Promises I Can Keep

How does a person come to decide if they want to be a parent or not? The formation of procreative identities in men and women is a complex topic with many influencing factors. Tamara G. Coon Sells set out to distinguish what some of these factors were in her study of 14 unmarried, childfree graduate students (2013, p. 133). Analyzing the narrative submissions of her sample, she was able to pinpoint 5 different themes impacting the development of both men’s and women’s procreative identity: biological, deterrents, fear, hesitation, and pressure (p. 144).

Dreams of being a mother during the 19th century were demolished when the birth rate of babies increased dramatically, for the only way to “care” for a child, was to abandon them. A mother’s instincts are loving, protecting and caring unconditionally for their child. Through the early times, the birth rate of newborns was insignificantly high, due to many reasons, one being the lack of a way to avoid pregnancies. The consequence of mothers was having to "get rid" of their babies, for their dreams of becoming future mothers were "smothered by poverty and want" (p.68). Therefore, thousands of helpless unwanted infants were left out in the dangerous slums of New York City

The book by John Isbister, “Promises Not Kept” brings to light the real truth behind poverty and the betrayal the third world received from the economics, legal, policy, and nationalism. What are the two major promises that Isbister indicates were not kept in the 20th century? A first promise was that to the “leaders of the nationalist independence movements and the revolutions in the third world.” They promised the people’s labor would be used for their own progress and not for the enrichment of others. Almost all the nationalist leaders made this promise but as we know not very many kept it. The goal was to end poverty, I believe and as we know poverty is still alive and growing daily. Ending poverty was a major movement towards independence but was

Seeks Pity for Teenage Mothers and Abstinent Couples,” is that the woman’s inability to be decisive in whether or not she will assume the role of motherhood is symbolic of slavery. Furthermore, Sanger maintains that denying women the freedom of choice essentially impedes their constitutional rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These assertions are substantiated through a series of letters that are written to Sanger by mothers who are overwhelmed with anguish and dismay due to their prominent rate of unplanned pregnancies and the complications that ensue as a result. The common thread indicated in all of the letters is the pursuit of relief in the form of prevention. The series of correspondences also addresses the invariable plight of poverty, illness, fear, physiological defects, sexual servitude, and the lack of social enterprise, which all seem to be exacerbated by the immense number of unplanned pregnancies. Sanger subscribes to the belief that the woman’s right to control her body is the foundation of her human rights; and the freedom of choice is the stimulus to safer, healthier and happier lives. One writer discloses her struggle to efficiently care for her eight children on her husband’s minimal income of $1.oo per day. Her failure to adequately nurture her eight children and ensure their normal development is created by her inability to work outside of the home to

The early twentieth century was a turning point in American history-especially in regards to the acquisition of women's rights. While the era was considered to be prosperous and later thought to be a happy-go-lucky time, in actuality, it was a time of grave social conflict and human suffering (Parish, 110). Among those who endured much suffering were women. As Margaret Sanger found out, women, especially those who were poor, had no choice regarding pregnancy. The only way not to get pregnant was by not having sex- a choice that was almost always the husband's. This was even more true in the case of lower-class men for whom, 'sex was the poor man's only luxury' (Douglas, 31). As a nurse who assisted in delivering

“With what price we pay for the glory of motherhood” (Isadora Duncan). In Defense of Single Motherhood, by Katie Roiphe, is an essay arguing why being a single mother is better than the traditional two parent method. Although Rophie has a moderate expression of ethos, her poor use of logos, and her struggle with pathos concludes this is a weak argument.

Premarital sex did not exist in America, and young girls were likely to still be virginal upon marriage and faithful afterwards, sadly that is just a traditional American myth. The reality is that sexual activity before and outside marriage was a common practice, among the Puritans, in the seventeenth century. Throughout the eighteenth-century in America, 30 to 40 percent of brides walked down the aisle pregnant. Premarital pregnancy was not just limited to the twentieth and twenty-first century. Today, families are not quite the same as what they use to be. They include a more diverse environment than in the past and are more probable to be formed away from marriage. Beginning with the family life in colonial America, we examine the household structure between the families and colonial communities, compared to the emergence of the modern family. We apply our attention to the shift from agriculture based to industrial economy and the consequences for family life that follow.

Income can play a major part in the decision to continue or terminate a pregnancy. It is actually one of the leading causes of abortions. One legislator recently commented that, “reproductive age in Florida have incomes of less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level”(Source 1). These incomes are incomes of women are making little money which could not support the necessities that come with carrying and raising a child. Women with low incomes need the money they make to care for their necessities alone

Beginning in the late 1800s, birth control began being sold by manufacturers as a two hundred and fifty million dollar industry. The manufacturer’s targeted half the population, women. However, due to a large amount of advertisements being in magazines that only the middle class could afford, the white married middle class women were the main producer of sales. Thus leading to the intended effect of birth rates decreasing from seven children per family to two and a half children (Ulrich, ). In addition, Tone states that women of African American race and others of low economic status did not have as strong an effect. The birth rates of these individuals remained roughly the same. In addition, it was not until the late nineteenth century that women became in charge of their own reproduction. In the 1700s, the family was largely

The modern world is in the midst of reconstructing gender roles; debates about contraception, reproductive freedom, and female inequality are contentious and common. The majority now challenges the long established assertion that women’s bodies are the eminent domain of patriarchal control. In the past, a woman’s inability to control her reproductive choices could come with ruinous consequences. Proponents of patriarchal control argue against reproductive independence with rhetoric from religious texts and with anecdotes of ‘better days,’ when women were subservient. Often, literature about childbearing fails to acknowledge the possibility of women being uninterested in fulfilling the role of motherhood.

The Marxist criminalization of commercial surrogacy originates from the class divisions produced when the reproductive labors of poor women are exploited by wealthy couples. Because the parties within a surrogacy contract often are not autonomous equals and hold distinct relationships to the means of production, female surrogates unintentionally reinforce class divisions through their participation in womb commodification. However, there are also cases in which surrogates are not drawn from lower economic strata, so the possibility of their labor being “forced” by economic circumstances is attenuated. These include instances of altruistic surrogacy, in which the surrogate is motivated by a desire apart from monetary need, such as a wish to bestow a gift upon the

Laws are legislated and enforced for the mere purpose of protecting all individuals in a society by stating what is and what is not acceptable behavior. Though it is impossible for these legislative decisions to please every single individual in a society, these governs are passed in morality of the thousands of elected parties in charge. Commercial surrogacy is a current complex issue that evokes strong moralistic response. Commercial surrogacy takes away the childbearing element in the reproductive period for individuals looking to have or extend a family. It has opened the doors for many who cannot bear children of their own though this behavior has also raised many concerns about the appropriate scope of the market. This “method for acquiring children” is more commonly objected because the children and women’s reproductive ability are being treated as a commodity. Summed up through Elizabeth S. Anderson’s article, “Is Women’s Labor a Commodity?” children are buyer durables and women are baby factories (Anderson 82). Anderson communicates commercial surrogacy children as commodities stating how this “market” that these children are born into expresses attitude that endorses market norms as opposed to ‘norms of parental love”(Anderson 76). Anderson focuses her paper towards the manipulation, alienation, and exploitation of women that commodifies women’s reproductive capacities. Through Anderson’s argument and her perceptive relations of this market to alienation,

What does the future hold? What will happen at the end of the age? Will the church be raptured up into Heaven or will the church remain on Earth? Are the Jews still God’s chosen people? Has the church replaced Israel? These and other questions have been asked since Jesus left Earth and ascended into Heaven. Since that day Christians have been looking and longing with eager anticipation for the return of Christ. The study of the return of Christ, or last things, is known as Eschatology, and within Eschatology there are several schools of thought concerning the Church and Israel. These schools of thought are known as Covenant and Dispensational Theology. Two similar schools of thought within Dispensational theology are known as Classical and

Like Amy and Loeber (2009), when it comes to the ecological paradigm of teenage pregnancy, Corcoran, Franklin, and Bennett (2000) also believe one’s socioeconomic status is a huge factor that contributes to this problem. A person’s socioeconomic status a lot of times determines “education, expanded family size, single-parent household structure, and lessened resources in terms of employment and income.” These three authors claim that educational performance and goals “dictate the potential costs of child bearing at a young age.” Their studies have also shown that teenage girls’ relationships with the school setting and poorer performance in school serve a greater risk for adolescent pregnancy.

There has been a multitude of assumptions as to why there have been a soaring number of teens living in poverty becoming pregnant. Younger women experiencing poverty, institutional