Okay, now this is a reason to reproduce…maybe…

I want to have a baby, just so I can make it wear these shirts.

Ultrasound Bills

Slate had a good article about the threat that ultrasound presents to the abortion debate. Several states, including the state of my youth (SC), are considering bills that would require doctors to offer (in some cases force them to show) women an ultrasound if they are considering an abortion. Slate’s author, William Saletan, makes an excellent point in his case for this bill, which I felt was worthy of quoting here:

If I were a legislator, I’d offer four amendments to any ultrasound bill. First, the government should pick up the tab. Second, the woman should also be offered a six-hour videotape of a screaming 1-year-old. Third, any juror deliberating whether to issue a death sentence should be offered the chance to view an execution. Fourth, anyone buying meat should be offered the chance to watch video from a slaughterhouse.

It’s item two that caught my fancy in particular. In my ideal world, if we’re going to go around trying to make sure people know the consequences of their actions, any woman considering going off birth control and/or getting pregnant should have to tote a fake baby (of the kind used in high school simulations) around for a few days.

The reality of the situation is that we as humanity do things all the time without considering the possible consequences. If we didn’t, we’d have no need for words like apology, sorry, and mistake. I likely slaughter a mass of single-celled organisms every time I shower. I certainly indirectly cause the death of a fair number of cows, chickens, and pigs each year. It seems like the question that we’re really getting at is at what point should there be mandatory education before taking on a possible consequence. And by the way, it strikes me as odd as well that the same political party that wants to make sure that you get a gun without having to consider it for even a day is so concerned about the ignorance level of people getting abortions. Also, the party that is so concerned with abortion is also doing a mass of actions to ensure that people having sex do not have education or access to birth control methods, as well as blocking research toward new methods…truly effective and available birth control in and of itself could eliminate the problem.

Magazines

I got a free one year subscription to Redbook. I have discovered since then that I really don’t like the magazine at all. I had signed up for their e-mail list, because they do reader surveys via that list which become content in the magazine. I had hoped that I could give input that might broaden their understanding of a married woman’s interests. I responded to a survey about the use of blogs to keep in touch with family. I also responded about my own definition of family (marking 3 of 7 questions “N/A” because they assume the responder has kids). I responded to a survey about same sex marriage. Gradually, I’ve stopped responding. I haven’t seen any view I’ve represented make it into the magazine, and I realized that most of why I don’t like the magazine is that it’s not made for me. Thus, either the majority of responders are espousing views in contrast with mine (making me the correctly represented minority) or the magazine doesn’t want to target itself toward me as a reader (meaning I might be part of a significant group but one they choose to ignore). Either way, I’m stopping my subscription and removing myself from the mail list, even though I have another 4-5 issues left. There’s no point in me getting a magazine that I’m not interested in reading.

A magazine that I have enjoyed is The Nest, which was recently started by The Knot and mailed free to those registered on the knot who were recently married. They started it because they discovered that their sister site, The Nest, was getting not just transfer registrants from The Knot but entirely new registrants, many of whom complained that there didn’t seem to be a place for them elsewhere. The target of the magazine is couples in their first 1-2 years of marriage. So far, it’s only being released quarterly, but I’ve read it cover to cover for both of the issues I’ve received. The “married and not bored with each other yet” segment seems to be pretty neglected by magazines. For example, Cosmopolitan and Elle both did articles on travel plans where you can meet other singles. Redbook covered travel with kids. The Nest, albeit in a clearly advertiser-sponsored manner, has a regular feature on travel for couples.

Now, granted, their topics might get tired to me in a year or two, but a subscription only lasts a year anyways. Any recommendations for magazines out there that don’t exclusively target kid-enhanced couples? For what it’s worth, I’m attracted to periodicals over books these days, because I can throw away a magazine and thus lighten my load while traveling.

(x-posted in a few places)