[Un]planned Parenthood

            As of lately, United States candidates, battling each other for the opportunity to seize presidency, have been largely focusing on the controversial topic of Planned Parenthood funding designations. Among such debates came a reminder of some of the atrocities that result from lack of healthcare options to those who can’t afford it or those who are afraid to seek it out. One example, resurrected during these debates, was the HIV outbreak that occurred in Indiana just earlier this year, containing a rather high correlation to the timing of the state’s legislation shutting down of five planned parenthood clinics in the rural areas across the region. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/31/indiana-planned-parenthood_n_6977232.html

            This article made my mind drift back to what healthcare for women was like back in the time of antiquity and the years that followed it. Different forms of birth control and abortion options existed using herb mixtures, but for the most part, women had to fully abstain from having sexual contact with other men. According to an article published by the University of Illinois, http://www.uic.edu/classes/osci/osci590/13_2%20Birth%20Control%20in%20Antiquity, and in relation to what we’ve been reading from the textbook as well as discussing in class, the Greeks had their own recipe for abortion elixirs. Their knowledge led them to a plant called Silphium, which increased in demand so drastically at the time, it is said to have become extinct altogether. In search of alternatives, the Greeks stumbled upon Queen Anne’s Lace, which is modernly presented between other blossoms of flowers in arrangements and bouquets.

The Egyptians practiced birth control in a similar manner, except they used a recipe based around a high amount of the acacia plant, which proved to be spermicidal. However, many times, these concoctions of plant mush and herbal teas ended up killing the women ingesting them. Lack of protection against sex paired with very poor hygiene and close exposure to animals also led to diseases and epidemics of mass spreading.

We are lucky to live in California, where there is freedom and opportunity to access these services.  A lot of times, people take for granted the privileges we have here. I don’t really see myself having children in the future, and I can’t imagine bringing a life into this world I wasn’t prepared for. But, if I were living in the time of human civilization’s initial birth and I still contained this lack of desire to reproduce, I wonder how willing I would be to abort a child growing in side of me at the risk of my own death. It becomes an intriguing circumstance of situational irony to contemplate the scenario of dying in the act of preventing another life from being born.