If there was a really reliable method to discourage people from having sex, it probably would have been discovered already.
And people wondered where George Orwell got his ideas.
We have always been at war with testicles.
Two things:
First, I’m not entirely certain that you have established that it is, in fact, a dilemma.
Second, I think the thread has enough responses that it’s fair to ask you to show your cards: What’s your solution?
I think “whatever we can” seems a bit too strong. A lot, certainly, but not whatever.
To the OP:
Better Parenting
More affordable, safer, and accessible abortions
Abortions are the obvious answer to unwanted pregnancies.
Oh, but let’s get real: air bags are not the best way to reduce auto crashes; and abortions aren’t the best way to reduce unwanted pregnancies. Both have their place, but the better strategy would be to make accidents (of either kind) increasingly rare.
How is that accomplished? Good question.
Sure it has. In fact 40 years ago there was a method discovered to ENCOURAGE people to have sex more freely! The sexual revolution.
The answer is to go back to the way we were before the sexual revolution. We lost our respect for sex.
If you don’t believe me that sex attitudes have changed ask yourself this, “would they have allowed girls gone wild commercials on TV in 1969?” Shoot, the entire sexually charged spring break tradition wouldn’t have been possible without a change in our attitudes towards sex. These days it’s assumed that a dating couple that has been together a few weeks is having sex. That is far too fast. Maybe you are an exception but it’s reality for most young Americans. The media definitely doesn’t help in this regard. Every sitcom portrays dating couples having sex.
There are two answers here. Fix the problem at the end (FORCED abortions - since it’s obvious that voluntary abortions aren’t working - globally) and/or fix the problem at its source, get people (men AND women) to stop having sex so much.
Sex is too important today. The numbers demonstrate it. Abortion is unnatural. If we allowed nature to take its course, we would be up to 7,8 billion people by now. And it would only get worse as population exploded. Shoot, it’s exploding now WITH abortion. If abortion is the solution, then explain why population is not under control. Nature never intented us to behave like rabbits. And yes, it is definitely a problem. Project these numbers forward by, say, 100 years. And we should then include the global population and people who don’t use contraceptives too, as well as people who plan their pregnancies. Will we be talking about a population of 10 or 15 billion? Possibly more? I would guess that 20 billion is quite possible in 100 years. How many people can the planet sustain?
Yes, the population growth is not out of control in America, as it is in China and India. But we have a different set of problems. We already know about them. Again, voluntary abortion isn’t working now. Do you think it’s going to work in the future when we get into serious difficulty because of overpopulation, or are we going to have to force them onto women?
Seriously, what other solution is there? We HAVE to change our attitudes towards sex.
Yep. This plus more affordable, safer, and accessible birth control and better sex ed.
The pill is available OTC in some countries. Unless that’s genuinely a major health risk, it should be available OTC in the US, too. Putting barriers (um, no pun intended) between users and birth control means fewer users.
Maybe it did (as much as you can say Nature intends anything, which I don’t think you can), but it didn’t intend for us to live as long as we do now. People were having lots of kids for a long time, but until recently things like epidemic diseases held world population in check.
How is it not working? The US total fertility rate is around replacement level right now. Japan and many European countries have below-replacement fertility rates. All of this without forced abortions or required use of birth control. OTOH, China does coerce its people into having fewer children. Its total fertility rate is (while still below replacement) higher than that in some European countries that don’t practice any such coercion.
Nonsense. Abortion is a perfectly straightforward solution. It’s a cheap and simple medical procedure.
Another solution is to make birth control free and freely available to anyone over the age of 16. I agree with have to change our attitude toward sex - but in other direction. We need to accept that it’s a perfectly normal act of nature and stop mystifying it or refusing to talk about it. Parents should support their teens in learning healthy sex behavior.
As far as it being ‘unnatural’ - I would remind you that in nature, mothers who are too stressed and don’t want to continue their pregnancy either reabsorb the embryos into their bodies or eat their young. Compared to that, abortion is an improvement.
But condoms ARE available OTC. And I thought I demonstrated how birth control in the context of a population is still pretty ineffective. Even if used properly we would be talking tens of thousands of unexpected of pregnancies.
I said we gave a different set of problems.
And besides saying the US is at replacement level is not true. We are still growing, as of the last census. We’ll find out more in a year or so.
Forced abortions is fine by me.
World population is growing mostly from wanted pregnancies, not unwanted ones, but passing out more jimmies would still be a good idea.
Wagging a finger and telling people not to have sex is a massive waste of time. You can cmlain all you want about the trivial failure rates of contraceptives, but scolding people to be abstinent is monumentally ineffective.
Condoms aren’t as effective as Depo or the pill.
Tens of thousands of unexpected pregnancies need not equal tens of thousands of unwanted babies.
Why? I see nothing wrong with sex after dating for a few weeks.
How? What numbers? I think sex is just important enough for me.
… and hemlock is natural.
When I was five, I was about three and a half feet tall. Now I am 5’9". Logically, this mean that in 16 years I will be 9’3".
But our population growth (even in America) is still on the rise, even with abortion.
Did you READ the OP? Birth control doesn’t stop pregnancies from happening for a group of millions or billions of people.
Aren’t humans a part of nature? Yours is a very slim argument, you must admit. Humans have never absorbed their fetuses.
Say what?
No.
So what’s your solution? We ARE going to have to address this issue within the next 10 or 20 years. You aren’t REALLY in support of forced abortions, are you?