The Right's War on Contraception

[Triana]

AlterNet
The Right's War on Contraception
By Gloria Feldt, Women's eNews
Posted on July 3, 2006, Printed on July 5, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/story/38285/

The world was riveted when Natalie Holloway went missing in Aruba last year. Dan Brown's best-selling novel, "The Da Vinci Code," mesmerizes readers and movie-goers by spinning the tale around how Mary Magdalene went missing from Christian theology except as a reformed harlot.

In an equally riveting mystery, women have disappeared from the story of attacks on contraception.

When the New York Times Magazine published a watershed story in early May, "The War on Contraception," the Times Web site noted it was their most e-mailed story of the day. Of course it was snapped up. What rational person can believe that any but crackpots could oppose using birth control to prevent pregnancy?

I tore into the article hoping it would unearth and expose the true reproductive rights battle lines. This is a struggle often masquerading as a moral controversy. At its roots, however, it's about sex and power; whether women will be allowed to keep striving for an equal place in society or confined, as much as possible, to the nursery.

The author, Russell Shorto, did a fine job detailing the dueling philosophies of abstinence-only sex education versus comprehensive sex education. Comprehensive programs teach decision-making skills and provide medically accurate information, including facts about abstinence, sex, relationships and childbearing. Abstinence-only programs exhort unmarried people to "just say no."

...MORE at above link...

[GliderGuider]

1. breeders' rights

In support of your post, Triana:
Dan Savage, the man who brought the noun "santorum" into common usage, is (arguably) the World's Best Sex Advice Columnist.
Being gay, he's has some experience fighting for human rights. Recently he's been urging breeders to rise up and defend their own rights to choose if, when and how many children to have.

Read the letter at the bottom of last week's column:
http://citypages.com/databank/27/1334/article14473.asp

Then read Dan's response:
"... making a donation to Planned Parenthood isn't heroic—really, anyone can do it. Just write out a check to Planned Parenthood, put it in an envelope, and mail it to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 434 West 33rd Street, New York, New York, 10001, or go to www.plannedparenthood.org and make a donation online.
"In Canada, send checks to the Canadian Federation for Sexual Health, 1 Nicholas Street, Suite 430, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 7B7, or go to www.ppfc.ca."

[AndyTiedye]

2. Kickety/Recommendee

Overturning Roe v. Wade would only be the beginning.
They really do intend to overturn Griswold v. CT.

:kick:

[Triana]

3. They've been frothing at the mouth to do away with birth control for years

First, it's abortion, then all forms of birth control. That's been their agenda for a LONG time. I knew it when I was a teen. But they can't control ME or my body anymore. I took care of that myself (not recommended for everyone). I still worry about all the other women and girls out there who will end up choiceless with no control over their own bodies or lives. If I had a daughter, I'd be LIVID about this crap. The American Taliban needs to be STOPPED.

[Marrah_G]

4. I would raise hell...

If anyone tried to deny my daughter birth control pills there would be hell to pay. She's just about 16, has had bad enough bouts with Ovarian cysts that she has had surgeries. She even lost a fallopian tube. She takes birth control because they help prevent a condition that could cost her the chance to have children. I despise these people who are so indoctrinated by their preachers that they cannot have a rational thought on what their "cause" would mean to others.

Also on abortions. I have a cousin who had a child with a devastating illness. I remember the morning she came to my house at dawn, tears streaming down her face because the test results came back and her child had a death sentence. His short 4 year life was spent deaf, dumb, blind, in excruciating pain and constant seizures that would last hours. After he passed away they tried to have another child. This child had the same disease. She terminated the pregnancy, not because she was some uncaring, careless bitch, but rather she refused to bring another child into the world to live in horrible pain for a few years. And then die. A few years later they did indeed have a happy and healthy baby who is loved and cherished by them so much.

These anti-choice people never look at the big picture. They never see how their "loving the pre-born" can effect families like these. They live in a world of blinders and earplugs where all circumstances are just perfect and every fetus will grow up into a perfect little being. In real life.... it's just not so.

RIP Niko- never forgotten

[Control-Z]

5. You give too much credit.

I don't believe they give a thought beyond the womb.

'They live in a world of blinders and earplugs where all circumstances are just perfect and every fetus will grow up into a perfect little being.'

I'm so sorry about little Niko :cry: It is good to know that your cousin was at least able to take control of her life afterward.

Welcome to DU, Marrah_G. :hi:

[Stargazer09]

6. I haven't experienced this myself, yet

But I will go through the roof if it ever happens to me or to my children. Nobody has the right to tell me that I'm not allowed to have sex if I'm not willing to get pregnant, just as nobody has the right to force me to be a slave to an embryo. I am in control of my own body, just as every single woman in this world deserves to be in control of their own bodies.

The true agenda of the far right does show through with this "no birth control" movement. If they honestly want to eliminate abortions, then they should be pushing the use of birth control, not trying to limit access. I agree that this is just another way to try to keep women in their place.

The funny thing is, many of those same people get angry at me when they see me with my children (I have more than half a dozen--by choice!). They act like I must be living on welfare or something, and they ask me very insulting things about my knowledge of human reproduction. (No, I have plenty of money to raise all of my children comfortably, and yes, I do know what causes pregnancy.)

Women can't win with these people. Either you're an evil feminist who wants a career, or your a welfare mom simply because you have more children than they think you should have.