CNN has a refreshingly decent article about parenting choices, which discusses research finding that people who don't want children and then don't have them are as likely to be as happy as parents who wanted children. (File Under: No doy.)
The thing about this article that's good (and frustratingly rare) is the notion that individual choices are equally legitimate, because there are valid reasons to want kids and valid reasons to not want them. There's no objective right or wrong, but a subjective right or wrong for you.
Anyway, what struck me as I was reading this article is how very rooted in reproductive rights law it is. Despite the fact that controlling one's reproduction via contraception and abortion is not given explicit mention, the freedom of choice to achieve personal happiness re: parenting or not parenting is inextricably tied to a pro-choice culture.
When one reads a woman saying, "I know who I am and what I want in life, and know without a doubt children do not fit into that equation," it leaves little doubt that the pursuit of happiness promised everyone in this country must include the freedom of reproductive choice for women.
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