britney and children.

okay.

so the rumours are true. britney spears is pregnant. again. with k-feds baby. again.

however - this post is not about, what is rapidly becomming, my unhealthy obsession with celebrity gossip.

when I read the news I felt bad for britney. apparently she is unhappily married, and was going to file for divorce when she realized she was pregnant - hence the now trying to work on the marriage (and for the record - clearly marriage is work and something to be given up - though there are instances where the situation could become intolerable - I clearly do not know enough about their marriage to offer an opinion on that).

but I digress. my point is that there are thousands/tens of thousands of children born every year in North America where the pregnancy was unplanned (i hesitate to use the word unwanted - because unplanned certainly does not mean unwanted). And yet - here I am - having sympathy for someone with the financial resources to have access to: proper medical care, a nutrionist, professional childcare givers, therapy, birth control etc.

instead my thoughts should be on the millions of young women in the united states and canada who do not have access to these things. access to proper pre-natal care, post-natal mental health outreach, qualified daycare providers - and don't get me started on the lack of access to (and information about) birth control. (not knowing about condom usage will not stop kids from having sex; it will, however, mean that they will not use condoms when they do so).

Women/girls who for lack of economic and educational opportunites have such limited opportunites generally. I can only imagine what a gift motherhood must be - but I feel for all those mothers out there who cannot afford proper medical care for their children, who have to work 60hours a week to support their children without having qualified subsidized daycare to help look after their children. Balancing the need to provide for their child with the need to be there for their child.

Britney Spears may have problems - but hers are not the problems we should be focusing on or thinking about.