“In the middle-class United States, a veneer of "alternative lifestyles" disguises the reality that, here as everywhere, women's apparent "choices" whether or not to have children are still dependent on the far from neutral will of male legislators, jurists, a male medical and pharmaceutical profession, well-financed lobbies, including the prelates of the Catholic Church, and the political reality that women do not as yet have self-determination over our bodies and still live mostly in ignorance of our authentic physicality, our possible choices, our eroticism itself.” WellsChildrenStillsSelfStatesBodyRealityPoliticalChoicesChurchUnitedClassUnited StatesMiddleIgnoranceDeterminationCatholicMalesIncludingProfessionMedicalLifestyleAlternativesAbortionDependentMiddle ClassSelf DeterminationDisguiseCatholic ChurchLegislatorsPhysicalityPharmaceuticalVeneerJurists Author:Adrienne Rich
“The same comparison holds true within the United States itself: Southern and Midwestern states, characterized by the highest levels of religious literalism, are especially plagued by [high rates of homicide, abortion, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, and infant mortality], while the comparatively secular states of the Northeast conform to European standards.” StatesReligionReligiousLevelsUnitedUnited StatesDiseaseHighestStandardsRateAbortionComparisonMortalityPregnancySouthernSecularConformInfantSexuallyHomicideTeen PregnancyInfant MortalitySexually Transmitted Diseases Author:Sam Harris