{"id":3974,"date":"2012-05-11T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2012-05-11T12:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=3974"},"modified":"2012-08-10T00:59:30","modified_gmt":"2012-08-10T04:59:30","slug":"pro-life-song-misses-the-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/05\/pro-life-song-misses-the-point.html","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Life Song Misses the Point"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I just came upon the lyrics to a pro-life song<\/a>. It\u2019s called \u201cMommy Don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\u201cI could lie in your arms<\/div>\n
on a snow bound afternoon<\/div>\n
you\u2019d sing songs to me and God<\/div>\n
and make up pretty little tunes<\/div>\n
I\u2019d wipe away all your tears<\/div>\n
and make you laugh at your lost career<\/strong><\/div>\n
Oh, Mommy, Mommy don\u2019t\u201d<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Wow, what honesty! So, woman who is unintentionally pregnant, just ditch your career and have your baby! It\u2019ll be worth it, we promise!\u00a0<\/p>\n

When a woman has an unintended pregnancy, she doesn\u2019t face it in a vacuum. She has to think about not just whether she wants to bring a child into the world but also about what kind of maternity leave her employer offers, how much daycare costs, etc. Without programs providing social and emotional support, plenty of women can\u2019t simply dump their careers and quit their jobs.<\/p>\n

Someone who is truly \u201cpro-life\u201d should support things like paid maternity leave and subsidized daycare, without which many women facing an unintended pregnancy simply can\u2019t see it through. But no. Instead, the solution this song offers is that women should just quit their jobs and stay home. Because, you know, that\u2019s where they should be anyway. But it\u2019ll be worth it! Have you ever heard a baby coo?<\/em><\/p>\n

But of course even if there were all the necessary programs, I would still have a huge <\/em>problem with the idea of dictating women\u2019s lievs by banning abortion. Even if a woman can <\/em>afford to dump her career or quit her job, she may very well not want to. Even if a woman can<\/em> afford another child, that doesn\u2019t mean she wants to raise that child or should be forced to. This is why we use the label \u201cpro-choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\u201cAnd you\u2019ll never know the sorrow<\/div>\n
that will call from an empty place<\/div>\n
or wonder at the kid next door<\/strong><\/div>\n
cause I would have been that age<\/strong><\/div>\n
and the haunted hall won\u2019t whisper<\/div>\n
cause I\u2019ll be running there to kiss ya<\/div>\n
Oh, Mommy, Mommy don\u2019t\u201d<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Funny story. I often wonder about the child I didn\u2019t have. My two children will be as far apart as I was from child number three growing up. In other words, in the time I\u2019ve had two kids my mom had three. And that child I could have had, between these two, I wonder about that child sometimes. Would it have been a boy or a girl? What would he or she have looked like? And on and on. And you know what? This is a child I never conceived. <\/em>It\u2019s a child I chose not <\/em>to conceive.<\/p>\n

So sure, we often wonder about the possibilities of how we could have done life differently. Instead of getting married I could have joined the peace corps. Instead of going to grad school I could have gotten a job. Instead of having a child right off, I could have waited ten years. What would that have been like?<\/p>\n

If I ever were to have an abortion, I think I would view it the same. Continuing that pregnancy to term would be a path not taken just like not conceiving a child between the two I have is a path not taken and getting married instead of spending my twenties single is a path not taken, and on and on.<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t really a point to this post except to point out the obviousness of the \u201cjust quit your career and be a mom, it\u2019s better\u201d rhetoric here and to point out that we always, always,<\/em> have paths not taken.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just came upon the lyrics to a pro-life song. It\u2019s called \u201cMommy Don\u2019t.\u201d \u201cI could lie in your arms on a snow bound afternoon you\u2019d sing songs to me and God and make up pretty little tunes I\u2019d wipe away all your tears and make you laugh at your lost career Oh, Mommy, Mommy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,11],"tags":[104,164,148,123],"class_list":["post-3974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evangelicalism-fundamentalism","category-politics","tag-abortion-2","tag-career","tag-christian-right","tag-motherhood"],"yoast_head":"\nPro-Life Song Misses the Point<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I just came upon the lyrics to a pro-life song. 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