Bill O'Reilly Should Shut Up -- It's None of His Business If Women Want to Raise a Kid Alone

It’s like déjà vu all over again, or at least it’s 1992. The minor war of words between actress Jennifer Aniston and instigator Bill O’Reilly over women opting for single motherhood was reminiscent of the flap between Vice President Dan Quayle and Murphy Brown nearly 20 years ago.  FYI--Murphy Brown was the fictional character and namesake of a hit sitcom starring Candice Bergen whose character became a single mom by choice and thus was in the GOP’s crosshairs courtesy of Quayle.

Under the guise of family values, men are once again poking their noses where they don’t belong--in female reproductive rights and the choice to be a parent. Whether it’s the “welfare queen” having children out of wedlock draining society or an upwardly mobile, self-sufficient woman who intentionally seeks out parenthood without a mate, they are both seemingly equal to those opposed to a woman raising a child alone. Apparently, no progress has been made in this area in the last 18 years as the argument has reared its head once again.

O’Reilly stated that Aniston was irresponsible for stating that women don’t need men to have children because 12 and 13-year-olds would take her words to heart. I’m going to go out on a limb and point out that 12 and 13-year-olds are probably listening to Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus, not the 41-year-old Aniston. Furthermore, it’s doubtful any of them are going to see her film, “The Switch”, about artificial insemination gone awry, but I digress.

First of all, the argument is simply silly in my mind. How many women embark upon raising children with their mate and through some twist of fate (death, divorce, deadbeat or otherwise) end up doing it alone?  We all know women who unwittingly ended up with a sperm donor, so anyone who just wants to go into it with eyes wide open and cut out the middleman, so be it.

It is not as if women are running around willy-nilly having children and leaving them on someone else’s doorstep to raise, so what’s the big deal?  What’s the difference between a one night stand resulting in a child and a sperm donor --other than a hangover? A woman who wants children is supposed to forgo the experience of motherhood simply because she doesn’t have a significant other? That’s poppycock!

Ideally, a child should be raised in a two-parent home, yadda, yadda, yadda. Guess what? There are few guarantees in this life and waiting on Mr. Right to come along before you become a parent is a crap shoot. I’m sure for many women, it would be ideal to marry your soul mate and raise a tribe of kids together, but if that’s not the hand you are dealt and the biological clock is ticking, what is a woman to do? Sometimes, Mr. Right Now will suffice.

Why is it anyone else’s business how and why someone decides to become a parent? It’s not truly about the welfare of the child because if that were first and foremost, the quality of public education, the foster care system and eradicating child predators would be of paramount concern. Since that’s not the case, I’ll just call it what it is. An excuse to introduce another hot button issue that crops up anytime someone wants to parade around “family values” just in time for Election Day.  I could go on about it, but that, my friends, is a rant for another day.

This story first appeared on TheLoop21.com. TheLoop21.com offers insight, resources and opinions on African American issues. Our content serves to advance the debate toward black economic progress by focusing on finance, politics and culture. Register and read more at TheLoop21.com.