Or if nothing else, at least make it easier for those who are struggling (mentally, financially, physically) to obtain effective birth control and sterilization when appropriate. I know a young woman who has had one unintended child already (whom she exposed to drugs and alcohol in the womb before she knew she was pregnant) who is doing her damnedest to raise the poor little mite. He's high-strung, defiant, and maddening... a child that would try anyone's patience. He's too young for me to say for sure but I will not be surprised if he has developmental delay and ADHD.

She loves him dearly but does not want another. Ever. Her maternal instincts have been burned out by raising this boy. And she is scared that it will happen again, that she will do something foolish... get drunk at a party, and voila! Repeat of the story.

So she went to a physician asking for a tubal ligation. His answer? "We can't do it until you're at least 26 or have had another kid."

Now, what the HELL is the logic in this? A guy can go in and have a vasectomy, no questions asked, but this poor woman who knows her weaknesses and knows her risks can't have sterilization. Grrrr. It all hearkens back to those Greeks who named the uterus the hysteros, because that irresponsible organ was of course the reason women became hysterical. We weak women might change our minds, but a MAN would never do that.