At the end of the day, what they really want is control. Far-right groups complain loudly about intrusive government, of course, but don’t believe it. Those same groups are often fine with “big government” — especially when they want to control the private lives of other people. As the contraceptive pill marks its 50-year anniversary, yesterday’s press release from the Pro-Life Action League offers another clear example of our point.
In the release the group doesn’t call just for opposition to abortion. No, it also wants to bar access to contraception. That’s right — this group of busybodies wants government to insert itself into the intimate decisions that couples make in private or in consultation with their doctors. See what Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League, says in the press release:
“Contraception has radically altered sexual behavior in our culture and ultimately leads to more abortion, not less. We want to empower pro-life activists to confidently articulate to the case against contraception, especially as we remember the day it was first approved for use in America. . . . When the FDA approved the pill for contraceptive use in 1960, a chain of events was set in motion that led straight to the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that struck down laws protecting unborn babies in all fifty states. History has proved that — far from reducing the need for abortion — contraception only increases abortion. We hope to educate more people about birth control and all forms of contraception and help them communicate this opposition more clearly.”
Right-wingers often gripe about what they call the “nanny state” and “cradle to grave” government. But what many of them offer instead is the “busybody state” — one in which the government interferes with the most private and intimate decisions individuals and couples make, including their choices when it come to reproductive health. And why? Because people like Scheidler don’t approve of some of those choices.
Dan is right on the mark. The pill and other contraceptives have liberated women from malignant patriarchaism and dumb machismo. Allow me to recommend Elaine Tyler May’s new book America and The Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation (Basic Books, 2010).
These people think they’re something new. The Romans, if they had a child of the “wrong” sex or had a slight birth defect, took their newborns to a certain place and allowed them to die of hunger and exposure.
And since this is an adult site the BP leak has finally been stopped! They placed a wedding ring on the pipe and INSTANTLY it stopped putting out.
Like the Arabs, right-wing fanatical Christians have been putting their people in places of power for years with the avowed intent of doing exactly what they’re trying to do now, control other’s behavior in and out of the bedroom. They prohibit masturbation because Onan “spilled his seed” on the ground rather than impregnate Ruth, King David’s grandmother. Based on that completely screwed up reading of a biblical passage they put guilt trips on people who (Oh, dear Gd!) play with themselves. It is the most natural thing in the world, so what does that mean about those folks?? They are UNNATURAL as can be.
We were watching a documentary about the grouper fish. If there are not enough males, females will change to be males and vice-versa. Hey, don’t blame me, it’s what they are able to do and they do it. Do they want to stop gropers from changing their genders too?
I, as y’all know by now, believe in Gd and a non-literal reading of the bible. I marvel at a Creator who gave those fish the ability to do what they do. That’s neat. But there are people out there that will call that a sin. Fish? Sin? Smells fishy to me.
There are only Catholics and Jews on the Supreme Court. Imagine a world in which the Protestants and Evangelicals returned to form five of nine.
“Do they want to stop gropers from changing their genders too?” I realize, Beverly, that this is most likely a simple typo, but it gave me a grin. Would that help with the priest child-abuse problem, maybe?
Wait. I misspoke. They ALREADY prohibit the “gropers” from changing genders. Therefore, the priests retain their gender of birth and their vocation of choice that demonizes sex, thus probably contributing to the groping problem. There.
IN RESPONSE TO THE ARTICLE IN PRO LIFE ACTOIN LEAGUE I MAILED THEM THE FOLLOWING. I WILL ADVISE YOU IF AND WHEN THE RESPOND
Children in Big Families Less Expensive -Eric and his wife April choose to homeschool. A VERY HEART RENDERING ARTICLE BUT DOESN’T TELL US HOW THEY MANAGE TO GET BY. DID THEY WIN THE LOTTERY?? ARE THEY MILLIONARIES??? OR ARE THEY ON THE DOLE FOR FEDERAL AND STATE ASSISTANCE. EARNED INCOME TAX CREDITS $$’S FROM THE FED: STATE AND OR FED ASSISTANCE RE: MEDICAL – STATE/FED FOOD STAMPS???
PLEASE ENLIGHTEN US.
Science Teacher, is that gonna be on the test?
Gordon Fowkes, imagine a majority of SC judges who had decided that while they worshiped in a particular church, or followed the tenets of a certain sect of Christianity, declaring their religious slants to the public was irrelevant and moot, since they had no plans on injecting any of their religious beliefs into their decision-making. Imagine no more Us vs Them; no more “Our sect is No. 1, and it’s the only way to parse reality!”
I think people who say they believe abortion is murder, but also want to ban contraception, are the worst kind of hypocrites. If you want to reduce the number of abortions, work to make contraceptives easily available to everyone.
Don’t let them fool you Gary. They are scared to death. If they can kill effective contraception, they might stand a chance of making more protestant white people so their skin color and and church can survive the nonwhite Catholic, Muslim, and foreign religion onslaught. When presented with a complex fractional relationship, it always helps to pause of a moment and reduce the fruitcake to its lowest common denominator.
The no-choicers have become so extreme that they want to ban contraception. This proves what control freaks they really are. Not just control freaks but gynephobic control freaks. They have such a negative opinion of women that they believe all women want birth control pills because they’re sluts or prostitutes; bcp’s would allow them to hop from bed-to-bed all day and all night long, a different man in every bed, and not have to worry about pregnancy. I ask you all: Is this how rational people think about women?
The no-choicers ought to get an education (and a life) and realize that maybe women (along with their husbands!) want to limit the size of their families. DUH! Maybe they want to provide their children a certain quality of life that would be impossible if they had dozens and dozens of children. (Again DUH!)
The no-choicers ought also to consider China. The one-child policy is draconian, for sure, but even the Chinese government has allowed exceptions to its own policy. And draconian or not, imagine what China’s population would be now had they not had a one-child policy?
The no-choicers also should know that a lot of women have endocrine problems which require the use of contraceptives so that they can live a normal life. Some women have endometriosis or polycystic ovarian disease. I’d like just ONE no-choicer to live with either of those conditions for a couple of months without the benefit of bcp’s and report to us how easy those two month were. Ha! They’d never make it. Especially the men!
The no-choicers are people who believe human beings are just colonies of yeast; that, like yeast, we are to populate ourselves until we consume all of our natural resources, and then wonder what to do next.
The term “pro-life” is one of the biggest bits of hypocrisy going today. Our last president BoyGeorge is a shining example of this. He was absolutely for the death penalty – how does that qualify him as pro-life? It doesn’t, not in any way, and most of the right wing anti-choice crowd share his death penalty beliefs as well. But they want to be viewed as being positive, as being for instead of against something, ergo “pro-life” instead of “anti-choice.” Instead of “we think it’s our business to tell some young lady living 2000 miles away that we’ve never met what’s best for her.” How very presumptuous.
And yet when push comes to shove……well take former Alaska governor Sarah Pain for example. She’s vehemently anti-choice. But when her daughter got pregnant? Palin told her she’d support whatever decision she made. Apparently her anti-choice stance applies to all 300+ million Americans except her family.
Its funny to me, how they want the goverment to stay out of their lives and their churchs. But they feel that its their right to tell and interfer in other pepoles lives.
Other than putting spycams in pepoles bedrooms( to make sure that no contercipives were used and to make sure the pepole are haveing the corret “biblecal sex”) how are they going to enforce this? People will always find a way to avoid getting with child.
Whats next ,I wonder? Are they going to insit that ,the young girl be taken out of school when she has her very first period,as the bible states she should be,or that no one should take orders from any woman that is placed in authority over men. Such as police/ congress/ militry/medical field?
Talk about turning back the clock!
The only way to ban the pill would be to show that it posed a health risk, which after 50 years would be a very difficult case to prove.
Let the religious right rant on – it will just make them look even more detached from reality.
“Contraception has radically altered sexual behavior in our culture and ultimately leads to more abortion, not less.”
I’d like to see Mr Scheidler’s documentation for this statement, too. The Far Right in general seems to prefer assertion to evidence……
@Coragyps: How RUDE of you to point that out. Assertion without evidence is good enough for church; therefore, it should be good enough for politics. Hey, if god wills it, our hands are tied. Can I get an Amen?
/sarcasm
Now you see why I left the Right. They’re far more intrusive than the Left ever imagined being.
@Coragyps: This is a much-loved tactic of the Far Religious Wrong. Anything goes as long as it supports their opinion. Supporting evidence and facts are irrelevant.
@Robert: I’ve noticed this too. They want the government OUT of their lives but they want the government IN women’s uteruses: The In-Utero Gestapo.
The ultimate goal of the conservative Republicans is to not only ban abortion but all forms of birth control, even for married couples. Three statements should be in the Democratic Platform (1) We believe Planned Parenthood has prevented millions of abortions by preventing millions of unwanted pregnancies. (2) We do not associate birth control, stem cell research, or the teaching of evolution with abortion. (3) We believe a person is no more or no less of a Christian if they are pro-life or pro-choice.