By Dee Richard
Congratulations are in order to City Councilman Joe Addabbo upon the birth of his baby daughter Alexis, as well as to Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer, who informed us she has become a grandmother one more time. Welcome, baby Isabella.
Dr. Geraldine Chappy had a luncheon fund-raiser at Russo's on the Bay for her Trinity Senior Center. More than 700 people attended. There will be more details later.
All the other local stuff we had planned to discuss this week will temporarily be shoved to the back burner to make room for a discussion on Sunday's Women's March on Washington for Pro-Choice.
They said there were between 500,000 and 800,000 women at the National Mall last Sunday. It's amazing and disheartening that so many women could arbitrarily decide it was their right to terminate the life of an unborn fetus without giving it a second thought. In essence, the attitude was that they had no personal responsibility and were entitled to use abortions as their method of birth control. If their own mothers and grandmothers had felt the same way, it would have been a rather empty mall, don't you think?
A woman has the right to determine whether or not she wishes to become pregnant. After all, it is her body, and the child would indeed be her responsibility. And thanks to the advancement of science, modern women have a choice other than a death knell for the unborn.
There are birth control pills, body patches, arm implants, diaphragms, condoms, tubal ligation and the practice of sexual acts that cannot possibly result in a pregnancy. Even in the worst scenario – where a young girl going out on a date is slipped a dose of the date-rape pill in her drink and is truly not in control of all her faculties – there is the morning-after pill.
The Catholic Church is a proponent of a system known as the rhythm method. For those unfamiliar with this system, it is based on the theory that at certain times during the month a woman cannot become pregnant, and therefore it is safe to have sex at this time if pregnancies are not desired; however, there are a number of Catholics with a few unplanned children who say it is not always a fool-proof system.
From what I understand, most young people lead active sex lives. If that is their choice, why not have enough self-esteem and a feeling of self-worth to insist that your partner protect you as well as himself from an unwanted pregnancy? If he objects to that, then by all means take matters into your own hands and protect yourself. That is truly pro-choice; however, if you are the victim of an unwanted pregnancy, then you did not exercise all your options.
Take care of yourself. You are your own responsibility. Remember, people only do to you what you allow them to do. There is nothing wrong with insisting on your protection. In fact, it shows a mature attitude and a sense of responsibility. If you practice safe sex, abortion would not be necessary.
Did you also know that medical science has discovered that the overwhelming majority of women who wind up with uterine or breast cancer have had at least one abortion at some time in their life? They are studying the situation to try and figure out what the connection is, but the statistics are there – documented and overwhelming. Another reason to take care of yourself.
One of my favorite expressions is to look to the woman or follow the money. Young women do not fall victim to other people's greed. Do you have any idea how much money is involved in the abortion mill business? No one is telling you not to have a sex life, nor is anyone telling you not to have an abortion if circumstances warrant it. I am just suggesting that you take advantage of all the options out there provided by scientific research.
Just love and take care of yourself and do not allow yourself to be coerced by proponents of the abortion mills to use that method of birth control. The damage done in such a procedure, besides the obvious to the fetus, is multifaceted. Unless you are an absolutely heartless, self-centered individual, it harms you emotionally, psychologically and in some instances even physically. All I ask is that you avail yourself of whatever options suit you best. You'll feel much better about it.
Don't allow yourself to be used or abused on all the potential levels. If you can, talk to a relative, friend, clergy person or a member of the medical profession. There are also free counseling services out there to help you. Try to get the counseling before you find yourself in a compromising position.
While we are on the subject of birth control, please give some thought to the consequences of sexually transmitted diseases, which can be a very real byproduct of unprotected sex. It is not just unwanted pregnancies that young women have to be concerned about in this day and age.
As usual time is getting short and we must leave for another event, so as a necessity this column will be a little shorter this week. Be sure to check the photos on the Focus on Queens page and keep all your information, invitations and gossipy tidbits coming in. We love them all and look forward to receiving them. As usual, contact me by voice mail at 718-767-6484, fax me at 718-746-0060 or e-mail me at deerrichard@aol.com.
Till next week,
Dee
