This diary is only about consensual sex.
The absolute decision as to whether or not to have sex is a human right. It should not be within the power of the state to deny any man or woman to have with a willing partner of either gender so long as the sexual act is private.
Unfortunately, women have many fewer options with regard to controlling their fertility than men do. Birth control for women is difficult. The most reliable birth control methods (tubal ligation & IUD’s) are expensive, require a doctor visit and/or surgery & are sometimes difficult to reverse; less reliable birth control, while easier to obtain, has a high failure rate (4/10 — 7/10 births/woman, over a 10 year period of using a particular form of a variety of birth control methods, NY Times).
So some sexual acts result in unintended pregnancies.
Women should not be constrained from having sex because of fear of pregnancy. Pregnancy in and of itself is a burden, it results in childbirth, which is painful and expensive, and after childbirth the woman who has given birth faces a lifelong responsibility to her child (it.never.ends). When the woman decides to keep the child, the burden is instantaneous, and it immediately and forever constrains the woman’s finances and life choice. This occurs to some extent even if the woman has given the child up for adoption.
A woman who decides to become a mother is constrained in her opportunities for obtaining education, constrained in her housing options, constrained in her romantic relationships, constrained in the amount of her spending she can direct to herself as opposed to the resources she must direct to the health, care, education, and welfare of her chid, and will herself have reduced earning power for the remainder of her lifetime, including after retirement.
A woman who decides to become a mother but who wishes to put her child up for adoption may not be able to do so if the biological father is unwilling to relinquish custody claims. A woman should not feel that she must choose sexual partners on the basis of whether they would be good single fathers in the event that she becomes pregnant after a sexual encounter. Furthermore, putting a child up for adoption does not mean that a woman ceases to be a mother. She remains a mother, and can in fact suffer grief, regret, and emotional pain from the decision to give up her child.
The niche that humans have carved for themselves will become narrower as the earth warms and humans are forced to replace carbon extraction with more sustainable methods for obtaining energy and for maximizing food production and delivery. There is no necessity for humans to produce more humans at this time.
There is no societal advantage to be gained in forcing women to become mothers when they are not ready to be mothers. A woman should be absolutely free to decide that she wants to shoulder the lifetime burden of bearing a child when she is 18, when she is 28, when she is 38, or never at all. The decision about whether or not to become a mother should also be a woman’s human right.
For all of human history, the one person who has been the primary source of sustenance, attention, care and nurture of the young human has been the mother of the young human. Counting solely from the birth of one child to nominal adulthood, this is a job that takes, at a minimum, 25% of the mother’s lifetime. Not every woman is ready to be a mother every time she has sex.
Abortion is a human right.