Birth Control Debate: New Hampshire Lawmaker Urges Married Couples To Practice Abstinence

A New Hampshire lawmaker with a history of surprising statements suggested on Thursday that married couples who want to use contraception should practice abstinence instead of using birth control pills.

State Rep. Lynne Blankenbeker (R-Concord) made the claim -- noting that abstinence is available "over the counter" along with condoms -- during a legislative committee hearing on a resolution urging the Obama administration to drop the birth control requirement for religious organizations. Blankenbeker was trying to explain her position on why the administration's requirement to provide insurance coverage for birth control should be overturned.

"People with or without insurance have two affordable choices, one being abstinence and the other being condoms, both of which you can get over the counter," she said.

The comments came at the same hearing where state Rep. Jeanine Notter (R-Merrimack) claimed that birth control pills lead to prostate cancer. In an interview with Merrimack Patch, Notter said that she was referring to studies discussing potentially high levels of estrogen in the environment through birth control pills and a connection to prostate cancer.

Blankenbeker was engaged in a dialogue with Sylvia Kennedy, a New Hampshire doctor, who was testifying in support of Obama's plan. Kennedy urged the coverage of birth control and responded to Blankenbeker that condoms are not a foolproof means of contraception, and also suggested that abstinence does not work all the time, a notion Blankenbeker disagreed with.

"Abstinence works 100 percent of the time," she said.

Blankenbeker also asserted that condoms and abstinence offer married couples a wider range of family planning options than oral contraceptives.

"If you decide you want to get pregnant you can refrain from abstinence," she said.

Blankenbeker declined a request to comment.

The resolution was introduced last week in the Tea Party-controlled New Hampshire House by Majority Leader D.J. Betencourt (R-Salem) with the goal of urging the Obama administration to reverse course on the contraception coverage mandate. Betencourt's resolution came the same day that Obama changed the original mandate for religious groups to provide birth control coverage to employees, shifting policy to make insurance companies provide the coverage for employees of religious groups.

Blankenbeker's comments have gained attention before, including a statement she made last year claiming that Osama bin Laden was not dead and a suggestion that she use her military training to shoot at unions.

Comments

[Seymoreclearly]

05:24 PM on 09/04/2012

I see a lot of clever come-backs to what this elected official said BUT....let's consider the ever more horrifying thought that there will be women who will pull the lever in favor of this sort of mindset. Take a moment. Let that sink in. Now run for the nearest loo.

[Seymoreclearly]

05:18 PM on 09/04/2012

We should adopt a "Gong Show" type of vetting process, so that even if you've managed to gain political office with such idiotic notions, when you say something truly reprehensible, you can be gonged right back out of the office you were elected to. GONG HIM.

[Jennifer Lorenz-Marley]

08:56 PM on 07/15/2012

Really? Wow, how sad is your sex life lady? I am married and DON'T want anymore children so birth control is GREAT.. I guess you could say if we don't have it then you will pay MUCH MORE for welfare... HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE?????????? also, it is used for much more hello it helps prevent cancers too!!!!!!!!!!!

[yucatanner]

12:29 AM on 04/04/2012

over 5000 comments and i can't find one defending her. are they sleeping? my favorite republican joke for republicans works here.... "hey! the squirrels are looking for ya..... they think you're nuts!

[kgkdh]

11:11 PM on 04/03/2012

How do these puritanical crazy people get elected to office? Frightening

[Erin Sands]

08:20 PM on 04/03/2012

A Woman Republican State Legislator from NH wants married couples to practice abstinence to protect men from prostate cancer? Are you sure that's a good idea? I think men should be monitored for safe use of condoms for non-monogamous sex because HPV's contribute to prostate cancer and cervical cancer ... in the wives. It seems it didn't occur to her to sponsor a bill regulating men's sexual practices to protect their wives cervix.

[Seymoreclearly]

05:21 PM on 09/04/2012

"....didn't occur to her....." should be an anti-repug bumper sticker. After watching/listening to the the farce that was the RNC, not much occurs to them. Just remember to wipe off the drool if one of them gets too close to you.

[PantsOnTruth]

05:06 PM on 03/15/2012

So....

1.) Women aren't allowed to have sex before marriage
2.) Women aren't allowed to have sex during marriage

Got it. We're living in the Dark Ages and women are evil if they possess sexuality.

These people are an embarrassment to the human race.

[Erin Sands]

08:21 PM on 04/03/2012

That's the way my life has been. Just sayin'... :)

[carmenalex]

01:00 AM on 02/25/2012

1)women don't have prostates.
2)cigarettes definitly cause cancer but I don't hear republicans trying to make it illegal
3) I thought u people were agAinst government intrusion and it don't get any more intrusive than this
4)lady must have cobwebs between her legs
5)who the heck does she think she is

[whiteconch]

08:45 PM on 03/05/2012

3) No government intrusion when it comes to Corporate Elitists! Government intrusion for sure in the bedroom!!! The lies and hypocrisys are idolotrous on behalf of the 'R's!!! R is for:repugnant

[rosemaree124]

10:52 PM on 03/07/2012

Hey, to get cobwebs between her legs, she would have had to have her legs apart for the spiders to have access. Sounds to me as though this t.p. rep never had arachnid-friendly parts.

Cobwebs for brains though.......

[Dr Confuso]

06:04 PM on 02/24/2012

And yet another method, which the Honorable Member should probably try, is to go out back and chop a cord of wood....that way, only the local squirrels would be privy to her inanity.

[Christopher Neal Peters]

05:45 PM on 02/24/2012

The government, the courts, and the overall rulers have absolutely NO PLACE in bed.

[dem68]

04:15 PM on 02/24/2012

Well the New Hampshire men will be so pleased with this method, hope many are in her district.

[Dee Amschler]

04:46 AM on 02/24/2012

Birth control pills cause PROSTATE cancer?!? Clearly someone skipped out of their classes when anatomy was discussed, because women - who are the ones that take birth control pills - DO NOT have prostates! And I'm pretty sure that something a WOMAN takes won't be giving HER PARTNER cancer.

Geez, do these people have on/off switches for their brains? If they do, someone better help them figure out how to work it so they can turn it ON before talking...

[candcje]

01:03 PM on 02/23/2012

Clearly this Lynne woman has never experienced the big O. She clearly doesn't enjoy intercourse - at least not with her own husband - or she would never be advocating abstinence within marriage. Doesn't the religious right tell us to wait until marriage, and once you've committed by marriage, you are free to engage all you want? Now she wants us to refrain from sex within marriage as well?

I wonder if she's so turned off to sex because she'd really rather be playing for the other team.. Hey, that's another sure-fire way to avoid pregnancy. So, we should only have heterosexual intercourse for purposes of procreation, but for purposes of pleasure and intimacy, we should ONLY engage in homosexual encounters. that's actually not so different than the social rules of ancient Greece....

[emlr]

12:12 PM on 02/23/2012

If sex is only for procreation then why did god give me a clitoris?

[candcje]

01:04 PM on 02/23/2012

Exactly! Since a woman's orgasm is clearly not required for successful procreation - though it does increase the chances physiologically (though that may be a conversation for another forum).

[whiteconch]

08:47 PM on 03/05/2012

Rock n roll!! They wanted to wage a war on Women. They got it, big time now!!!!!!!!

[Jessica Murray]

12:34 AM on 02/23/2012

Sounds like Blankenbeker needs to get laid

[whiteconch]

08:47 PM on 03/05/2012

It's obvious.