Archive for 2010:
Abortion – the right to decide
Recent events have left me pondering a topic that I have tried to avoid discussing due to its controversial nature – abortion. But, I feel I should put down some of these thoughts as it might encourage a discussion of it.
Abortion is a highly emotive topic and one that cannot be entered into lightly. I have never had to face the issue first-hand and I really thank God that I have never been put in that position. But I know people who have. None of them, however, chose abortion. I only know second-hand about their own feelings. Since I have not known anyone personally who chose abortion, I cannot present their side.
I know women who do choose abortion have their reasons for doing so, and I know the anti-abortion activists have much to argue against in that. However, I am not here to preach either side. I am not the one to live with the consequences of the decision these women make.
The point I do want to make is that women shouldn’t be forced into one decision or another. The pro-choice advocates would cheer for that, but I don’t think they get the point, either. It seems the general public only hear about women being coerced (by various groups) into keeping their child. They don’t hear about women who are bullied into having abortions.
Three women of my acquaintance have had to face the “choice”. All three were in stable marriages, so the situation is rather different from the young unmarried mother. One was much older and couldn’t face the idea of having another child late in life. Furthermore, she was getting very sick from the pregnancy. She didn’t know what to do and chose to wait it out. The decision was eventually taken out of her hands when she miscarried.
The other two discovered that their foetuses had birth defects. One was in her early twenties, the other in her late thirties. The younger one couldn’t and wouldn’t believe the diagnosis, but the older one realised it was due to her age. Both were very religious, though they adhered to different religions and different theological beliefs. That may have contributed to their decision not to have an abortion.
What distinguished these two from the first one was that their doctors continually advised them to have abortions throughout the pregnancy. They were both made to feel as if their opinions and beliefs were insignificant. In this day and age, this is unforgivable in the medical profession. The prognosis for the first child was extremely poor, the second barely less so, but this did not excuse the behaviour of the medical team. By the end of the pregnancies, the doctors were forced to accept that they would be delivering either a stillborn or a child expected to die.
Both sets of parents were prepared for all eventualities. The first was able to hold her child as he took his last breaths, the second delivered a stillborn daughter. Neither regretted their decisions. They were able to carry their child to term, felt all the movements the child made and developed a bond for the unborn, and then grieve a natural loss.
These women were able to stand up to their doctors and make their own decisions. But, how many other women are coerced into having abortions? How many of them regret it?
Oh no, chicken pox!
What an unbelievable day. Someone at work had shingles, so a colleague and I had a discussion about chicken pox. I was asked if my kids had chicken pox yet and I replied that they had received the varicella vaccine. Of course, getting vaccines does not guarantee that you can’t get the disease, but it allows you to hope that the illness would be mild. Since the varicella vaccine is relatively new, not enough data is available to show how effective it is. You can only show that it is ineffective when an individual develops the illness that the vaccine was supposed to prevent.
I came home to find my husband dabbing calamine lotion onto my younger daughter’s torso. It may have been that I had chicken pox on the mind, but my first reaction was, “Oh no, you’ve got chicken pox!” Sure enough, it is chicken pox. We hadn’t heard that there was an outbreak at school, so we’re not sure if she is the sentinel case or if she caught it from someone else. I just hope that I was not a vector, as I was exposed to someone with shingles. Or vice versa.
If she caught the virus from someone else, my daughter would have been exposed sometime in the last week or two. Which also means that she could have been passing it on during that time. Viral shedding occurs even before the rash breaks out.
It does appear that she is having a rather mild infection. She has not had a fever and generally feels well. Though she complains of a mild sore throat and some fatigue, it does not prevent her from doing her usual activities. She does complain about itch, but it has not been bad. Of course, she hardly ever complains about itch with rashes of any kind. Already, some of the lesions are starting to scab. Once that happens, she will no longer be infectious and can interact with others, unless she is embarrassed about the sores on her face. Fortunately, the end of term is nearly here. I just hope the Easter holidays will not be ruined.
Response to 4-MMC/Mephedrone
I’m using this post to respond to recent commenters. Thank you for reading my blog and sharing your thoughts. And special thanks to those who can express their views without having to resort to swearing.
The blogging world is both personal and impersonal. You can express very personal views without revealing your identity. Of course, those who are sufficiently determined would find a way to discover a blogger’s identity. Some people have such strong views that we cannot help but get a reaction. And reactions are important to stimulate debate.
Most of the reactions recently have been related to drugs, legal or not.
First of all, I would like to emphasize the point that I do not favour tobacco or alcohol any more than I do the illegal drugs. Despite “scientific” evidence that moderate drinking is good for you, I would never encourage anyone to even have a drink a day. That would be irresponsible. There is nothing I can say that is positive about tobacco. The damage from tobacco is more long-term, though some short-term effects, such as shortness of breath, cough, and wheeze does exist. Alcohol gives a “buzz” to most people, and again, it has long-term consequences.
The effects of illegal, or unregulated, drugs are less well-known. This is in part due to the fact that they are not as readily available, so fewer people use them and there is less “study” of them. I will admit that I do not have “data” to show that these drugs, such as 4-MMC, are deadly. But, having worked in the ER and seeing kids brought in dead on arrival after a night of mixing drugs, the best conclusion is that those drugs are linked to the death, even if current testing cannot conclusively show that any one specific drug is to blame.
Enough is known about the class of drugs which 4-MMC, or mephedrone, belongs to that scientists can say that it acts as a stimulant. Similar drugs include amphetamines, ephedra, and ecstasy. Based on that alone, I cannot see why 4-MMC should be treated any differently from those drugs. It is interesting that drug users demand to be given scientific evidence that something is harmful, yet they are willing to risk their lives before scientific evidence proves that something is not harmful.
Anyone who has read my blog would know that I tend to be sceptical about any scientific study. There always seem to be some flaw which leads to different groups studying the same thing and getting different results. Though I’m not advocating willy-nilly beliefs, I do feel that we need to be careful of drawing conclusions based solely on science. Sometimes, observational studies are just as important.
Drug users will then argue that if you go to a club and observe those getting high you will see that they are all tranquil. That’s baloney. Try holding down someone on a real “trip”. You wonder how that little person could be so strong.
So, why does tobacco and alcohol have such special status? I can’t answer that except to say that it is such a huge source of revenue for the government that they would be unable to reverse things. They are available and at the same time, they are discouraged. Or, in the case of alcohol, “drink responsibly”. I agree that the various methods for smoking cessation should be made accessible and well-regulated. I only warned against using products that are unregulated, as there may be hidden dangers.
Can they really do that with other drugs? It would be extremely irresponsible for the government to just turn a blind eye to other drugs. We have laws in place in to protect people from themselves and from others. Some may argue that the government should not be our moral authority, but wouldn’t that just encourage anarchy?
Education is important to prevent the misuse and abuse of drugs. It is not enough just to say that drugs are bad and leave it at that. Some people are not willing to take that at face value. They have to experience it themselves and make their own conclusions. Sometimes, unfortunately, they are not given another chance.
Regulation is important. If a drug is illegal, it should be banned. If it is not deemed illegal, there should be regulation. What would this mean? First, it would mean the government gets a cut. They would have to have people in place to test drugs to see that they are not adulterated. Part of the danger in using drugs that are bought online and unregulated is that they may contain contaminants which make the drugs cheaper and more deadly. Regulation would mean that there is less of a problem with inherent crime associated with the drug. Perhaps it may decrease the attraction of the drug. For young people and early experimenters, it is the thrill of doing something not quite legal that contributes to the “high”.
Does 4-MMC deserve to be regulated rather than banned? It would be very difficult to defend this drug when so many other countries have already banned it based on its effects and associated risks. Some would argue that its risk lay in overdosing, but what is an overdose? Drug levels are never the same in everyone.
