270 Reasons Women Choose Not To Have Children
I first Tweeted a link to the following article a couple of weeks ago.
(Link): 270 Reasons Women Choose Not To Have Children
That same story was later ReTweeted by LifeSite News, which is a pro-life Twitter account. Which is fine, to a point; I myself am pro-life.
However. What bothers me about Life Site News (and other similar groups) is that they share such stories on social media not to validate childfree women, but to demonize them and scold them for their choice.
Nowhere does the Bible teach that women MUST get pregnant and have babies – the “be fruitful” line from Genesis was for the first people on earth, not something intended for everyone on every continent straight down to the year 2015 and beyond. Jesus Christ and Apostle Paul instead teach in the New Testament that remaining single and celibate, and hence, childless or childfree, are godly options.
The New Testament also does not teach that having children is mandatory for married couples.
I’m afraid Roman Catholics are in error on this point – I believe they, like a few very fringe Protestant groups – teach that sex is only permissible or morally okay if it results in the possibility of pregnancy, something that is not taught in the Bible at all.
The Bible does not demonize childless or childfree people, but certain Christian groups or pro-life groups keep doing so.
As a childless woman myself, I find this attitude deeply insulting. I have not failed God, nor have I failed at life, nor am I sinning, simply because I’ve never married and cranked out children.
The Bible simply does not teach that being single, celibate, and/or childfree are sins. I place no authority in anything any Roman Catholic council or Pope or Catholic Tradition has to say on these topics – only with what the Bible says, and the Bible, in the New Testament, removes any burdens on to people to marry and/or have children.
I have written of this troubling trend by Christian pro-life groups here:
Recall again that I am right of center – I am a conservative as well as pro-life – but the Bible does not shame or scold women who are childless or childfree. Choosing to abstain from sex and/or from having children are NOT sins.
But some of these pro-life sites continue to equate childless or childfree women to women who do give birth but murder their infants! It is absolutely vile and disgusting to equate the avoidance of getting pregnant in the first place to women (or men) who murder babies (but these Christian pro-life sites keep doing it anyway)!
Here again is the link (the page has this interactive chart thing at the bottom that I cannot reproduce here on my blog; you will have to visit their site to see it):
(Link): 270 Reasons Women Choose Not To Have Children
Excerpts
- By Rebecca Adams, Hilary Fung, Alissa Scheller and Shane Shifflett
- JULY 1, 2015, 9:00 AM EDT
- Far too often, women who choose to be childfree are asked to defend their (Link): “immature,” (Link): “selfish” lifestyles. They’re told that motherhood is the (Link): “most important job in the world” and face accusations of living (Link): “meaningless” lives.
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The number of childfree women is at a record high: 48 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 44 don’t have kids, (Link): according to 2014 Census numbers.
The Huffington Post and YouGov asked 124 women why they choose to be childfree. Their motivations ranged from preferring their current lifestyles (64 percent) to prioritizing their careers (9 percent) — a.k.a. fairly universal things that have motivated men not to have children for centuries. To give insight into the complex, layered decisions women make, HuffPost (Link): asked childfree readers to discuss the reasons they have chosen not to have kids and gathered 270 responses here.
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Of course, these women don’t owe anyone an explanation, but perhaps allowing the public to read their unique perspectives will open people’s minds to the wide range of mature, unselfishmotivations that go into deciding not to have kids.
Read our YouGov survey methodology (Link): here.
Like I said, you will have to visit their page to see the interactive chart that you can click on that shows why women don’t want to have kids. I don’t think any men were interviewed.
My good lord, I get so tired of only WOMEN being questioned and attacked over this – men get off the f_cking hook all the time.
Nobody ever harasses men over why THEY choose not to have children (or it’s not as common for men to get scrutinized over this as much as women are).
Lastly, I have noticed that it matters not WHAT reasons you give for why you do not want children, because according to nosy or judgmental assh*ole Christians and conservatives (I am a conservative myself), there are never justifiable, or good enough reasons.
These yea-hoo’s are never satisfied with your responses.
You could have the best-est, most noble reason on planet earth why you don’t want to have a kid, and they will still criticize you up the behind over it.
The Catholic pro-life sites (and some Protestant groups) will also criticize you up the ass for HOW you have kids.
What I mean is, these same Catholic pro life news sites (and some Protestant Christians) will not only lambast you and shame you for choosing not to pop out a kid, but if you’re infertile and try medical assistance (such as IVF or frozen embryos), they will criticize you for that too! There is no winning with these people.
And if you do have a kid, these same Christian critics will insult you over HOW you conceived, if you used any birth control, what type of BC, and they will insult you over the NUMBER of kids you have. Most of them are not satisfied if you have ONE kid. Nope. You will be told you are a selfish loser unless you pop out two or three more, because kid number one supposedly needs a sibling.
See this previous post:
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Related Posts:
(Link): Is Celibacy a Sin? The NYT Has a View – by W. Mead
(Link): Praying for a Child – The Catholic Church makes life impossible for infertile women.
(Link): Infertility/ Kids/ The Male Biological Clock
(Link): Is The Church Failing Childless Women? by Diane Paddison
(Link): Three Parents? FDA Mulls Safety of Embryo Technique
(Link): AZ GOP vice-chair calls for sterilizing poor women: If you want a baby, get a job
(Link): My Secret Grief. Over 35, Single and Childless by Melanie Notkin
(Link): Republicans And Women: Single Women Vote Democratic Because They Wish They Were Married, Pundit Says
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