. We are, in the end, living animals, and the primary definition of any living animal is that it reproduces itself. Getting away from moralizing about whether or not people "should" or "shouldn't" have kids and dealing with the simple fact that, well, we do is a fundamental step that we haven't, as a society, really taken yet.



Yeah, we can "choose" to try to avoid pregnancy. Yeah, thank god, we can still "choose" to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, at least assuming we have money and live somewhere where we have access to abortion services (or, barring that, that we know someone who knows how to induce a miscarriage). But really, if you think about it, we can't choose to become pregnant, or not to. Pregnancy is something our bodies do without our consciously deciding it: I can decide to walk to the grocery store or to drive, but I can't decide whether or when to ovulate--even if I'm taking drugs that will prevent or hasten it, how my body responds to those drugs isn't something I have control over.



Modern medicine is fucking awesome, and it's fucking awesome to be able to choose to seriously reduce the likelihood that we'll get pregnant unless we're good and ready, but let's not kid ourselves: the best laid plans of lab mice and women gang aft agley. All the more so if you're someone who--for whatever reason--is in a position where your ability to exercise what choices you do have is already seriously compromised.



If you want to moralize about it, fine, but you might as well moralize about the earth going around the sun. E pur si muove.



Bitch_PhD kinda digs Galileo, even though he's a dead white guy. And she feels damn lucky to have been born to a forward-thinking mom who told her about birth control when she was 12 or 13, and to have been able to use the car to go to Planned Parenthood when she was 17, and to have always been able to get birth control which always worked for her. Especially since she knows people who've gotten knocked up while on the pill--sometimes even with twins.

Oh dear...

What does this have to do with women receiving equal pay in tennis tournaments?

What is your PhD in again?

first of all, if we're giving everyone rights, what about the unborn kids? secondly, to say there's no way to absolutely prevent precnancy, well, we all know that's not true.

Furthermore, I think I should be given the right to feed meth to my baby brother.

You're hurting whatever point you might have had... which I saw, I really did... but I find it hard to listen to somebody who is saying something I don't wholly agree with when they are annoyingly in my face about it.

Yes, I know I can read something else. But isn't the point of your writing things here for people to read them? I know, I'm perpetuating it by commenting...

I didn't read this article. Just wanted to plea with you to please just drop it and move on.

Meth is still illegal, right? Like, for everyone?

Baby needed a bump? party on!

If you say you have a PhD, you are obviously above the law, duh.

this is seriously the dumbest thing i've ever read. i'm actually less intelligent for having read it. i even made the mistake of reading it twice, just to make sure it's not a satire, ala' A Modest Proposal.

For some people being right is way more important than actually getting anything accomplished.

This horse is way past dead - at this point, it's fucking skeletal.

What. The. Fuck?! Who keeps "OK"- ing these things?!?!

+1

seriously, what the fuck is your point? that women should be allowed to do meth while pregnant? that we should be more understanding of women who are pregnant drug users?

fuck that, and fuck them. neither pregnancy nor drug use just happens. BOTH are the result of conscious choices we make and i have zero sympathy for those unhappy with their choices.

Didn't you see that thing she posted about how abstinence isn't perfect? Perfect use vs. regular/normal use. Apparently, having sex while trying to be abstinent is the same as putting on a condom wrong and having it break or missing a pill.

+1

It's going ot happen whether we argue about it for a week or a year. Why is it so impossible to just agree to disagree?
It's not gonna change the fact that its still happening... sorry hun, but it's just not helping at all...

Wow. You have a PhD in "Not using your brain". Try reading a logic book sometime, it might make your argument not suck.

Plus she's getting paid for it. That's what totally amazes me.

So, wait, you made an entire additional article just to argue with the comments posted on your previous one? That seems a touch... disproportionate.

Anyway, I think your second point contradicts your first point. If you want to talk about moral absolutism, that rights must apply to everyone--even those who abuse them--then you're going to have a tough time convincing me that you also "believe in reality." Part of reality is having to weigh the consequences of enacting one's moral certainties, and being prepared to compromise when the negatives outweigh the positives.

I'm not a physician, so I'm not prepared to evaluate the birth defect risks of meth, but a cursory look at the internet suggests that they definitely exist, however severe. You can argue for a person's right to do whatever they like to their own body, but assuming we're past the point of viable abortion, the fetus has been promoted to full human and should now have rights of its own. Absolutism and condescension do nothing to advance the debate of which should take precedence.

I agree with you here but pregnancy, if you are lucky, is a conscious choice.... the girl who gets pregnant from rape sure as fuck didn't choose to get pregnant!

But drug use is a conscious choice and these women who get pregnant while using and then continue to use have to be held accountable. But as the problem has so many roads coming off it, it is impossible to work out a solution. We could argue that the government is responsible because the woman's drug use stems from unemployment or blame their sexually-abusive father for their use ... it's a fucking minefield of pointing the finger...

Once thing is for sure, Bitch_PhD... you can point out that pregnany is a thing that the body does naturally, and I agree, but where, in any situation is it natural for a woman to shoot up meth while pregnant.

bxx

what's your educated guess on the percentage of pregnancies every year that are the result of rape? my guess is less than 1 tenth of 1 percent. meaning that to say a girl is lucky if a girl's pregnancy is a conscious choice isn't true. it would be extremely unlucky fo the opposite to happen. that's all i'm saying.