How is it then that their health and welfare gets to be so controversial now and then?
Whenever human reproduction issues come about, mainly women's health issues, family planning, and other issues involving girls health and future, we begin to re frame these arguments and go back to the different ways we were brought up.
This is not the time to get into a religious war.
By the time your girl is twelve, you better have a set of guidelines to help her grow strong, healthy and unscathed. Being a girl should not be an "issue".
Education is our first target. Through education, both boys and girls should receive basic information of how their bodies are changing, and the choices they will face with their increasing sexualities.
Pure and simple facts.
Parents ought to be the first educators, by the way.
Many poor women do not get health care through doctors and family physicians. Most of them rely on Family Planning Clinics for information and check-ups. Making these institutions disappear or lose their funding is denying poor women basic health care at a most precarious age, I might add.
You say the government shouldn't interfere with private issues?
I say the government is providing a health alternative for those people who need it the most.
It is voluntary.
It is not associated with any churches or religious tenets.
It is a health delivery system.
If you have never visited these places, drop in and see.
You'll be surprised on how they benefit the health and welfare of a lot of women.
You'd be happy to know that your tax dollars are preventing diseases, curing ailments and providing education and information to assist women plan a healthy and vibrant family.
