Menstuff® has compiled the following information on negative
reaction to men's reproductive health.
Male Reproductive Health a Moot
Issue?
The Sperm Stops Here!
Male Reproductive Health a Moot Issue?
But if one women's rights advocate has her way, male reproductive health may become a non-issue.
Martha Burk is the Chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations (www.womensorganizations.org), a network of over 100 women's organizations. She is also the President of the Center for Advancement of Public Policy in Washington, DC.
Martha Burk is well-known for her recent efforts to require the Augusta National Golf Club to admit women as members. But there is a soft under-belly to the Martha Burk story.
Writing in the Nov./Dec. 1997 issue of Ms. Magazine, Ms. Burk proposed a novel solution to the abortion controversy: the mandatory sterilization of men.
In her article, "The Sperm Stops Here," Ms. Burk touted this solution: "Mandatory contraception beginning at puberty, with the rule relaxed only for procreation under the right circumstances (he can afford it and has a willing partner) and for the right reasons (determined by a panel of experts, and with the permission of his designated female partner)."
Burk's entire article is reproduced at the end of this Special Report.
Burk also believes that controlling male fertility would not a hard to enforce: "The fertility authorities could use a combination of punishments for men who failed to get the implants and for doctors who removed them without proper authorization. The men could be required to adopt one orphan per infraction and rear her or him until adulthood."
Human rights advocates have rightly condemned Communist China for forcing women who have more than one child to be sterilized.
Who would have believed that an even more intrusive strategy,
applied to men even before they conceived their first child, would
now be openly advocated in the United States of America? Contact
Martha Burk:at capp@capponline.org
So how do we control men's fertility? Mandatory contraception beginning at puberty, with the rule relaxed only for procreation under the right circumstances (he can afford it and has a willing partner) and for the right reasons (determined by a panel of experts, and with the persmission of his designated female partner). This could be easily accomplished with a masculine version of the contraceptive implants some judges are now trying to force on some women by court order.
Controlling men's fertility would not be a hard restriction to enforce. The fertility authorities could use a combination of punishments for men who failed to get the implants and for doctors who removed them without proper authorization. The men could be required to adopt one orphan per infraction and rear her or him until adulthood. The doctors, could lose their licences or, in extreme cases, go to prison.
The current welfare law allows states to eliminate support for
many women with children and deny additional assistance to single
mothers who have more than one child while on welfare. Why not punish
men caught fathering more than one child with a mother who's already
on welfare? With DNA fingerprinting, the method could be foolproof,
especially if doctors reported any man who refused the implants or
sought medical attention after unsuccessfully attempting to remove
them himself. Understand, men's right to control their own bodies and
life choices would not be infringed. Men could continue to have
sexual intercourse and to father children. They would merely be
required to accept a few minuscule and ever-so-reasonable
restrictions.
Source: Martha Burk, Ms. Magazine, Nov./Dec.
1997, www.crowmagazine.com/ms-sperm.htm
Editor's note: Martha is going to have an interesting time dealing with David Hager.
A man (read woman in this instance) that studieth revenge keeps his (her) own wounds green. - Francis Bacon.
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