Forum Discussion: Making Contraceptives More Difficult to Obtain
Wednesday August 29, 2007
Although most Americans don't seem to realize it, there is a growing movement in the Christian Right to make contraceptives more difficult to obtain and use. Although they are a long way from being able to eliminate legal protections for access to contraceptives, they can achieve more immediate successes by simply making legal contraceptives less available and/or more expensive. That this might increase the demand for abortion is irrelevant to them.
I just heard on the news this morning that the price of oral contraceptives has more than doubled on many/most college campuses this year. According to the report that I saw, in many cases they've gone up from ~$20 to over $50... per month. I don't know too many college students that can afford another $30/month. (And according to the linked article, it's even worse than the report I saw this morning.)
Wonder exactly how much that's going to increase the number of unwanted pregnancies. Some of the colleges are trying to get the problem solved (it's something to do with the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act and some related ability of the pharma companies to offer discounts...) but it's going to take a while and in the meantime, I'm not counting on 20 year olds to abstain.
I doubt that the Christian Right necessarily expects all those students to abstain, either — but if they don't, they will be expected to live with the consequence of being sexually active. For Christian moralists, this includes pregnancy. Add your thoughts to the comments here or join the ongoing discussion in the forum.
Comments
The Religious Right will not be happy until no person is having sex unless they’re a monogamous married man/woman. Since their god said it’s wrong, but there really are very few real ills as a result these days, they need to create some ills so they can point a finger and say, “SEE?! This is why GOD says we shouldn’t do this–because it causes such harm.”
Well, yeah, having sex without contraception can present some problems–in the same way jumping out of a plane without a parachute can cause problems. What groups like American Family Association are doing is saying: “Jumping out of planes is deadly! And god forbids it because he loves us and doesn’t want us to die!” Then they’re trying to ban parahcutes so that reality will substantiate their point.
Instead of admitting that parachutes greatly reduce the deaths from jumping out of planes–and admitting that the huge majority of sky divers DON’T die in reality…they are working to make reality a more dangerous place for people–working to CAUSE real harm–so that they can feel justified in saying that god knows what’s best and that his condemnation of sky diving (and by proxy, parachutes) is only due to the fact that he wants to help us avoid a horrible sky diving death.
How could I _not_ question the soundness of mind of anyone who would actually do this?
Let’s assume that the Religious Right knows that abstinence doesn’t prevent unwanted pregnancies and hence, making contraceptives and abortion more difficult to obtain, will increase the number of pregnancies and births. This is their goal, an increase in the birthrate. But this increase will only occur for those women who use contraception. I’d like to know the demographics of women who use contraception. I bet that those women are disproportionately white and affluent.
Actually, it’s that “Just say no” programs don’t work. I have been celibate my entire life and can say that celibacy (if applied) does prevent pregnancies. But expecting people in general to be celibate is unrealistic. That is why I support contraceptives.
Adrian:
Yeah. That’s what I meant. That’s not what I wrote.
Guttmacher is a powerhouse of reproduction stats. I can’t access it at this computer (oddly)–but I found a link to something to do with contraception (provided below). If this doesn’t have the stats for race & contraceptive use–I’d wager you can find it somewhere else at the Guttmacher site:
www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_contr_use.html
Every American child is equal to the natural resources of an entire village in the third world. Conservatives want more unwanted children because misery keeps them in control and makes them rich.
nal:
You hit the nail on the head. By targeting college students they achieve two goals - increasing the educated, middle/upper income white population and subjugatig women from this background. Men aren’t likely to drop out from knocking a girl up, but those women who decide to go through with the pregnancy are less likely to further their education and/or seek an advanced degree.
It also decreases their competitive edge. Employers see white men with families as an asset (he’s not a party animal; has a stable, supportive environment); everyone else, including their female counterparts, a burden. Women w/children are less likely put on corporate fast tracks, after all they have to get home and feed those kids, take them to soccer practice and the doc’s office, you know?
To the Christian Right, that’s the way it’s supposed to be - women only should have enough education to understand and support their husband’s and family, not for their own self-fulfillment.