We will have to grapple with the fact that babies have to be incubated in women's bodies. Some of those women will be irresponsible ignoramuses (ignorami?). Most of them, perhaps, with education, can be persuaded to do what it best for the child they are bearing. If nothing else, it's in their own best interest not to have to raise a sickly child. It doesn't hurt to be an educated feminist either- since we tend to have healthy, smart kids!

But an intelligent woman can and should reject the superstitious nature of the pregnancy police. Pregnancy is scary enough without having total strangers telling you not to bend over or ride on a bumpy rode, or drink coffee. I don't agree with scorched earth medical advice in general- it reminds me of AIDS activists telling us in the eighties to use condoms with your husband no matter how much you think you trust him. When people smell bullshit they reject the whole message. Treat educated mothers to be with the respect their intelligence deserves and give the basic info to the women who don't have it yet and desperately need it.

Anonymous- Wes' suggestion struck me as wierd too- is he making a joke or is he serious? And if he's serious- oh Lord.

What about the poster who knew several women who "wished for death" because of Depo Provera? Really? Wished for death?

Finally, the clueless who think that it's still all about women risking it all in pregnancy and childbirth. Wake up and join the 21rts century fellas- the ball is in the women's court now. Men can't walk away like they used to and if you want to control your reproduction at all, you better start hoping for more pills you can take because once the sex is over, so is your control.

There is a certain type of man who says women are humorless, and these men are dicks and women know it. I would even go so far as to say they are bullies- these are the men who needle and badger women, defensively saying we can't take a joke if we roll our eyes or try to be polite. They put us in impossible situation: pretend to laugh at being insulted, or get called dour and joyless. They pretend that we take things too seriously, (like romantic love and crystals?) yet the things they take seriously are sacred and above jest.

What a woman really means when she says that a man has a good sense of humor isn't that she is laughing at some blowhard's jokes- she means she found a man who laughs at her jokes, and doesn't ask her to lighten up when his jokes are duds or thinly veiled hostile jabs.

In general, I am in favor of age of consent/ statutory rape laws. I think these laws have done much to protect young teenagers from older predators who surely cannot be deemed anything else, even if they don't use threats or force to have sex. I dispute that a jury or even judged could be given wide powers in deciding when someone has been predatory, since there are pervasive views that very young teenage girls are sexually sophisticated temptresses and boys horndogs grateful for any sex, no matter how exploitive.

Older people who prey on the youth and naivite of teenagers destroy lives and should be held accountable. This doesn't mean that I am in favor of 12 and 13 year old being treated as predators with each other. I suspect the fact that she is pregnant made the pressure to hold someone accountable hard to resist. But this glitch will probably result in a light sentence and a plea deal that includes not having to register as a sex offender. Small punishment compared to what happened to pregnant girls in other times.

This doesn't warrant throwing out AoC laws, and their usefulness. Keeping very young teenage girls off limits from older men has probably gone a long way toward giving more young women opportunities and a chance at a decent life than most people think- if only Africa protected it's girls in this way.

Recently I saw a documentary on HBO about anorexic women and was struck by how much their builds resembled many actresses. I was also struck by what unbelievable flakes the women were, but I know, I know it's a disease, fragile self esteem, etc.

Years ago I realized how insane it all is when our local paper pictured the overweight actress from "The Practice" as a normal healthy role model, and Calista Flockhart at a threat to girls' self esteem. How crazy is it that we are supposed to buy that fat or emaciated are beautiful? On one side the defensive fashion designers, claiming their wares only look good in size 0. On the other, women who have "tried everything" and are still overweight claim that if we adjust our attitudes, the excess pounds will look beautiful.