New Congress Drains Helium From Pro-Choice Hopes

[atommom]

WASHINGTON (WOMENSENEWS)--Reproductive rights advocates looked forward to better electoral days ahead when Republicans lost control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections.

But six months later, those same people are beginning to let the helium out of their once high hopes.

"We're six months into this session and we've seen very few tangible results," said Jacqueline Payne, assistant director of government relations at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

The dismay was underscored last week when Democratic appropriators approved a spending bill that would increase funding for abstinence-only sex education programs.

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=3204

http://tinyurl.com/2lla8k

[iverglas]

1. "Let's face it, with friends like these, who needs conservative Republicans?"

Yeesh. One might well ask.

In something of a counter measure to the abstinence programs, Democrats last winter introduced The Prevention First Act, which would ease access to contraception, require insurers to cover birth control, increase funding for comprehensive sex education programs, and ensure that women can get their prescriptions for birth control filled.

... But that legislation has yet to begin moving through the committee process, and time is running out as Congress faces pressure to complete the 13 annual must-pass appropriations bills before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the presidential election is heating up, which will make it more difficult for lawmakers to reach the kind of bipartisan compromises needed to pass legislation related to reproductive rights.

When will legislators learn (a government of mine own behaved similarly, although on completely different issues) that there is a window of opportunity at times like these, and once it closes, it's gone?

There are hugely contentious things that have to be left aside for pragmatic reasons -- like the hideous "partial-birth abortion" legislation. (Sorry, bliss, I know I'm not supposed to utter those words!) But when you leave things like that aside, it should be so that other things actually get done.

Funding nonsense, harmful anti-human nonsense like this, isn't one of those things that should be getting done. Some of the things one can do when these windows open are symbolic but important, and starving abstinence-only education of air is really one of those things.


And up here, the House rises for summer recess next week, so they too are sitting late into the night getting Conservative budget bills rammed through ...

[bliss_eternal]

2. You said it...

...when will they learn that this abstinence only education crap does NOT work?!

As if TEACHING people to abstain is equivalent to people actually doing so. There's something horribly unnatural about telling human beings to just "not have sex." People are going to do it.

Even these "prim and proper" republicans frequently have "interesting" behind the scenes sex lives.

[City Lights]

3. Swell.

Increased funding for abstinence-only programs? Ugh. They'd have gotten more bang for their buck by just throwing it out the windows of the Capitol. What a waste. :eyes:

[ismnotwasm]

4. I was just reading in The Nation

A very interesting article-- a follow the money-- about funding of the Abstinence only bullshit. As with everything in this administration, it's a long, convoluted and disgustingly corrupt journey. I was reading it at work, I think it was a fairly recent edition. I'll try to find it on-line. It's definitely worth reading.

Edit, Ha! found it
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070618/reynolds

[atommom]

5. Yeah, I read that. Somehow it's not a big surprise that it all boils down to

funneling the money to the administration's favorite cronies. :banghead: