The author’s name is being withheld to protect the privacy
of the author and his girlfriend. Â Illustration by GRACE
HUANG/Daily Bruin
My girlfriend is pregnant, and the two of us are scared out of
our minds. I’m neurotically re-thinking how all of this
happened when I should really be concentrating on where to go from
here. She’s having an abortion next week. That’s what
we decided would be best for the both of us right now. Still, I
can’t help wondering if there will ever be a next time.
Will I ever get my girlfriend pregnant again, while we’re
still not ready to start a family? Will I use protection next
time?
I kick myself, because I know that somewhere deep-down inside of
me ““ in a place I deny exists within my own physical frame
““ I didn’t use a condom because the worst case scenario
wasn’t scary to me. Before, I wasn’t scared of surgical
abortion. I’m terrified by it now.
I’m sorry to burst the bubbles of young men across the
country, but I’m not the only one who hesitates his use of
birth control because the alternatives aren’t
“real” enough. And women are guilty of this too. Young
adults, on campuses nationwide, aren’t scared enough of
abortion to curb their sexual promiscuity.
The recent legislation to approve the use of RU-486 isn’t
going to solve this problem either. Unfortunately, abortions
““ as a whole ““ will rise. RU-486 is the
“birth-control” pill. Developed in France 12 years ago,
it is now widely used throughout 12 of the 15 countries
constituting the European Union. It has been a huge success.
The pill works like this. Simply, it stops the flow of
progesterone to the fetus, killing the lifeline from mother to baby
and ultimately resulting in an induced miscarriage. The pill is set
to be administered, only by doctors “approved” by the
government, to women as an alternative to surgical abortion.
The success it has had in Europe is a tad tainted, however. The
numbers stack up like so: In France, 14 percent of all abortions in
1990 were done through the use of RU-486, while 20 percent of
abortions in 1998 were done with “the pill.” In Sweden,
more than 33 percent of all abortions in 1999 were done using
RU-486. The pill is sure to be quite popular in America.
That’s what I’m afraid of.
It seems so much easier to take a pill than to have a surgical
abortion, but that’s not truly the case. It seems that
couples are beginning to think that abortion is less painful,
traumatizing and dramatic by leaps and bounds since the birth of
this new “abortion pill.”
Don’t think that a woman just swallows a pill with her
glass of water before bed one night and wakes up un-pregnant. Quite
the contrary.
Women opting to use RU-486 must receive counseling and three
mandatory visits to their doctor. One to administer the pill, the
second for a follow-up pill, and the third to ensure that the
abortion has been completed in a manner so as not to jeopardize the
health of the woman.
This pill isn’t a reason to stop using condoms. I know
that the hard way. I just hope that men and women who don’t
take birth control will understand that abortion has not become any
easier because of this new pill.
What young adults, on this campus, and on campuses worldwide
must be sure of is that sex is as risky as it has ever been. Babies
and diseases are wide-spread repercussions of unsafe sex, and they
always will be.
The media will pay a lot of attention to this subject, and we
will all read about the wonderful miracle of RU-486.
Do not be brainwashed into automatically using this method for
an abortion if you should decide to have one. Be as leery about
RU-486 as you have been about abortion in general ““ it is the
same thing.
I’m not knocking RU-486. The fact of the matter is that it
has been a wonderful alternative for thousands of women.
I just worry about the effect it will have on young people
having sex already. If not for my girlfriend getting pregnant, I
think that I may have perceived RU-486 as an “easy” way
out of knocking her up.
The legislation behind this pill isn’t what frightens me.
Rather I worry about how our generation will handle the media
attention that will be given to this issue.
I fear that young Americans (no pun intended) may be misled into
convincing themselves that this new abortion pill is like
ear-infection medication: you swallow it, and hope it works.
Abortions will never be easy, and RU-486 does not make it
easier. It is simply an alternative, and right now it is the road
less traveled.
Maybe I’m just paranoid about how 18- to 25-year-olds
watch the news, or maybe I don’t trust my own generation
enough to make serious decisions on their own. Maybe I worry too
much.
But then again, it’s no news that sex among college
students is of the most promiscuous in nature. Men and women have
multiple partners during their tenure at school, and very few of us
ever reach that point in our lives where we’re totally
monogamous before hitting 21 years of age. Very few of us want to
be with one partner ““ emotionally and sexually.
Having said this, RU-486 is shaping up to be the new scapegoat
for over-sexed teens at UCLA and Americans in general. Be sure that
abortions using the new drug will be extremely popular. And just as
in France, over the next few years we will witness a dramatic
increase in the use of this pill for abortions. Coupled with this,
abortions as a whole will be on the rise in steep fashion as
well.
If not for my experience with abortion, I may have been among
the populous that views this recent legislation as an excuse to
keep having bare-back sex. A pessimist since conception, I
don’t trust my peers enough to be confident that they will be
unaffected by this introduction of new science into the realm of
abortions.
America isn’t ready to introduce a drug like this into our
society. The results will prove me right years down the line.
Before giving the “OK” for RU-486 this nation needs
to be more careful in their sexual behavior. We need teenage
pregnancies to curb, AIDS to subsist, and the mentality of young
America to make a bit of a U-turn.
The young people of America must show our government that we
make rational decisions about sex. We must show our leaders that we
are worthy of a pill that provides an alternative to surgical
abortion. When we do this, we will be ready for RU-486.
Consider this new drug like a secret superpower, similar to the
ones that provided the backdrop for every cartoon you ever saw as a
child.
“In the hands of the good, the superpower brings sanctity
and security into the lives of those around it; but when in the
hands of evil, the superpower corrupts and ruins those same
lives.”
I’m not saying that sexually active young Americans are
evil “¦ but we are far from virtuous ““ and are not
worthy of being rewarded RU-486. Not yet, anyway.