“Just another lifestyle choice”

Last updated on: February 4, 2014 at 9:45 pm by Jane the Actuary

“Just another lifestyle choice” 2014-02-04T21:45:00-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I suppose I’m showing my age if I quote Dan Quayle (hey, look it up yourself if you don’t know what I’m talking about) but two articles today really reinforce the fact that the American Left is pretty indifferent to whether women bear their children within or outside of marriage. I guess Glen Reynolds would call this “21st century relationships.” I don’t have a cute tagline for it, but may have to invent one, at the rate that these stories keep popping up.

Story one, linked to by a facebook friend: “Why Does Everyone—From Pastors to Progressives—Doom Teen Mothers to Failure?” This was on a site called Dame Magazine, which I’d never heard of, and it may be that said facebook friend just came upon something that’s indeed rather obscure. The author raises a legitimate concern: whether pregnant teens are being “punished” in order to serve as an example to frighten other girls into avoiding pregnancy. Now, in terms of particulars, the author laments the lack of day care and other social welfare provisions for teen moms — where, in reality, there’s no shortage of these programs, though inevitably they’re not as generous as progressives would like.

But the core of the author’s message is this: there’s no reason to be ashamed of being a teen mom; having sex is inevitable and a certain percentage of sex-having teens will get pregnant due to the simple fact of contraceptive failure, so if they choose to parent, we as a society need to step up and given them what they need to succeed.

Actually, she doesn’t even say, “having sex is inevitable” — she just takes this for granted.

Story two, a Slate piece by Amanda Marcotte, “Bill O’Reilly Begs Barack Obama to Save “Futures of Babies and Children.” Most of the article consisted of a transcript from a portion of an interview of Obama by Bill O’Reilly, talking about the issue of unwed parents, especially in the black community. And here’s Marcotte’s take:

Black women are not conducting their sex lives in precisely the way that O’Reilly thinks they should.

. . .

Obsessing over whether women have their paperwork in order before they choose to reproduce is what conservatives do when they don’t want to think about more realistic and effective ways to solve income inequality in this country.

In other words, to be concerned with whether children are born to a married mother and father is not a reasoned response to the serious statistically-demonstrated controlled-for-other-factors disadvantages that children of unmarried parents face — it’s just none-of-your-business moralizing and meddling by people who have no right to do so.

Which gets us back to the problem I was trying to think through in the fall: how can we remedy the growing number of fatherless children if we can’t even all agree it’s a problem?

Uncategorized

Previous Post

February 4, 2014

Go Red for Women

Next Post

February 5, 2014 Reading the CBO Report

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said: "The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

James Jude Peter Paul