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From: owens@gitpyr.UUCP (Gerald Owens)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: Re*2: final argument against
Message-ID: <251@gitpyr.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 28-Sep-84 17:14:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: gitpyr.251
Posted: Fri Sep 28 17:14:54 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 29-Sep-84 10:21:35 EDT
References: <929@ut-ngp.UUCP> <1256@ritcv.UUCP>, <936@ut-ngp.UUCP>, <1263@ritcv.UUCP> <1242@pucc-h>
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
Lines: 49

> Uh, gentlemen...
> 
> I am really getting tired of seeing this arguement of 'the woman accepts the
> man's advances, ergo, she should accept responsibility.'  Contraception is a
> two way street, and there are methods, both temporary and permanent, that
> a man can use.
> 
> 
> 
> So, if you are so bloody worried about the woman getting pregnant, why don't
> *you* do something about it!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Laurie Sefton
> {allegra,harpo,ihnp4,}pur-ee!pucc-k!afo

     Bravo and amen!  It takes TWO to make a baby, so BOTH should take
the responsability for contraception.

     I recently looked through a history of contraception, and I noted that
the original impetus for the pill was the realization that the woman
would have bourne the greater share of the burdens of the pregnancy
than the man (after all, you can tell who the mother is by LOOKING.
Who the father is, is a bit harder to determine.  And if we want to
maintain the illusion of justice, we certainly can't accuse a man of
being the father based >>SOLELY<< on the testimony of ONE witness, who ALSO
happens to be one of the interested parties. (ditto for rape)). Thus, it
was decided that the woman would have the greater "incentive" to use
contraceptive methods.  In fact, before the pill, there was a special
dual pill that both the woman and man had to take in order to get full
protection.  No woman, of course, could have any assurance that the
guy propositioning her actually was taking his pills, since if a
pregnancy occurred, HE could say (if caught), that SHE hadn't taken her
pill!

     Since I am rather concientious in taking medicines, I wouldn't mind
a male contraceptive.  Apparently, what is holding the research up is
the fear that any male contraceptive of a chemical or biological kind
would affect the man's libido and/or virility.  And since we were (and still
are) in a male-dominated society, that pretty much explains the lack
of such research :-(.  It's a shame, since the pill is so effective, any
extra protection from the male side would only cut the margin for error
down even further, and also cut down on the number of abortions gotten
because of "unwanted" children.

				Gerald Owens
				Owens@Gatech.