Summer MinorHow the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America
July 30th 2008 12:09
Do I even need to say how much you should buy this book and read it? Already a couple years old I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do. Why I didn't read a copy as soon as it was out is fuzzy to me. But now that I've gotten my hands on it I'm absorbing every page. Last night I took it with me grocery shopping and poured through the pages while my partner put whatever he wanted in the cart. I was too busy to worry abut food.
Christina Page doesn't hold back, she shows the "pro-life" movement for what it really is. Anti-choice, anti-sex, anti-women, and as the news has shown us recently anti-contraceptives. If anything the "pro-life" policies are more pro-abortion that they would have you believe. (By the way, previous link goes to an article written by Page herself) Here's a little teaser from the book, to make you run out and buy a copy.
But in the face of evidence that allowing women unfettered access to birth control leads to fewer abortions, the pro-life movement has intensified its campaigns and rhetoric against birth control. And the real, underlying reason is that to allow birth control would mean tolerating a lifestyle that allows people to enjoy sex outside of marriage and parenthood. Contraception, which for many is the era's most liberating technology, is to pro-lifers an evil just like abortion. In fact, in the literature of the contemporary pro-life movement, often no distinction is made. Reducing abortions has, in a sense, become problematic for them. The problem is that it means favoring the use of contraception, and, in effect, endorsing a way of life, and a view of sex, that they oppose perhaps even more strongly than they oppose abortion. So whereas banning abortion gets the headlines, it's banning contraception that is increasingly creeping into the pro-life agenda.
Admit it, you want to read the rest of the book now. And if you have already read it I'd love to hear what you thought.
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Comment by Cheryl J
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Yes, it does seem to be contradictory to oppose birth control that would prevent abortion and oppose abortion as well. I know their ideology is that people should keep it in their pants but people have always had sex outside of marriage and people will continue to have sex outside of marriage. Sex is natural and healthy and human and people should be responsible about it by using contraception. I'm not in the least bit religious and don't think sex is a sin so I don't have a problem with anyone having sex as long as they are responsible about it which means protecting against disease and unwanted pregnancy and if they are consenting adults.
Sounds like an interesting read.
Comment by Anonymous
Do you really want to grow old in a society that takes life so frivilously that it doesn't seen any moral dilemnas in taking lives by pills, injections, etc. just to control the population rates.
It's like the extremist Greens who want to kill off humanity in their quest to save the world. Nonsense. I don't even believe in the death penalty as a deterrance for crying out loud.
Life is far too pecious than what you've relegated it to.
Comment by Summer Minor
Kitten Politics
Personally I don't see anything wrong with birth rates dropping. Less people means less pollution, less consumerism, less overcrowding, and less strain on natural resources.
Comment by MomsInTheRight
I am personally not opposed to birth control. I am; however, opposed to distributing it freely and advocating its use to children without parental consent.
I am "one of those people" who believes that sex outside of marriage is a sin. But I am not the one who says it. God says it in the Bible. I believe Jesus is my savior. I cannot hope to accomplish anything without him. But I don't get to pick and choose which of Jesus' teachings or which parts of The Bible I want to believe are true. It's kind of a package deal.
It doesn't really matter if people have always done it, will always do it. It is still a sin as defined by The Bible.
But that doesn't mean it cannot be forgiven.
I have a personal relationship with my savior. I love Him, who He was who He is, who He will be. And I know that he loves Me, a miserable sinner.
Because of my love for Him I want to please Him in my actions while I am here on earth. He has brought me much JOY in the midst of some pretty awful circumstances. I would be remiss not to share this with others. It would be like keeping something fantastic a great big secret.
I am blessed to be able to share my love with others, but it does not mean I can condone their actions.
Comment by Summer Minor
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Comment by MomsInTheRight
My relationship affects everything I do. Among many thngs I am charged by God to be a good steward of what he has entrusted to me. That is what I am trying to do.
Neither I nor God wants to control you or anyone else. God simply offers us a choice. Like with all choices in this life, there will be consequences. I personally believe that those consequences mean eternal life, either with God or without Him.
Comment by Summer Minor
Kitten Politics
However, yes you are trying to use YOUR god to control people. You and others who use their religion to tell everyone what to do or not to do. It would be if my religion forbid long hair and I gathered fellow members to create laws and acts forcing everyone to cut their hair. What if I opened the only barber shop in town and began shaving the head of every woman who came in and could so freely because thats my religion? You wouldn't be upset at being forced to follow the rules of my religion? That's how the women seeking MEDICAL help feel when instead they are given religious lectures and held to adhere to someone else's dogma. That's not sharing joy, that's arrogantly assuming you are better than the person seeking the medical service and making choices for them.
Comment by MomsInTheRight
Also, please don't presume to speak for ALL women who seek medical treatment for reproductive issues. I do not presume to speak for all women either; however, I have worked with countless women and have seen first hand the havoc that abortion causes in women's lives.
I find it interesting that women on the left are allowed to voice their opinions as loudly and using whatever language they want and are not derided for it. But when someone who is conservative or Christian tries to voice their opinion they are said to be trying to control others.
You said above that you feel that life is precious and should be honored. I agree with you. All life is precious, including the lives of unborn babies.
Comment by Summer Minor
Kitten Politics
Your persecution complex is showing.
I never said you called me names, and I did not call you names either. What that even has to do with anything I'm not sure. And the only basket I lumped you into was the one you said you were a part of. Read your first comment, you were the one who said you are against abortion and called it murder.
When did I say I spoke for all women? When did I even say I spoke for those seeking medical treatment? I was speaking against those who work to prevent women from receiving medical treatment, that is not the same as speaking for those who seek it. I have known several women who received abortions and were much better off for it. I've also known women who felt shamed into keeping the pregnancy and suffered depression, abuse, forced into marriages with bad men, and abused or lost their children due to being unable to care for them. How about you not presume to speak for all women who have or have not had abortions.
As for the supposed link between abortions and depression, science and reality show that it just isn't true.
Why is it if I respond to your comments it means I don't want your comments? What language did I use, I don't see a single curse word in my comments. Nor insults, unless you think being told your religion is actually your's and not everyone on the planet's is some how insulting. When did I say that voicing your opinion was trying to control others. I think it was pretty clear that I was referring to those who refuse to do their jobs and provide medical treatment to women based on their personal religious beliefs. A pharmacist choosing to play tiddlywinks rather than do his job is very different than you leaving a comment.
*sigh*
I'd love to have a rational discussion someday, rather than "It's wrong cause my god said so and if you don't agree them OMG you're being mean to me!"
Comment by Johnny Come Lately
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