by Perry McCarney

Created on: November 25, 2008   Last Updated: October 12, 2010

The world is a complicated place. Sexual interactions between people are often short-term; procreation an unintended result. Our sexual interactions may result in the conception of a child, a human being who at that stage has no legal rights, and potentially no future! Sadly, abortions have become a significant component of today's idea of contraception.

Who, in all reality, has the right to decide this? We do! And we need to realize that while we may hope such circumstances do not impose themselves on the children we love, our children, may well succumb to temptation and present themselves to the responsibility of parenthood earlier than they are prepared for. Then again, even those of us who most wish to be a parent have no real idea of what that truly entails until we bite the bullet.

Far too many of us seem to think that we should decide our children's future, forgetting our own past! Political arguments abound on the rights of women to determine their personal response to being pregnant; and just as many seem to be declaring an independent right to instruct newly pregnant women in their procreative responsibilities.

The truth is that women, no matter what their age, are responsible for determining whether or not they will carry their pregnancy to term. And once that baby is born, the child's future is also ethically and legally given to them. Not only is this a heavy burden emotionally, it demands responses never before considered.

In these circumstances, our children need our help and consideration; not our recriminations.

The ongoing failure of our supposedly dominant and superior Western society is our inability to support our young. While the vast majority of our two-year olds sparkle with intelligence and shine with potential, it is only a few years later that their potential has been constrained and suppressed into a conformity that satisfies the political and economic expectations that results from our societies' ongoing deprivation of the concept of community.

The men who are one half of each child frequently have little say regarding their future. In many circumstances and many places around the world, whether there are medical requirements or not, women are granted the right to abort their potential children, regardless of circumstances. The male progenitor has no say; but if the woman decides to carry the child through to term, they then have the legal responsibility to support both mother and child. Too often those desiring children find their

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