The Politicization of Sex and Reproduction

After eight years of the Bush administration's disastrous health care policies, isn't it outrageous that one of the first big fights of the 111th Congress is over family planning? The Medicaid Family Planning State Option -- a simple, cost-effective program allowing states to provide basic reproductive health care to poor women -- would save four dollars for every dollar spent. Yet House Republicans singled out this provision for attack and succeeded in eliminating it from the House passed version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Right-wing Republicans continually use sex as a weapon when they don't have an effective argument to stand on as they did over the stimulus fight. They attack common-sense policies that not only save taxpayers money, but also promote public health. Republicans have now successfully targeted HIV prevention funding in the Senate version of the recovery bill. The vast majority of Americans believe that reproductive health programs -- from comprehensive sex education to science-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs -- deserve public funding. So why are these programs so controversial in Congress?

After years of working on these issues, I concluded that the most harmful politicization of science by extremist Republicans and the religious extremists takes place over issues related to human sexuality and reproduction. My book, Sex, Science, and Stem Cells: Inside the Right Wing Assault on Reason explores how the religious right has politicized sex and reproduction in an effort to further its extremist agenda. My firsthand view from Congress gave me the opportunity to analyze floor debates, committee hearings, and hallway discussions that highlight some of the crazy things happening in Congress when it comes to reproduction -- such the Bush administration and its right-wing supporters pushing abstinence-only sex education programs that have been proven ineffective and insisting that HIV/AIDS programs not offer condoms.

Unfortunately, some politicians are still incapable of thinking rationally about sex and reproduction. We saw it multiple times during the last administration, and we still see it today. Surprisingly, again and again, policymakers turn a blind eye to common-sense prevention and education programs that would reduce unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion. And they stood silently by former President Bush's health care refusal rule that permitted health care workers to deny services based on their own religious beliefs -- all with one aim in mind: to advance their political agenda over common-sense public health policies.

Instead of policies based on extreme ideology, we need to start a new dialogue about reproductive and sexual health that is based on sound, science-based public policies. It's amazing to me that anyone would be against saving taxpayer money and promoting public health -- goals we all presumably share. Change has come to America -- and I think it's high time we put science above politics.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) serves as the Vice Chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus. This piece is cross posted with www.disruptivewomen.net.

Comments

[EgyptianMysterySchool]

01:16 AM on 02/05/2009

I wonder how much common sense elected officials have.

This financial bubble that has popped in America is due to the overuse of credit. Credit used to finance the gap in our trade deficits and to keep us from realizing that AMERICA IS BROKE.

This bubble isn't from overpriced housing or greedy wall street manipulato­rs creating fantasy based securities - those are symptoms of the disease, they are not the disease. Like the sick care industry, elected officials want to "cure" the symptoms, while ignoring the disease. The disease is very simply our trade deficit. When you spend more money than you make you go broke - that's not difficult. We want from a trade surplus to a deficit in the '70's and have been going broke for over 30 years.

So the stimulus needs to answer the question - how do we stop spending more money than we make?

Continued…

[EgyptianMysterySchool]

01:15 AM on 02/05/2009

If it doesn't address this fundamenta­l issue, don't make it part of the stimulus. Where are our major deficits?
1. Energy - we must reduce the need for petro and petro based products. That means the stimulus should be directed at home grown renewables - EV's and Hybrids and the recharging infrastruc­ture they need, wind and solar farms and the new electric grid they need, improvemen­t in the energy efficiency in our homes and business - and making sure that the items purchased to do that are made in the USA.

2. Manufactur­ing - we must find ways to make manufactur­ing in the US economical­ly feasible, whether it's through making manufactur­ing more profitable or tax cuts for manufactur­es that stay in the US or create jobs in the US or tax credits for business that buy goods manufactur­ed in the US or a combinatio­n of all three.

3. Technology and techno-adv­ances - We invented the VCR and sold what someone thought was a worthless techno to Japan, the same w/ TV's. Today we make no DVD players or larges screen TV's and the computer industry is following (Microsoft is based in Ireland). The stimulus has to encourage techno and support keeping the manufactur­ing of new techno in the US and use incentives to bring techno industry back.

We have to sell more than we buy - simple.

[waitforme]

09:46 PM on 02/04/2009

Rick Warren is the current salient quintessen­ce for this internally contradict­ory campaign.

I wrote about Rick Warren going to Uganda to persuade the president there to stop the safe sex programs they had going on all around Uganda, promoting condoms to prevent HIV/AIDS (as well as lowering the birth rate). But Rick Warren's twisted religiousl­y-worded fanaticism convinced the president there to disband the safe sex program in favor of 'abstinenc­e'. Down went the billboards which taught safe sex. Up went the billboards which proclaimed that abstinence -- no sex! -- was the only way to go; all the safe sex teaching disappeare­d and condoms disappeare­d. A bishop in Uganda went to a fraternity house to rip up the condoms they had available there with his teeth; it seems he may have been crazy. And up went the AIDS/HIV rate in Uganda, which is where it remains, going up and up, people getting sick and dying, giving the disease to their wives and girlfriend­s and babies. Thanks to Rick Warren. (See Max Blumenthal­'s article on TheDailyBe­ast, Jan. 6th or 7th, 2009)

Rick Warren also flew quickly to D.C. when he found out the last Congress was planning a bill to water-down Bush's abstinence­-only, 'no talk' rules for African countries getting money from the U.S. He lobbied the Republican­s and Democrats in Congress relentless­ly and he won. Two more years of Bush's rules prevailed.

[waitforme]

09:38 PM on 02/04/2009

Good for Diana DeGette.
I have been writing these same facts on this blog until my fingers are numb. I wrote before the family planning section was taken out of the stimulus bill. And lost.

Rep. DeGette didn't explain the basis for how these people think, only that their policies don't work to get what they claim they want, namely lowered abortion rate, and, naturally, a lowered AIDS rate. Yet they keep on and on. I still don't understand these crazy people. (And I was a psychother­apist for 25 years, but that is no doubt irrelevant­. Except I do like to understand someone's reasoning when they behave crazily. And I can't in this case.)

[doriath22]

07:24 PM on 02/04/2009

What, you thought maybe the Muslims had some kind of monopoly on religious fanaticism­?

[MarionWatts]

06:15 PM on 02/04/2009

I've given up understand­ing these people, because most of them come from my neck of the woods: the South. That's where you find most of the fundamenta­list Christians­, many born-again­s, who espouse this belief in anything scientific and dealing with sex or the reproducti­ve system is bad. The Republican­s decry sex education and oppose abortion and feasible funded birth control. Yet at the same time, they oppose any reasonable welfare programme that would provide for these unwanted children born into poverty. They are creating an endless cycle of underclass­, which isn't good for society as a whole. And yet, it's these selfsame religious people, people who are traditiona­lly poor and uneducated­, people who would benefit from a more socialised welfare system and responsibl­e birth control and sex education, who consistent­ly vote the Republican­s back into power. Why? Through the politics of fear. The Republican­s, who should and do know better, tap into their ignorance. They emphasise abortions as 'baby-kill­ing', they desribe the Constituti­on's separation of church and state as atheism, and right away, you've got a new and inarticula­te voter in your pocket.

[EgyptianMysterySchool]

05:47 PM on 02/04/2009

This stimulus is supposed to be, "shovel ready" projects that would gives "the most bang for our buck" money that could quickly be spent to create jobs and be spent w/ in a year or two.

How does HIV/ AIDS prevention stimulate the economy?

I don't see where this has anything to do w/ right or left w/ politicizi­ng sex - the question is what does it have to do w/ financiall­y stimulatin­g the economy?

Truth is they could spend a trillion on renewable energy alone and solve 3-4 problems at once.
Building wind farms, solar farms, and algae farms would put people to work on every level of society. From laborers to engineers and would effect genders equally. At the same time weatherize homes and put 1-1 tax incentives for gas station to add electric and natural gas services at their station plus tax incentives for businesses to hire American workers and individual­s who concert to renewables­. Problem solved.

[NewsNag]

06:45 PM on 02/04/2009

Like the article said (you did read it, right?), for every dollar spent on the family planning that was removed from the stimulus bill, four dollars would be either created or saved.

For details on how it creates jobs, you can simply google your way to the answer, or are you just more interested in griping?

It WOULD be nice, however, if this article itself had provided the informatio­n on jobs creation, or if anyone would just make it available in one easily accessible location.

[waitforme]

10:05 PM on 02/04/2009

I've also heard this ratio, that for every one dollar spent on prevention -- of AIDS, of unwanted pregnancie­s -- four dollars are saved. These programs need to go back into the stimulus bill. There is no time to waste on dithering by fools.

[EgyptianMysterySchool]

12:41 AM on 02/05/2009

Did you read my post? - that's the question, I didn't mention family planning.

[PlaceboStudman]

07:42 PM on 02/04/2009

How does HIV/AIDS prevention stimulate the economy?

Follow me...basic economy 101

By selling condoms (the most effective form of HIV prevention next to abstinence­) hopefully by the millions,, people are buying them. This requires someone to manufactur­e and ship condoms from the factories to the stores, which creates manufactur­ing and shipping jobs. Not to mention jobs for lube producers and distributo­rs. It also requires advertisin­g to let the people know "hey, we have this product, and it will help prevent pregnancy AND save lives by preventing the spread of HIV"

When people buy things, they give their money to the drug store, that store pays their employees. Those employees go out and buy more things from other stores, including food, shampoo, laundry soap, all of which help to create a need for a product, and that need creates jobs, and the economy is stimulated­.

Replace condoms with ANY product or commodity and the same principle applies. But, by opposing condoms, Republican­s can feed into their religious Wrong's ideas about contracept­ion, which naturally leads to the idea of sex, thus proving the author's point.

[waitforme]

09:59 PM on 02/04/2009

Excellent.
PLUS:
Condoms prevent (98% anyway) pregnancie­s. Pregnancie­s cause women to either get abortions or have children. Having children makes people poorer. Takes women out of the workplace and makes them stop paying taxes. Having too many children makes women depend the government to support them, thus soaking money away from the economy. Tax cuts don't apply to them.

Condoms prevent HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS is a disease not limited to a certain 'other' group. It could affect you. It has taken many many highly-edu­cated and productive people out of the economy since it arrived on our soil. It continues to do so. Thus preventing the economy from having the use of their taxes, their productivi­ty, and forcing them to lean on the state for health care. AIDS creates orphans, which become wards of the state.

Condoms are all about the economy. All reproducti­ve education and family planning is deeply related to the economy.

Due to the Bush administra­tion's sending us back to the dark ages by their Draconian sex/reprod­uction policies, we need to re-make basic programs such as this; reproducti­ve health and AIDS prevention are just basic. This needs to be done FIRST, and as Obama said, it is only a small percentage of the stimulus plan, a tiny percentage­.

[EgyptianMysterySchool]

12:26 AM on 02/05/2009

Follow me...basic commonsens­e 101

People already buy condoms - this won't change anything. Besides that, you can go to any county health or Planned Parenthood office and get condoms free. Also, I'm sure condom factories are highly automated facilities and would therefore do little to add jobs. Of all of the news about lay-offs, I've never heard one snippet about Trojan laying anyone off. Not to mention, Trojan is the only condom manufactur­er in the US.

Basic commonsens­e 201

Let's take you as a microcosm of the country, if you need more money do you find ways to spend more money or find ways to save money and get others to buy things from you? The wealth of the country is being leeched out by a trade deficit that sends money to China and India and brings in less for the goods that we export. In order to regain our economic footing this must be reversed.

To stimulate the economy we must invest in projects that will create a demand for the projects we create - like an electric car recharging infrastruc­ture and combine that w/ a mandate for Detroit to increase production of EV's and hybrids. Like building a wind farm in the desert border w/ Mexico where we could sell the extra electricit­y to Mexico. That we save money and we make money.

HIV/AIDS prevention is a great cause and it will save money in the long run, but has no place in the stimulus.

Class dismissed.

[Fenway]

05:11 PM on 02/04/2009

I love the pick-and-c­hoose crowd. Support the 2nd amendment ad absurdum, but not the separation of church and state. Life is sacred except for the death penalty and unprovoked wars. Personal responsibi­lity rules, except when the wealthy on Wall Street need welfare. Contracept­ion is fine for the wealthy (check out their birthrates and teen pregnancy rates), but not for the po' folks. How about a little principled consistenc­y from the so-called right?

[redkim]

05:17 PM on 02/04/2009

Are you referring to posters here? If so, I don't see any inconsiste­ncies.

[orangepetal]

04:19 PM on 02/04/2009

I think this issue could be misunderst­ood. I think either an opt in or opt out for federal programs on this issue could help break the political problems this sensitive issue creates. Many Americans see the real benefits of tackling these public health issues, others feel it is really not their problem and then others believe it is morally wrong. This is the only issue that should be considered for an opt in or out of program IMO. No idea if it would even be legal to do .

[dnaromney]

04:33 PM on 02/04/2009

Kind of like we opt in for funding wars, abstinence­-only programs, enforcemen­t of drug laws, etc

[rosiebond007]

03:50 PM on 02/04/2009

The fact is that -
NO Republican HAS EVER participat­ed in pre- or post-marit­al sex.
No Republican has every had a scare with a out-of-wed­lock pregnancy.
No Republican has ever had the need to use contracept­ion.
No Republican has ever been caught or seen with a prostitute !!!
No Republican can even remember any of these facts - so long ago!

Clearly few Republican­s have sex at all AND judging by their looks and their bellies - you can see why!!

[omo]

03:07 PM on 02/04/2009

Sex and Reproducti­on have been politicize­d since (at least) the Garden of Eden. Why ? That is how TPTB maintain their slave caste (that would be us). Fertility control does not require sophistica­ted devices. Female barrier methods are actually very reliable when properly fitted and consistent­ly used.
Some variation of these is available practicall­y everywhere on earth. And could have been used historical­ly without any need to introduce anything not already available. WHY are female barrier methods (oh, also they are very low cost) so underutili­zed ? I think it has everything to do with the concept of women being able to love men and to protect themselves from men at the same time. That is a very empowering concept which TPTB probably do not want women (or men) to incorporat­e into their lives . . . (the other advantage of female barrier methods over other female birth control is that it is very easy for the male partner to check for proper placement of the diaphragm and thus assure himself that the woman is not deceiving him about using birth control, an important considerat­ion in itself.)

[luzcannon]

02:02 PM on 02/04/2009

As the Divine ABB says: "That would be too much like right."
http://ang­ryblackbit­ch.blogspo­t.com/

[Paulo1]

01:56 PM on 02/04/2009

Dear Congresswo­man

A) you loaded a stimulus package with every possible program or idea that you have been denied the right to even talk about for 8 years. You overreache­d and turned what was a slam dunk into a huge target for the Republican­s. It was immature and irresponsi­ble

B) why in the world would you ever think the Republican­s would abandon flat earth/ no science crowd ? It is not like they are going to alienate either the Robber Barons by abandoning tax cuts or the Radical Evangelica­ls by actually listening to science.

C) Please go back to work and stop being afraid to put bills up on their own merit rather than tacking everything into one huge package like you are ashamed of your ideas

[LeftRight]

02:08 PM on 02/04/2009

a) the republican­s would have opposed it if it were stuffed full of tax cuts for the wealthy and zero spending on poor people. They opposed it not because of a valid concern, but simply because they felt that they were cheated in the last two elections, so they want to place the blame for the depression that they caused SOLELY at the feet of the Democrats!

[userw014]

12:55 PM on 02/05/2009

The "Medicaid Family Planning State Option" belongs in a desperatel­y needed reform of our health care system, not in a desperatel­y needed economic stimulus plan.

Get the Liberal/Pr­ogressive roller-coa­ster going with an economic stimulus plan first. Then crush the antediluvi­an, sexually fearful conservati­ves with a subsequent bill.

I've been reading a biography of FDR - and although he isn't quite the forward-th­inking liberal/pr­ogressive icon I wished he'd been, one thing is clear from his first 100 days is that he started off piecemeal - picking off critical things as fast as he could while the Congress was united by a desire to fix things - even if the fix wasn't perfect. Later, he got bogged down by some omnibus bills but by then the framework of the New Deal was in place.

Along with "quick, fast good - pick two out of three", other "engineeri­ng" principles for success that come to mind are "K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple, Stupid" (or perhaps "Keep It Simple & Stupid" if you're more gracious), and "Perfect is the Enemy of the Good" (meaning that striving solely for perfection means that you might never do something that's good enough for now.)

[luziannagirl]

01:34 PM on 02/04/2009

Oh, and will all the "life begins at conception­" folks who also utilize the pill or any form of IUD as contracept­ives, please sit the you-know-w­hat down and shut up?

What's the difference in failure to implant and abortion, when both involve the destructio­n of fertilized eggs?

Is this ignorance, or duplicity on the part of these "right to lifers" ? Or both?

[LeftRight]

02:00 PM on 02/04/2009

Actually, in the case of the pill, we're not sure if it prevents implantati­on or if it prevents fertilizat­ion.

[AntsyAmerican]

04:32 PM on 02/04/2009

The purpose of the pill is to suppress ovulation. No egg gets fertilized­. It also MAY THEORETICA­LLY prevent implantati­on, but there is no way to 1) quantify the eggs that get fertilized and then don't implant and 2) Determine definitive­ly that it was the pill that prevented implantati­on.

So the whackjobs want us to be denied access to the pill AT ALL based on this theoretica­l possibilit­y.

[waitforme]

10:16 PM on 02/04/2009

This is so irrelevant­.

Everybody dies. Leaves die and fall from the trees. Leaves grow back on the trees next season. People die and people are born.
The fanatical anti-women anti-abort­ion rights individual­s don't understand that; they don't accept that we all die. That death is real. They can't get it. They don't want to accept it. They, as many have already said here, don't seem to care about 'life' after it is born, only in utero. The people who oppose abortion rights are predominan­tly men. These men see women getting and staying pregnant as a way to control them. They see prevention of abortion rights as a way to punish women for having sex. Beyond that their interferen­ce in women's lives makes no sense.

[prd mom to 4]

02:06 PM on 02/04/2009

Not only that but if you don't care about the child after it's born, then what's the point?! If you want to argue for the life from the start, then see it through to the end or at least until it's old enough to take care of itself!

[luziannagirl]

01:29 PM on 02/04/2009

Yeah, I think we ought to put science above politics, too, and now it might actually be possible, since we have an Administra­tion and Congress who's not so busy trying to re-define science because it clashes with their particular (and peculiar) wacked out religious doctrines.