• commentary
  • MONDAY FEBRUARY 26 2007 6:00 PM

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.

 

Previous

PAGE: 

1 ... 

4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Next

Comments
Spica

Spica

SUICIDEGIRL

I'm lost

FEB 27, 2007 02:41 AM


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 really wonder how I managed all the years since I lost my virginity without getting pregnant... Or raped. Or pregnant and raped, multiple times.
No, I actually wonder more on how I actually got pregnant when I chose to... Must have been a lucky shot or something.

KorbenDallas

KorbenDallas

Qatar
January 2005

FEB 27, 2007 02:51 AM

How is this thread possible? Come on SG, you're killing me.

Cash

Cash

USA
OLD SKOOL

FEB 27, 2007 05:01 AM

Just as an aside...anyone who manufactures crystal meth ought to be anally raped with a sharp stick....then given a rubbing alcohol enema.

Max16Characters

Max16Characters

Korea, Republic Of
March 2003

FEB 27, 2007 05:37 AM

theconservative said:

burtlo said:

brhood said:
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



I think the argument we face today is not a question of whether it's natural, but if a woman should be allowed complete reproductive rights even if she is a user of such a substance.



i say no. 'complete' being the objective word.



So you want the government deciding who can and who cannot breed? What's the litmus test? Economic class? Substance abuse/ingestion? A "good mommy" test? An age limit like buying alcohol or smokes? Plenty of peolpe have made great parents despite dire circumstances just as plenty of people with everything going for them have royally screwed it up.

For someone who calls themselves "theconservative" you're asking for a lot of governmental interference in the lives of essentially half the population. But let's go further...why should we limiit it to just women? Let's chemically limit the ability for men to get a hardon (or force the developement of a male birth control pill whose ingestion would be mandatory) until they can prove they'd be good fathers. But once again, we're left with the problem of how can one prove they're capable to be loving good parents.

punk

punk

Phoenix, AZ
January 2004

FEB 27, 2007 05:52 AM

StudentDriver said:
(As an aside, it's at least subtly implied in this FDA report from 2005 that some proceeds from black-market baby formula sales supposedly went to Al Qaeda. surreal )



I never thought I'd see "black market" and "baby formula" in the same sentence.

Pirate_Romeo

Pirate_Romeo

Oklahoma City, OK
November 2004

FEB 27, 2007 05:57 AM

I just wish there was an "ignore" function for "culture" articles written by some people. blackeyed

Ascanius

Ascanius

USA
October 2006

FEB 27, 2007 06:06 AM

robot robot robot

Geisterfaust

Geisterfaust

Tempe, AZ
June 2006

FEB 27, 2007 06:35 AM

I'm reminded of that one Halloween episode of the Simpsons where all the billboards and corporate mascots came to life: Maybe, if we ignore future articles like this (and something tells me there will be more), they'll go away.

Calina

Calina

Costa Rica
July 2005

FEB 27, 2007 07:33 AM

It seems as though maybe your own mother did some severe drug-taking herself when she didn't choose to have you.

The unborn child has rights of it's own as well. Rights that shouldn't be compromised by some selfish, fucked-up, justifying "mother".

offleash

offleash

Reno, NV
October 2006

FEB 27, 2007 07:56 AM

I thought this latest post did a pretty good job of answering the question 'what's the point'. A question being asked over and over by people who are apparently too pissed off to read any more.

apesamongus

apesamongus

Atlanta, GA
July 2002

FEB 27, 2007 08:05 AM

WhiteAndNerdy said:
This is interesting. Obviously most people are a bit taken aback by this commentary at first, but I don't really see any discussion of the logical points being made. Maybe they've been discussed in her other commentaries, but I don't really have the time to read them.


Then that explains why you have no point. Every logical argument has already been made multiple times. She's just written the same article 4 times. No one is arguing logically here, because she is impervious to logic. Still attempting to argue logically at this point would only lend undeserved credibility to her non-existant point. It would offer the false impression that there's logic already present in her ignorance fueled rant.

apesamongus

apesamongus

Atlanta, GA
July 2002

FEB 27, 2007 08:11 AM

brhood said:
And this is what, in a way, Bitch_PhD was trying to condemn... it is an absolute moral and ethical minefield to even try to contemplate how you would go about setting up legislation for this... where do you stop? Use meth, no baby or no job, no baby


Actually, the first one wouldn't be "use meth, no baby", it would be "baby, no meth". That's a not too subtle difference.

Secondly, we already have "no job, no baby". That's what Child Protective Services does. They take children away from people who cannot provide an adequate home. Personally, I'm in favor of it. Hell, I think the bar is already too low.

Necia

Necia

San Francisco, CA
August 2005

FEB 27, 2007 08:37 AM

StudentDriver said:

Necia said:

I also learned that powdered baby formula is used to cut meth, apparently, which was why all of the Similac was kept behind the counter at our local grocery store.



Never knew this one. We've had strict limits on the sale of powdered formula here for ages, but the explanation we got was a combination of high theft due to a large black market (similar to diabetes supplies) and grey-market exports. (As an aside, it's at least subtly implied in this FDA report from 2005 that some proceeds from black-market baby formula sales supposedly went to Al Qaeda. surreal )



Yeah, I don't know whether it's a statewide thing in Iowa or not. I was just at the grocery store one day and saw the baby formula in the same place as they kept all of the flask-sized liquor, behind the counter--it was four shelves of liquor and then one shelf of baby formula. Odd pairing. I asked the cashier about it, and she mentioned its use in meth production, and then starts in on, "Do you know what they put in meth? It's just awful stuff," and rattled off a list of ingredients. shocked

Uncognitive

Uncognitive

Brooklyn, NY
May 2003

FEB 27, 2007 08:45 AM

Bitch_PhD said:
First, because it's fundamental that if we're going to say that people have rights, we have to include everyone.



This is also, ironically, the core rallying cry of the Right To Life (or anti-choice) movement. The only difference is when you define "personhood" as starting. Since we're discussing activities that can and do have an impact on the body and the brain of an unborn child, when you define "personhood" as starting becomes really important.

Bitch_PhD said:
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.



But that's how all rights are granted in a societal context. I argue that women have the right to drive automobiles. Does that mean they should be allowed to drive drunk, or drive on the sidewalk?

Bitch_PhD said:
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.



All three "assholes" have the right to argue their points. You're assuming that there's the same level of medical evidence behind each of them to grant them equal validity in terms of becoming governmental policy.

handsome_rob

handsome_rob

Burlington, IA
May 2004

FEB 27, 2007 11:36 AM

Necia said:

StudentDriver said:

Necia said:

I also learned that powdered baby formula is used to cut meth, apparently, which was why all of the Similac was kept behind the counter at our local grocery store.



Never knew this one. We've had strict limits on the sale of powdered formula here for ages, but the explanation we got was a combination of high theft due to a large black market (similar to diabetes supplies) and grey-market exports. (As an aside, it's at least subtly implied in this FDA report from 2005 that some proceeds from black-market baby formula sales supposedly went to Al Qaeda. surreal )



Yeah, I don't know whether it's a statewide thing in Iowa or not. I was just at the grocery store one day and saw the baby formula in the same place as they kept all of the flask-sized liquor, behind the counter--it was four shelves of liquor and then one shelf of baby formula. Odd pairing. I asked the cashier about it, and she mentioned its use in meth production, and then starts in on, "Do you know what they put in meth? It's just awful stuff," and rattled off a list of ingredients. shocked




well, here in burlington it's right out on the shelves and i didn't know about a limit on sales.

Previous

PAGE: 

1 ... 

4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Next