Ruth Institute Blog

Our critics allege that we here at the Ruth Institute want to turn women into “baby factories.”

Okay.  So let’s consider that position for a second.

But before we do so, I think we should note this.  We can quibble about the number of babies the world needs, but what cannot be disputed is that at some time and in some number, human society is going to need to make babies for its continued existence.

Who should make those babies?

We believe that this responsibility should fall upon women.  There are two reasons we believe this.  First of all, we’re EEEEEEEEEVIL right wingers.  Second, we happened to have noticed that it is the women who are biologically endowed with the body parts necessary for such manufacture.

Let me state once and for all that the Ruth Institute has had no role in making women’s bodies into vessels capable of making babies.  We just noticed that fact.

So, if the mere production of babies in any number makes a woman a baby factory, then I guess that we, as well as pretty much everybody with a brain would say that women should be (and have always been) baby factories.

But the “baby factory” charge seems to imply that we advocate that women do nothing other than churn out babies.

We don’t.

Dr. J. is a PhD.  My own wife is a physician whom people call Dr. Mendelson.  (I’m going to forgo the opportunity to brag about her recent score on the medical Board exam).  Obviously, both of these women have done a great deal more than produce babies.

But this I wonder:  the “baby factory” charge seems to imply that we believe women should have a lot of babies.  So, exactly how many babies does it take for a woman to cross over from ordinary woman to “baby factory”?  Also, is that number different for those oppressed women who conceive in the time tested way with their husbands than it is for those liberated women who get IVF without being “shackled” to a man?

So, what’s the number (or numbers)?  And if there is a specific number, could anybody please find a Ruth Institute document (secret or otherwise) which advocates that women have that specific number of babies?