Better access to contraception will lower abortion rate
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BETTER ACCESS TO CONTRACEPTION WILL LOWER ABORTION RATE
By Cynthia TuckerSat Jan 27, 8:04 PM ET
The latest news on marriage confirms what we already knew: With 51 percent of women living without husbands, the traditional family no longer dominates our culture. Whether you believe that represents triumph or tragedy hardly matters. The transformation is unlikely to reverse itself.
"Once upon a time ... women married ... for economic support, to cement family alliances, to have children, to counter loneliness, to be like all the other women. Once upon a time, women wore the title 'wife' like a badge of honor. ... Today, the word 'wife' does not convey the same unambiguous message," writes Marilyn Yalom, author of "A History of the Wife."
Ozzie and Harriet have been replaced by Desperate Housewives, and we ought to update our politics to reflect our modern reality. There's no better place to start than with the politics of contraception, since children are among those adversely affected by the erosion of traditional family life.
No amount of finger-pointing or sermonizing will bring back the days when women were expected to wait until marriage to become sexually active -- or to proceed directly to the altar if they became pregnant before marriage. The efforts of ultraconservatives to ban abortion and preach abstinence have only made matters worse by increasing the likelihood that women will get pregnant unintentionally. Those women often resort to abortion.
That's why the time is right for Congress to pass a bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), as a Democratic majority attempts to push policies with broad centrist appeal. Reid's proposal, the Prevention First Act, would broaden access to both contraceptives and sex education. Among other things, it would force more health insurance companies to pay for contraceptives; insist that sex education programs in public schools be based on science, not political or religious dogma; and require pharmacists, despite their religious objections, to fill prescriptions for birth control.
The bill drives right to the broad political center, since an overwhelming majority of Americans support the use of contraceptives. According to a Harris Poll last year, 89 percent of Americans believe people should have more access to information about birth control options, and 81 percent believe that providing contraception would help prevent abortions. Indeed, that's a no-brainer.
About half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which researches family-planning issues. About 42 percent of unintended pregnancies end in abortion, the institute says, estimating that one-third of American women -- many of them married, most already mothers -- will have had an abortion by the time they're 45.
By contrast, many Western nations have much lower rates of abortion because they actively support family planning and birth control.
"The U.S. abortion rate remains among the highest of all industrialized nations -- more than twice as high, for example, as the Netherlands," a Guttmacher researcher, the late Cynthia Dailard, wrote two years ago. "There, unlike here, government and social institutions support comprehensive sex education and health care services aimed at helping people, including young people, avoid unintended pregnancy and disease; contraceptive use is widely encouraged and contraceptives are easily available. ...
"In short, the abortion rate in the Netherlands -- and in other western and northern European countries -- is low because unintended pregnancy rates are extremely low due to widespread and effective contraceptive use," Dailard said.
Curbing abortion would be just one important benefit of better family planning. Another result would be fewer neglected and undereducated children, born to mothers too poor, immature or overwhelmed to prepare them to succeed. If we cut down the number of unintended pregnancies, we will surely see fewer poorly reared children.
As for the institution of marriage, there are many reasons for its decline. As Marilyn Yalom notes: "In the past, most marriages were affairs of the pocketbook rather than affairs of the heart. ... From biblical days to the 1950s, it was a husband's duty to provide for his wife. She, in turn, was expected to provide sex, children and housekeeping. It was a quid pro quo that was not just tacitly understood ... but written into religious and civil law."
These days, many Americans, men and women, have rejected that centuries-old arrangement. Our politics need to catch up to our times.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucas/20070128/cm_ucas/betteraccesstocontraceptionwilllowerabortionrate;_ylt=AhutOHLeLWR8eZfTWGOj6X4DW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--
By Cynthia TuckerSat Jan 27, 8:04 PM ET
The latest news on marriage confirms what we already knew: With 51 percent of women living without husbands, the traditional family no longer dominates our culture. Whether you believe that represents triumph or tragedy hardly matters. The transformation is unlikely to reverse itself.
"Once upon a time ... women married ... for economic support, to cement family alliances, to have children, to counter loneliness, to be like all the other women. Once upon a time, women wore the title 'wife' like a badge of honor. ... Today, the word 'wife' does not convey the same unambiguous message," writes Marilyn Yalom, author of "A History of the Wife."
Ozzie and Harriet have been replaced by Desperate Housewives, and we ought to update our politics to reflect our modern reality. There's no better place to start than with the politics of contraception, since children are among those adversely affected by the erosion of traditional family life.
No amount of finger-pointing or sermonizing will bring back the days when women were expected to wait until marriage to become sexually active -- or to proceed directly to the altar if they became pregnant before marriage. The efforts of ultraconservatives to ban abortion and preach abstinence have only made matters worse by increasing the likelihood that women will get pregnant unintentionally. Those women often resort to abortion.
That's why the time is right for Congress to pass a bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), as a Democratic majority attempts to push policies with broad centrist appeal. Reid's proposal, the Prevention First Act, would broaden access to both contraceptives and sex education. Among other things, it would force more health insurance companies to pay for contraceptives; insist that sex education programs in public schools be based on science, not political or religious dogma; and require pharmacists, despite their religious objections, to fill prescriptions for birth control.
The bill drives right to the broad political center, since an overwhelming majority of Americans support the use of contraceptives. According to a Harris Poll last year, 89 percent of Americans believe people should have more access to information about birth control options, and 81 percent believe that providing contraception would help prevent abortions. Indeed, that's a no-brainer.
About half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which researches family-planning issues. About 42 percent of unintended pregnancies end in abortion, the institute says, estimating that one-third of American women -- many of them married, most already mothers -- will have had an abortion by the time they're 45.
By contrast, many Western nations have much lower rates of abortion because they actively support family planning and birth control.
"The U.S. abortion rate remains among the highest of all industrialized nations -- more than twice as high, for example, as the Netherlands," a Guttmacher researcher, the late Cynthia Dailard, wrote two years ago. "There, unlike here, government and social institutions support comprehensive sex education and health care services aimed at helping people, including young people, avoid unintended pregnancy and disease; contraceptive use is widely encouraged and contraceptives are easily available. ...
"In short, the abortion rate in the Netherlands -- and in other western and northern European countries -- is low because unintended pregnancy rates are extremely low due to widespread and effective contraceptive use," Dailard said.
Curbing abortion would be just one important benefit of better family planning. Another result would be fewer neglected and undereducated children, born to mothers too poor, immature or overwhelmed to prepare them to succeed. If we cut down the number of unintended pregnancies, we will surely see fewer poorly reared children.
As for the institution of marriage, there are many reasons for its decline. As Marilyn Yalom notes: "In the past, most marriages were affairs of the pocketbook rather than affairs of the heart. ... From biblical days to the 1950s, it was a husband's duty to provide for his wife. She, in turn, was expected to provide sex, children and housekeeping. It was a quid pro quo that was not just tacitly understood ... but written into religious and civil law."
These days, many Americans, men and women, have rejected that centuries-old arrangement. Our politics need to catch up to our times.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucas/20070128/cm_ucas/betteraccesstocontraceptionwilllowerabortionrate;_ylt=AhutOHLeLWR8eZfTWGOj6X4DW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--
My whole life
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
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Comments
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
When my daughter was in college, she'd occasionally call me to tell me about one of her dormmates who had told her that condoms were only effective about half the time, or that birth control pills prevented AIDS, or some equally crazy thing. How could girls who got 1500 on their SATs be so stupid about birth control? Abstinence only education, baby!
I'm all for preventing abortions whenever possible, but the religious conservatives are going about it all wrong, they're doing more harm than good.
My feelings exactly after reading this article...................I actually work with a lady who believes strongly in sex education for the mere fact that it could reduce unwanted pregnancies, therefore lower the percentages of abortion or 'throw-away' children. I never understood the logic of those against sex education.
but the illusion of knowledge.
~Daniel Boorstin
Only a life lived for others is worth living.
~Albert Einstein
But their deeper goal is eliminating sex except for strict procreation, isn't it?
If they truly want to lower abortion rates, then pass out condoms to every teenager in bundles, and teach them how to use the stuff. That would work better than any amount of "holier than thou"ing and praying. But then, that might *gasp* encourage sex. :rolleyes:
I know I have sex just because I had some sex-ed in school...
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
God forbid.
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
That is an assinine conclusion for that article to make.
Which women are they taking into account? Are they including widows, women 18-24, women who have husbands living in other parts of the world, women who have lost their husbands, etc etc the list goes on and on.
The traditional family is as much a part of our culture as it has always been. That stupid assertion at the beginning then completely negates what the writer is trying to say, because once I cast doubt on it, everything else means very little.
Once I can deny her claim that the traditional family is no longer a part of our culture, then I can assume that the traditional family is what it has always been: the dominating force in our society.
Contraception makes no difference to traditional marriage: women who want to be married and have babies will still do that. In the past, women who didn't want babies might still get married because they needed economic support, but it's not like that has significantly changed. Men still make more money than women because we live in a capitalist society.
Additionally, notice the pride in the article. The destruction of the traditional family is not something to be taken lightly, for it anchors our society, government, and economy in so many ways. Without it, our nation will disolve into a bunch of Rosie O'Donnells who raise 2 babies and think they're doing us all a great service.
-Enoch Powell
They don't want to "reduce" the number of abortions. They want to eliminate abortion.
Feminists like to claim that they believe abortion is a "serious" decision (which is codeword for immoral), but that it should be legal because women need control of their own bodies. I find it so funny how abortion is legitimized in our society this way.
How many instances do we say "this is bad but I am going to do it anyway because the results are good." This is basic ethical folly. How do you produce good results from a bad cause?
Do I kill someone in order to keep them from stealing my pencil?
Should we really be aborting babies just so we can afford our bills? In the big picture, is society going to look back on us and think of us any differently than the Romans who left their babies on the hilltops to be exposed?
Reducing abortion is meaningless if you do not intend to end it. Planned Parenthood has no intention of ending abortion; thus, they should be ended.
-Enoch Powell
naděje umírá poslední
If you're too fucking stupid to figure out how to use a condom by yourself, maybe you shouldn't be having sex. I mean, this isn't rocket science, people. I don't need a god damn doctor to walk into my classroom so he can teach me how to use one of these things. Also, I don't need anyone to tell me how to get one. It's plainly obvious where they are at CVS and if I want one, I can get one. There's no effing need for a bus to roll into campus and hand out condoms and pills to us.
Liberals must think that we're all fucking idiots, so they need to bestow their "progressive" knowledge of contraception onto us. It's really just a mechanism for dumbasses to come to our classes and tell us what takes two seconds for any non-comatose person to figure out.
I love the fact that Collin needed an MD to come to his class and tell him how to use a rubber. I sure hope that MD is getting paid big bucks for his job.
Congrats to us! We know how to fuck! Now, there's bigger problems in the world besides how you can get laid at the very next opportunity. Maybe we should start teaching our kids that instead of drowning them with penis lube chatter.
-Enoch Powell
That's great to say and all, but it makes no sense. Yes there are people too stupid to use condoms, or too lazy to go to the store and buy them, or don't know the dangers or unprotected sex, but saying they shouldn't have sex is just as stupid.
We know people are going to have sex, right? Social conservatives bitch about welfare mothers or people that have too many kids or whatever, but then don't want to do anything to prevent it (besides telling them not to have sex).
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
So how much do you know about STD's? How much do you know about all other contraceptives? How much do 13 year old girls know about the pill? By the time we were 16, most of us were no longer virgins so we certainly didn't need a doctor to tell us how to use a condom. But the info was there for all those who still had questions.
It wasn't just about showing someone how to put on a condom, it created an evironment where it wasn't a taboo to talk about sex. I'm sure you were born with all the knowledge about sex, STD's, contraceptives or what to do when you're the victim of sexual harassment ... but some people still have questions.
naděje umírá poslední
I just can't understand how sex ed and improved access to contraception are a bad thing? I'm so sick the the "it encourages teenagers to have sex" argument.... everything about our culture encourages people to have sex... TV, music, movies, videos, magazines, commercials, radio stations, etc... If anything sex ed provides a chance to talk about the impacts and dangers of the sex that is glorified EVERYWHERE in our culture.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
This is why liberalism cannot but fail:
Conservatives have kids and liberals don't. If Americans all die out from abortion and contraception, guess who will take over? Hispanics. You know why? They have more babies.
In the end, conservatives always win - it's just a matter of which race.
-Enoch Powell
so the idea that contraception can possibly reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, thus abortions means little to you? Interesting.......I thought you were pro-life. Maybe the 'cause' means more to you than the unborn.
Makes no difference in a 'traditional' marriage. I am in what you would call a traditional marriage and it is very relevant. Also, what do you mean when you say men make more money due to a capitalist society?
but the illusion of knowledge.
~Daniel Boorstin
Only a life lived for others is worth living.
~Albert Einstein
Reducing abortion is meaningless? This statement suggests that you couldn't give a damn about the 'unborn'. You would rather see more abortions (even though you find them morally wrong) than admit an organization promoting birth control might actually reduce abortions.
but the illusion of knowledge.
~Daniel Boorstin
Only a life lived for others is worth living.
~Albert Einstein
Um, right. There are a least two of us in this thread that disproves that theory.
but the illusion of knowledge.
~Daniel Boorstin
Only a life lived for others is worth living.
~Albert Einstein
only you cannot, becos she never said it was no longer a part of our culture, just that it is no longer dominant. you cannot assume that. over half of marriages end in divorce. that's just the women getting married. simple statistics and common sense will tell you the number of women who marry a man and stay with him raising his children until death is now a minority.
what do you propose? do you advocate abstinence-only sex education? do you think her idea of making contraception easily available is a bad idea?
did you wait until you were married to have sex?
yes, most americans are that dumb and dont know about removing the air before application so it doesn't burst. they dont know what kinds of lubricants will destroy its effectiveness.
you say you've used condoms... you've had sex outside marriage then? isn't that immoral? how come you're allowed to and others aren't?
except their kids will all rebel when they realize how brain-washed and oppressive their parents are
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
-Oscar Wilde
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
You can't be serious.
Make that three of us. And I have two kids.
R.i.p. My Dad - May 28, 2007
R.i.p. Black Tail (cat) - Sept. 20, 2008
when you sold your soul to the corporate world cw i looks as if you paid for it with part of your brain when you make comments like this one.
and if conservatives ALWAYS win it doesn't matter which race.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
Blows my mind. Unbelievable. How can a developed western country allow its youth to be fed such utter bullshit? Especially when being properly educated in this area is literally a matter of life and death.
-C Addison