Ann Friedman please once again for the press to ask the Republican contenders some clear questions as to where they stand on birth control, citing this op-ed from Cristina Page.
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Birth Control and the Campaign
24 Aug 2007 02:16 pm
Comments (15)
I agree that this is a great tact to take for exposing excessive wingnuttery. An amazing number of the so-called pro-lifers are also opposed to contraception. It truly boggles the mind.
The fact that Americans almost universally, including the vast majority of wingnut brethren, use or have used birth control make this a can't lose issue to push.
HEY KTLN: the vast majority of Americans are hurt by Bush's tax cuts, and yet continue the mantra of TAXES BAD! even when the Bush relief of the uppers harms the mids and lowers. Integrity and consistency are not qualities most 'Murkin voters have in spades. Counting on 'Murkin voters to not be hypocrites is like counting on Congress to not be hypocrites. Bush and his ilk avoided the Vietnam war at all costs yet now flog it in their case for Endless War (tm). The truth is a vampire at high noon, burnt to a husk. Integrity is for stock portfolios, consistency is for stool, and the media is a funhouse mirror greased with sharp ass chedda. 2+2=5. You have not been paying attention. Pain attention. Pain a tension.
Hope springs eternal Gregorio. I feel like I have been wandering in the wilderness politically since Reagan got elected, but a little win here or a win there and I'm ready to love again.
I honestly think that an issue like birth control can make some of these mugs look pretty silly. Only the truly extreme view the pill as an abortifacient (sp?). Oh well it's Matt's site -- spelling don't count.
If we're gonna have usage corrections in this thread(and really, shouldn't every thread have them? At least on Matt's blog?), may I point out that KTLN's usage of "tact to take" drives me nuts. You can be tactful. You can take the proper tack, as if you were sailing. You can't take the proper tact.
And yes, Romney is nuts.
Re: HEY KTLN: the vast majority of Americans are hurt by Bush's tax cuts
Maybe, but the injury is very indirect and diffuse (and in many cases quite minor) so the case cannot be easily made. When some wild-eyed extremist starts talking about banning not just abortion but contraception people sit up and take notice.
An amazing number of the so-called pro-lifers are also opposed to contraception. It truly boggles the mind.
I strongly doubt very many of the people who advocate legal restrictions on abortion likewise favor legal restrictions on non-abortifacient birth control -- at least not for adults. So, one can personally be "opposed" to something but think it's perfectly fine and dandy for the government to permit it. I have no idea why this would "boggle" anybody's mind.
Mike J,
Yeesh - sorry -- I won't forget it's tack not tact. But I like the cut of your jib.
Cassie,
You are quite incorrect. My wife worked in the family planning arena for over ten years and I assure you that there is many a wingnut who is opposed to the use of birth control by others and believes that the state should have power to restrict it. Hence their opposition to the Griswold case. See Santorum, Rick. And by the way, the use of the term "abortifacient" birth control doesn't exactly make me feel like we're in the same camp. The birth control pill is not an abortifacient if that is what you're suggesting. And yes, opposition to family planning for anyone, including minors, boggles my mind. Why anyone thinks it is their business is beyond me.
"I strongly doubt very many of the people who advocate legal restrictions on abortion likewise favor legal restrictions on non-abortifacient birth control -- at least not for adults."
The law at issue in Griswold v. Connecticut made distribution of ALL FORMS of birth control (including "non-abortifacients" [sic -- birth control and "day after" pills actually prevent fertilization in the vast majority of cases, and thus should be referred to as "remotely possible but highly unlikely abortifacients"]) illegal. For MARRIED adults, as well as unmarried adults and minors.
The majority of forced-pregnancy advocates simply do not like women having (or at least enjoying) sex. That's the beginning, middle and end for them. They just don't like it.
Re: There is many a wingnut who is opposed to the use of birth control by others and believes that the state should have power to restrict it.
Yep, these folks certainly exist, but I doubt they are very common. I would be surprised if support for such a position were out of the singel digits. No major church (heck, no major religion) has a categorical ban on contracption except the Roman Catholic Church-- and even most Catholics disagree with Rome on that and routinely flout its teaching.
JonF,
You are right, of course, in the population writ large. Very few people oppose birth control. That is why I think it has real appeal as an issue.
But within the hard core world of the "lifers" there is actually a lot of opposition to contraception generally. I used to get a steady dose of e-mails from the Family Research Council, Christian Coalition, Concerned Women of America, and some of their even crazier comrades when my wife was working in this area and believe me many of them would love to ban contraceptives for single people at a minimum.
Key question to ask Republican candidates campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire (please?):
"Do you support couples having access to safe and effective birth control options, including emergency contraception?"
Re: But within the hard core world of the "lifers" there is actually a lot of opposition to contraception generally.
I don't doubt that such folk exist. I recall debates on some inter-religious forums where some hard core Catholics would argue strenuously for Rome's position, and a (very) few Protestants would claim that people (well, Christians) who used birth control lacked trust in God in the matter. But how big is the "hard core" pro-Life world? Not very I think. And if some serious candidate really advanced the notion of banning birth control I doubt he'd do well even in the reddest of red state GOP primaries. Republican women and indeed many good Christian women find the pill just too convenient these days. But there we agree, I think: forcing GOP candidates to say what they think on this issue would drag them into an issue where they really don't want to go. And any GOP Catholic candidates would have the same problem there that Catholic Democrat candidates have on abortion if tried to have it both ways (and Democrats would be able to play the hypocrisy card on them too)
JonF,
I don't think we disagree at all -- yes, these people exist, but are a tiny minority. The position they espouse is highly outside the mainstream. We should force the GOP candidates to disown them.
Send this letter to the Republican party today!
Copy and paste the letter below and email it directly to info@gop.com the Republican Party and get 2 friends to send this letter and have those 2 friends get 2 friends to send it and so on. Thank you. Drop me a message to info@dmocrats.org with the subject Done after you have sent the email.
Hello
Get your Republican party to end the war in Iraq, with Bush and Cheney resigning, and until you do we stop buying televisions, refrigerators, stoves, ovens, dishwashers, dvd players, stereo equipment, light bulbs from one of your party's major contributors and War contractors General Electric Corporation ( 203 373 2211 ) who cannot afford to lose a large sector of the publics business and money.
Get your Republican party to remove the FICA taxable income cap and tax all of a person's income for social security purposes and enact HR 676 Single payer universal health care into law and repeal Medicare Part D and place the prescription drug benefit in Medicare Part B covering 80 percent of all medication with no extra premiums, no extra deductibles, no means tests, no coverage gaps, and completely remove the means test to Medicare Part B and until you do, we will not buy consumer products and prescription drugs from one of the biggest pharmacy chains and GOP contributors in the country, Rite Aid and we will not buy health insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield and Aetna, the 2 biggest health insurance companies that give money to the GOP as well, who cannot afford to lose a large sector of the publics business and money.
Get your Republican party to enact a $10 an hour minimum wage, and until you do, we will not go to the following restaurants and GOP contributors Wendy's, Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and Dominos Pizza who cannot afford to lose a large sector of the publics business and money.
Get your Republican party to enact into law Universal vote by mail with paper ballots counted by civil servants with civil servants registering voters and keeping track of registrations, and until you do, we will not buy any GOP contributor Dell computers or monitors or go to the following restaurants and GOP contributors Wendy's, Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and Dominos Pizza who cannot afford to lose a large sector of the publics business and money.
Get your Republican party to get congress to pass and enact a law legalizing abortions from conception to six months, and to nine months when the life of the mother appears threatened, and until you do we stop doing business with two of your biggest contributors Dominos Pizza and Curves for Women Health Clubs.
Signed,
Comments closed September 07, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
pleas: to beg
please: to ask politely, to pleasure
Posted by pleas | August 24, 2007 2:35 PM