There Are Mothers AND Fathers - Deal With It

On Dr. Laura's blog, she had an entry that featured a letter a woman wrote after being invited to join a group formed to remove Father's Day and Mother's Day celebrations from public schools.

Upon looking further into this group, I found that the founder of this group was a single mom “by choice,” and was angry her child was being made to feel bad because the other children have daddies, and hers does not.

I generally believe people have the right to do with themselves and what they own and the children for whom they are responsible as they wish – without government interference – as long as they are not violating the rights of others, including their children. But I believe that non-interference by the government should go both ways. For example, I don't want to use a cop to stop you from paying a streetwalker for sex – and I don't want to be forced to pay taxes to treat your STD. You want to raise a child created using donated sperm without a father around? That's not illegal. But I should not be forced to change anything or pay for anything to accommodate your decision. You're aware of the world you are dealing with when you go ahead and get pregnant. In our world, we celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day. Deal with it.

Dr. Laura's listener wrote a great letter to the founder of the group that said, in part...

I find it interesting you “chose” single parenthood for your child, but are not punishing those who did not for YOUR decision. The majority of children have a mother and father and those who don’t will have to learn to deal with disappointment and adapt. You act as though she shouldn’t have to learn to deal with disappointment, but in order to become a productive adult, she will.

Sadly, this disappointment was thrust upon her by you.

As Dr. Laura notes,

The woman referred to in this letter, like so many others, decided: “I want a kid.” “I want a kid” - not “Gee, I’d really like to be a Mom. What’s in the best interest of a child?”

Parenthood is optional. Whether or not someone is going to be mother or father should determine much about how they conduct his or her life. One very important thing it means is bringing a person into the situation who didn't consent to the situation. That means a person to decides to raise children has certain obligations.