From today’s Washington Post (registration required): Many New or Expectant Mothers Die Violent Deaths:
Eight months pregnant, Thomas, 18, was walking home from a grocery store when her ex-boyfriend shot her in the head execution-style because, prosecutors said, he believed fatherhood would get in the way of his music career. “This was a big, major inconvenience for him,” prosecutor Mark Curry said….
[In another case, the father of the child] at first denied it was his child, then pressed for an abortion, then plotted murder.
“It seems to me that these guys hope against hope for a miscarriage or an abortion, but when everything else fails, they take the life of the woman to avoid having the baby,” said Jack Levin of Northeastern University.
…a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection. –Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae (17)
When I was a teenager, I had a child I gave up for adoption. The father was none too thrilled with the idea of my not having an abortion. After the fact, his “friends” told me he wanted to either push, or have me pushed down the steps in the hopes I would miscarry. At the time, the general attitude was I deserved it because he was more than willing to pay for an abortion, and my only reason for not aborting was to scam him for money. LOL, in retropsect we were in High School-what money? I also remember other philosophies on the subject such as if a guy uses a condom, he should not have to pay child support, or if he is willing to pay for an abortion, he should not have to pay child support. This was just in general, not necessarily in regards to me personally.
Dear Lord, how it pains me to have any kind of first hand knowledge of this sort. This was many years ago though.
A little 1-2 from the Sleepy Mommies
One of the Sleepy Mommies has noticed a couple of quotes that go together.
Anon, thanks so much for being such a brave teenager then and for sharing your story now.