Blog 1

I have a confession to make. Hi, my name is Julia Piccolo and I watch Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant. I feel like anyone else who admits to watching these shows will tell you that it's a train wreck and you just cannot look away. I've been on birth control since I was 15, have never had a pregnancy scare, and know that I am privileged to have this experience. There is a part of me that feels a little guilty for watching the shows, mainly because I think health related to pregnancy and a woman's right to choose what she does with her body is just that, a RIGHT.

Time Magazine a few weeks ago ran an article titled "What Choice?" It reports on the fact that even though the right for a woman to have an abortion was constitutionally protected many years ago, on a state level the movement has been losing ground. State legislature has been diminishing abortion rights ever since it became legal, and that is not the way I think this bit of history should be treated.

I also think however, that there are steps to be taken with education that could severely decrease the number of abortions. Like decreasing the number of unwanted pregnancies. I know that there are many thoughts on what should and should not be taught in schools as far as sexual education goes, but if someone does not know what a condom is there for, they will not use it. If someone does not know that there are multiple birth control options, they will not take advantage of any of them.

My mother (Kimberly) and grandmother (Carol) are both very serious advocates of women's health. Both of them marched during Roe v. Wade although my mother was very young. Carol is proud to have taken my mother to the marches. "I never wanted her to have any doubt in her mind that a woman's body is hers. No one should be able to tell me what is right for my body, especially if they don't have the same anatomy!"

 My mother works on the psychiatric floor of Presbyterian Dallas, and see's many women who were given no options with their body, and it has ruined them both physically and psychologically. "We should not see people on my floor of the hospital affected by mental disorders because of something that could have been prevented."

In my perfect world, everyone would spend 6 months each in military, retail, and restaurant service, and spend some time volunteering at a hospital. During my volunteer hours I helped mothers with severe substance abuse issues, and their new babies. These babies were not well developed. Their central nervous system is un regulated. It cannot "block out" noises or distractions like you and I can. It is continuous sensory overload. Others have incomplete brain development so have no higher functioning and will be chair or bed bound and do not have high life expectancy. These children are prone to seizures and can never develop as a working member of society. What if that mother had access to the pill? What if she had been taught to always use a condom. I feel that if we did not have to ask these questions, we would not see these situations.