The War on Reproduction

Like many American families, the idea of expanding one's brood is a hot topic. For some families, the topic is easily solved. For families like mine, its a discussion that involves a lot of "I don't know", "Not right now", "Family planning has worked so far", and "Hell NO!" The aforementioned "Hell NO!", being my husband's reaction to my plea to engage in the end of the fertility dance, by getting a vasectomy. I know, I know. Cruel. Cruel, insensitive wife! How dear you insist that your husband places himself in any amount of pain? What if you want more? Welllllll, after four pregnancies, two live births via c-sections, and two miscarriages, before and after Juniper...I have come to the conclusion that perhaps the baby train has lost it's steam. If only I can convince the husband to cut his balls.

Where am I going with this? Well, as a household that does not have network television, and like most human beings in today's modern world, I get my news through facebook (FB); or, from my mom calling me and asking "Did you see what happened in the news today?", bringing me to ferociously googling the topic, so as not to seem out of touch. Bad, bad citizen!!!! Anyhoo, recently in my wonderful world of FB, I came across two separate articles on Birth Control (one of which my husband sent me, may be he's relenting). Considering my husband and my, own "fertility wars" on the topic, and the basis of the article presented by ABC on the Testicle Zap Wave of the Future , including the malfunction presented in the Huffington Post's article on the Birth Control Recall , I wondered, just who is truly responsible for maintaining the reproduction of a household?

In previous years, and still today, Birth Control primarily falls the woman. Between barrier methods, hormones found in traditional methods such as the pill, non-hormonal methods such as IUDs, and sterilization, women have a lot of "reliable" options when it comes to the role they play in their own fertility. Although the feminist in me is screaming "Your damn right! Take charge girls!"; the recent mishap that resulted in the recall of one million Birth Control pills by Pfizer, due to production of too many or too little effective pills in the packet, made me think. Besides thinking "lawsuit" and the possibility for  a lot of, "Oops, honey, I'm pregnant" this winter pregnancy stories; I thought "Why do we have to be the one's (primarily that is), to take full responsibility in reproductive matters?" Especially within the bounds of a marriage or partnership? Don't get me wrong... I do think women should take control of their fertility, but within a marriage, shouldn't the burden be shared? Enter in, the frying of testicles.

Yikes!

Okay, seriously. I know that men currently have two options, barrier method (condoms) or sterilization (vasectomy), not much of a selection, which is also shown in the newest "invention" to combat male fertility...the Testicle Zap Wave, or as I would like to call it, the balls' frier. How do you like your eggs? Scrambled or over easy? I kid, I kid. But really? If the only thing men have to look forward to are condoms, being snipped, or "zapped", there's no wonder that women are primarily responsible in the world of reproduction and procreation. I think that men should have more options. Why not give them a chance to be hormonal for a change  happy that they have a hold on their OWN fertility. What do you think?