Take contraception for example. Millions of women use it to for a variety of reasons- by far chief among them, the ability to decide when and if they want to become pregnant. Though still expensive even with a deductible, birth control can be obtained with a prescription and appears to be working fine (even Romney- in unscripted moments- agrees). In fact, under the new Affordable Care Act, contraception will be available to even more women without a deductible. Surely, this will cut down on unintended pregnancy and help struggling families in this down economy. So, if it's not broken, the common sense approach would be.....don't fix it, right? Focus instead on the litany of urgent problems our nation faces. GOP- what say you? Though it's nearly 50 years after Griswold v. Conn., it's time to re-examine it. Let's cloak it in the guise of "religious liberty" and let the Catholic bishops take one more shot at getting the masses- that's you women- back in line. After all, if you can't decide when you are going to get pregnant, it's a bit harder to climb that corporate ladder, grab that advanced degree, drive one more dent in that glass ceiling.......
Let's move on to sex education. Though our country still has a very high rate of teen pregnancy compared to other developed countries, teen birth rates are down. Though sex-ed programs aren't perfect, hopefully some students are getting the straight facts on pregnancy and STD's. So, let's look at expanding quality programs to every student. GOP-what say you? Time to push abstinence-only sex education. Say what? It's time to push a "head in the sand approach" because it is more in line with party "values". This despite recent studies that show that students taking "virginity pledges" in abstinence-only sex ed programs were just as likely to have sex as the students in a more comprehensive sex ed class, and also more likely to have unsafe sex and get pregnant. Seems education- and access to contraception- might be a key element in lowering the abortion rate among teens. (But that is far too logical---- let's move on.)
Which brings me around to abortion. For many years, abortion rates have trended downward until a slight uptick in 2008. Some experts point to the recession as the cause for the increase, stating that abortion rates decrease with a good economy and rise with a bad one. Providers estimate that 1.21 million abortions were performed in 2008. Shouldn't our policymakers consider this urgent motivation to increase access to and reduce the cost for
contraceptives so that unintended
pregnancy can be prevented? Though ideally abortion is rare and safe, incidences are at some of the lowest levels in years. So, if it's not broken, the common sense approach should be to ..... focus on making contraception available cheaply and easily and on quality sex education. Try to improve the economy to allow millions the financial security to have a child. GOP- what say you? Time to effectively outlaw abortion on the state level, criminalize both patient and doctor and stop telling teenagers what causes pregnancy and how to prevent it. Let's work to make access to contraception harder and more expensive to get, especially if we can allow anyone a "moral objection" to deny it. Let's help the "confused" pregnant woman be fully informed about her abortion decision by subjecting her to cruelty and violation that no man would ever allow- so that she can understand once and for all that "right to life" applies to everyone but women. The GOP objects to the phrase "war on women"?! When a political party sets out to comprehensively deny a woman the right to control her reproductive destiny and her body---it can be called nothing else.
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