Journal entry 4: April 2nd 2120
.
I went back to school today, in part to try and take my mind off of being drafted. Others got their draft notice, they were also walking around school today in a kind of haze. I felt some of the senior girls, the ones who'd already been to the reproductive camps, were looking at me, figuring out who had been drafted by the looks in our eyes. I hear them talking. As I understand the camps I have two main options for how to get pregnant. I can have sex with a willing male partner, or I can choose invitro fertilization. Rape is not permitted, the boys who commit rape against the girls are prosecuted. Nevertheless it does happen, and the women have to live with it, carry the child if pregnancy results. It is a bit worrisome that the boys who've been drafted seem more excited about this than the girls. Ideally they're just hoping to get laid, but there are others, who don't care about consent. Some girls were talking about exemptions from the draft. There are four main exemptions. The first is if pregnancy would cause serious damage to your health. But we've all been tested since before we started Kindergarden. So presumably we're either okay to have children, or the state is willing to take their chances with our health. At any rate we're required to be tested, have another physical examination, before July 1st. In theory we could go to our own doctor, have them say we're too weak. But then the state doctor would just examine us again, and we could get in serious trouble for getting caught in a lie. The second exemption is for religious reaosns. I could say it goes against my religious beliefs to be forced to have sex with someone. But if I do that, I'll just be sent to a religious camp. I'll still be required to have a baby, they would just do invitro fertilization. Honestly, if I have to have a baby, I might as well have sex first. The third exemption is financial hardship, to say that it would be a burden on my family to have me a way. That's mostly used with farming households, when they need everyone working on the farm. These days that's used much less. The state usually just gives the family a larger bonus to make up for the loss of this farmhand. In my case, my mother gets a bonus for me going, and it's 14 months where she doesn't have to pay for my food, clothing, or shelter. The last exemption would be if pregnancy would cause serious mental issues with me. This option is too dangerous to consider. As it is I'm a 16 year old girl who's never been in trouble with the law. They're sending me to a minimum security camp. The brochures make it look like fun, swimming pools, good food, nice houses, general free movement withing the camp. But, those who are physically capable but mentally unstable, they don't have it so good. With the crises getting worse each generation the state doesn't allow many exemptions, almost none really. Sometimes the wealthy families with political connections can get their own children exempted, or at least limit their daughters to one tour of duty. I don't qualify. I have heard horror stories about what happens to women in the higher security camps. I'd rather not think about it, hope that they're just stories. I'd rather just go to the camp, get it over with, and come home. And hope that by the time my baby turns 16 the crises has been solved.