I remember back in middle school (I grew up in Baltimore) we had a "school-based" health care center. My first quarter of 7th grade the nurse suggested that I get on some type of birth control to "regulate" my menstrual cycle although I had just started the summer before. She pushed for Norplant...
Funny how as i watch this short expose', they mention those same clinics that i frequented back in the 90's during my middle school years. Those nurses were so nice. They gave me hall passes when i hooked class, pain killers when wasn't a damn thing wrong with me and condoms when i was afraid to tell my foster mother i was having sex. I was 12 back then. I wasn't fucking everything moving just yet but some young boy had persuaded me that the world was in my panties and he belonged there as well.
The very next year---birth control laws changed drastically. No longer did i need a guardian's permission to get on some type of birth control. You know i was on it. I went to my pediatrician's office to discuss the many different types of contraceptives available to me without consent. Unfortunately, i wanted depo and i still needed a parent permission to get it. Before i could have "the talk"...that pregnancy rumor started (by me). Dr. Bundley called Jettie immediately because i was a "special" student---i.e: someone who NEVER flew under the radar. I recall the meeting we had in his office that day when she told him, "the only thing she is putting in there is a tampon". I had the perfect opportunity to tell her right then and there but i didn't, i guess i did not want to disappoint her on some level. Anyhow, when we went for my physical; i got my pediatrician to do the talking and Jettie decided that Depo would be the best option for me since i was too lazy to take a pill everyday.
About a 6 months later they deregulated Norplant somewhat (or at least that's what i was told) and it was now available everywhere. It sucks to know now they just wanted to use me as a test dummy and had i had any other foster parent----i may be sterile. I begged and pleaded for her to sign the papers so i could get the implant but she held her ground and saved my babies. Don't get me wrong Depo put me through a lot of changes as well.....like the rapid weight gain and drastic hormonal changes. In August shortly before i turned 16 my pediatrician informed me that i could get Norplant w/o a parent's permission due to my age. My best friend and i scheduled appointments for early September. Ms. Mead informed us that Norplant had been pulled off the market until November due to "minor" complications. Yet again i was stopped short of having these 5 little tubes implanted in my arm.
I remained on Depo until i got pregnant with my first son. I actually went back for my shot when my pregnancy was confirmed. I have not had faith in birth control since....just safer sex.
Anyone who reads my blog can attest to the emotional turmoil that i went through when i got an abortion last year. I felt like they sucked out a part of my soul. My husband (who was only my boyfriend then) when through more emotional problems than i did. I promised myself that i would NEVER put myself in the position to have to kill another one of my babies. There are so many planned parenthood centers in the inner city its outrageous. It's easily accessible, inexpensive and often looked upon as a savior of poor people. In actuality it is a predator of life. They are funded specifically to assist women (primarily Black and Hispanic women) in turning their wombs into tombs. With so many black men killing each other daily how can we as women assist in this genocide by stopping life before it is started. I know so many females who use abortion as a form of birth control and even a few who are sterile now after having multiple procedures. Yes, babies are expensive and a life long responsibility but when you look at it like that then maybe you should also think like this----condoms are inexpensive even in contrast to having to have the procedure done.
Funny how just last night i was calling around to pharmacies trying to find spermicide. I called every pharmacy in a 5 mile radius trying to find this specific product because we are not ready for more babies but i will be damn if i allow someone to remove my reproductive power. If i get my tubes tied NOW, who is to say that in 5 or 10 years i will not be ready for another baby. They SAY you can have the procedure reversed but why go through the problems? Also, i don't use free condoms....in a world where you get what you pay for---i believe that a few dollars for a box of condoms is never to much to ensure my health and sanity.
So to answer the question posed in the title...in my opinion..YES!
Like Common said, "we are losing too many of ours, we NEED to recreate"
-Retrospect for Life
PRO-LIFE
So to answer the question posed in the title...in my opinion..YES!
Like Common said, "we are losing too many of ours, we NEED to recreate"
-Retrospect for Life
PRO-LIFE
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