This may not apply to all people in the United States. Perhaps it's only among those people in power, whether it be the church or public office. These would be Catholic bishops, priests, or conservative policy makers. There has been a large outcry against Obama's healthcare mandate which has shot the actual use of contraception into the national spotlight. Rick Santorum also deserves credit for his emphasis on these social issues.
For the year, there has been movement by many pro-lifers to reverse the Supreme Court ruling Roe vs. Wade and striving to prevent Planned Parenthood from supplying abortion services. Virginia and Kansas are both battling over abortion, and recently the Susan G Komen Foundation debacle has caused reproductive issues to take the forefront.
Rick Santorum can be seen as the champion for the typical Christian ideology (though I understand many Christians do see him as radical). Santorum's entire campaign has been centered on his faith and living under God's law.
Santorum does not support abortion. He would allow states to ban birth control. He was also once heard saying Obama supports sexual education because he wants America to be poor. Santorum is representative of those religious zealots in power whom are all anti-choice, anti-contraception, and anti-sexual education. This doesn't make sense at all.
Anti-abortion and anti-prevention creates an unequal picture. You would believe that people who despise abortions would raise up prevention, but that's not quite the case. These people fight and argue to create the end that any unwanted pregnancies result in a child.
I sat through a sexual education program where a guest speaker spoke to us about abstinence. She used a piece of duct tape to represent a women's vagina. "Imagine the stickier the tape is, the better it feels." She gave a demonstration of continually putting the tape on various objects around the room. "The more you allow a man into your body; soon, it won't feel like anything." The tape couldn't stick anymore after a bout on the carpet. Afterwards, we were shown a video of various sexual diseases. I remember seeing a green penis.
Not once during the entire session was the subject of birth control pills chanced upon. Not once did I even hear the word condom. I was stuck listening to an analogy comparing a women's sexuality to a piece of tape.
What happens if abortion is no longer legal? What happens if planned parenthoods across the nation are shut down? What happens when students are continually subjected to abstinence-only education and people unable to receive contraception?
This isn't legislation for the life of the fetus. This isn't propaganda for the sake of the women's life. It's a pathetic attack by narrow field of religious zealots to impose their beliefs upon all women in the United States. Now people wish to use pregnancy and labor as punishment for sex. Policymakers use the politically-correct term "Suffer the consequences."
Those who do not support abortion and adamantly despise it should be at the front lines, battling for the use of birth control. The best way to stop abortions is to ensure no unwanted fetus is created. Those who do not support abortion should be crying out for true sexual education, not the useless dribble called abstinence-only. There would be no need to save the life of unborn babies if people are able to prevent a pregnancy.
I would question those who do not agree with my ideas. A paradox has been created with those who fight to stop both abortions and prevention. If you bring down abortion, prevention must be lifted up. If you bring down prevention, abortion must be lifted up... Or there's the off-chance these religious zealots can actually convince the people of the United States to not have sex...
Arianna Huffington: Sunday Roundup
But this is all a distraction. The REAL issue is religious freedom. The HHS is requiring the Church to violate its conscience.
Widely available contraception does not decrease abortions. It increases them. And not just in the USA. Everywhere.
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By the way I am a male, and I believe the female is the one to make the final choice for herself.
Even if a lot of Catholics disagree with the Catholic Church's stance on birth control, the Catholic Church has a right to self-determination. It is their money that funds Catholic hospitals, and universities, and their beliefs.
Don't agree? Go work one of the MANY places that has no problem providing birth control.
If abortion was illegal, then maybe people would use this moral guide and concscience. Wow! Pretty simple, isn't it.
I lived it, experienced it, so I can talk about it. I wanted a child, but had no choice. I helped create the child, but had no choice in the matter. Yeah, you want a choice, choose life, it is all you have.
We had sex ed in health class, both the mechanics of it (eww) a film of a baby being born (EWWW) and how to prevent that from happening.
So I got the sex ed. In college, I went to Planned Parenthood for contraception. I don't have kids, I was never financially impacted by children and that's how I chose to live.
I can understand how people your age would be mystified by these illogical arguments.
If you ban birth control, it will lead to abortion. If abortion is illegal, women who would be in the workforce will be burdened with caring for unplanned babies instead of pursuing a fulfilling career before choosing to have a family.
Yep, makes no sense to me. I'm glad I'm old. The world is teetering on implosion and nobody seems to be addressing the issues of ecology, economics, overpopulation. BUT THEY SURE ARE OBSESSED WITH OUR REPRODUCTION!
I hope your generation marginalizes the power of religion in secular society even moreso than we're doing today. There's still a lot to do before potential leaders who invoke superstitious deities are laughed right off the podium, amirite?
They taught us about our reproductive systems and also took us through the mechanics of pregnancy and different types of contraceptives: including natural methods such as withdrawal and the calendar method. It just wasn't a big deal. We had to get a note signed by a parent in order to attend the sex ed class, but that was just a formality.
In the US, its like the Earth will crumble into the sea if kids are given the information they need to think about sex in an informed manner. Its bizarre.
And you're correct: the utter obsession with sex demonstrated by politicians today is truly inexplicable.
The point here, is those people then, and their counterparts now are of a CLASS of Americans. They always have been here, and probably always will. Ignorance, unlimited self-righteousness, sanctimony, care for no one but themselves, and, sad to say, willingness to lie. Sorry to be ranting. I just want to say, the issue you discuss is allied with wanting or not wanting war, suppression of any kind of minority including women, ennobling ignorance, submission to authority, limitation of freedom, and denial of the pursuit of happiness. To me, Iran is no enemy. It is the authoritarians HERE where they can hurt me.
"The costs for each students to be here in school today is $352*, that is the cost per student per day, ( *Calculated )
Those paying the taxes hope you will learn as best you can so you will become an intelligent well rounded adult in the future who will be capable of being a useful, valuable member of society and help pay the taxes needed to educate the next generation.
If you don't take full advantage of this opportunity and goof off or get sexually active and mess up the process you may end up like a lot of others who thought they were to good or too well protected by their parents wealth to have to try the accepted, tried and tested methods to succeed in life and become a valuable useful member of society.
Prison, a life on welfare, an incurable disease or a sad, pathetic early death will not be as enjoyable as having the kind of good life that is within your grasp if you struggle.
We adults went through the youth you are going through now and have seen very intelligent, capable friends die because someone did not follow a good plan toward becoming a good decent, moral, responsible productive adult.
Please don't let your self down. Get your money's worth every day, work toward becoming a person you will be proud of, a person who will be respected by all who wave a good sense of right and wrong.