It Cuts Both Ways

In today's Savage Love, Dan points out that reproductive freedom goes for both women and men:

"[A man], just like a woman, has a right to decide when, whether, and with whom he would like to reproduce."

The letter in the article makes me wonder to what extent can a dude believe the "I want to have a baby" conversation ended with his "I don't want to?" This is really bad, but it reminds me of that scene in The World According to Garp where Jenny Garp totally bangs the incapacitated Garp (the father) in order to produce Garp (the son). Parallels. Crazy.

But this makes me wonder what people who don't want kids do when they go against their expressed wishes and have a baby. Are they impinging on their own reproductive freedom, or are they just exercising their God-given stupidity?

Of course, all could be avoided with effective birth control methods. (Click on the link to find which one gives you the best shot of remaining child-free--if that's your desire. If you want a baby. . .you know what to do.) If you don't want kids, fellas and ladies, do what you need to do to ensure that you don't have kids.

This article is timely because I've had three conversations today about how people have kids when they either don't plan for them or don't want them. The situations fall into several categories.
1. We wanted to wait until we had a house, but now that he's here, we're gonna love him:
Oops, I had a baby! If you're not financially stable when this happens, it's feasible to have to continue renting and scrimping for the next 18 years. That means off-brand mac and cheese 4-Life! Not that I have any of problem with off-brand m-and-c--it's delicious--but. . .what will the kid think?

2. We're married. We didn't need to use protection anymore / I'm really shocked that I got pregnant the first time: Look before you leap, friends. If you don't use protection, you've got an 85% chance of getting pregnant (according to FDA statistics). Even if you're married and you prefer to "go naked," don't be shocked when there's a bun in the oven--you grabbed the flour, water, yeast, eggs, mixed it up, threw it in a pan and placed it there yourself.

3. Too lazy for protection: If you're too lazy to swallow a pill, find a condom, get an injection, apply a cream, or simply look at a calendar and interruptus the coitus, what makes you think you'll have enough get-up-and-go to take care of a baby? I hear it's hard work. . .