Gender and Reproductive Health Care

I thought that this was the best presentation so far. There was a lot of information presented that I did not know and I think the discussion was very productive; we were able to address a lot of different ideas. Perhaps it seems like this discussion should have been focused on the extremes of the discussion, such as pro-life v. pro-choice, but I was glad that a large part of the conversation focused on sex education. This is a part of our society that is extremely lacking. I agree with the author of the shorter reading for their discussion, that most people (exp. women) can come together, whether pro-life or pro-choice, to say that the number of abortions should be reduced and can be reduced through better access to contraceptives and better sex education among children. It is stunning how much this information is stifled in our society, how embarrassed people are to talk about sex and how taboo the subject is before the age of, say, sixteen. We have to first acknowledge that there is a problem, the problem of teenage pregnancy and unwanted children, and then move forward to address the cause of this issue. I think that the government and our representatives have been woefully silent on this issue, or, if they are not silent, they are arguing against it, which is ludicrous. There needs to be an active movement towards better, more open and more effective sex education in the United States if we want to actually make a difference, whether abortion is available as an option or not.