I thought I would do another post that has almost nothing to do with the rest of my blog…but I think it still needs to be said.
Tessa Savicki recently delivered her ninth child at Baystate Medical Center, and requested the insertion of an IUD. From some of the articles I have read, this is fairly common. However, when she woke up from anesthesia, she discovered her tubes were tied (tubal ligation). Anyone living in the United States knows what happens next: mommy hires lawyer and sues hospital for gross negligence.
The article accompanying the thread on FARK states Savicki is receiving threats and criticism for her lawsuit. Some of the comments applaud the doctors for permanently sterilizing her without her authorization.
The reason for the harassment of Savicki is because her family uses public assistance, aka welfare.
In America, we value our freedom above all. We want reproductive freedom, freedom of speech, religion, et cetera; however, we are told from an early age that freedom comes hand in hand with responsibility. We have a responsibility to treasure our freedoms…to not take them for granted…to not abuse the freedom we enjoy.
Laws are restrictions on our freedom. Certain laws we regard as necessary because we trade off part of our freedom for protection. For instance, we may not like speed limits, but it protects us (somewhat) from the idiots who want to do 120 mph in a school zone and hitting children.
Generally, we allow freedom of about anything…as long as your freedom does not infringe on someone else’s rights. Today, there is no law that restricts women from having more children if they are accepting welfare. However, if a woman on welfare has additional children, it produces an additional burden on taxpayers.
Many laws are written as a knee-jerk response to people not doing the right thing. DWI laws were made as a result of impaired drivers injuring or killing others. Securities laws were created to prevent traders in powerful positions from taking unfair advantage of others’ investments. To prevent laws from being created to restrict our reproductive rights, we need to show that we are capable of doing the right thing.
Welfare is available for those families having a hard time with basic living expenses. But Americans are growing increasingly intolerant of people who take advantage of the system funded by taxpayers.
To protect our freedoms, we need to do the right thing. Consistently. Otherwise, we run the risk of having our freedoms taken away…whether it is driving, reproducing, or any other freedom we too often take for granted.
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