Preventing Unintended Pregnancy

I have written in the past about the Right not being serious about ending abortion. They just outlaw it and outlaw birth control while they are at it.

In the agenda secion of Whitehouse.gov, the Obama administration stresses the need to prevent unintended pregnancies...

Reproductive Choice

• Supports a Woman's Right to Choose: President Obama understands that abortion is a divisive issue, and respects those who disagree with him. However, he has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority in his Adminstration. He opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in that case.
• Preventing Unintended Pregnancy: President Obama was an original co-sponsor of legislation to expand access to contraception, health information, and preventive services to help reduce unintended pregnancies. Introduced in January 2007, the Prevention First Act will increase funding for family planning and comprehensive sex education that teaches both abstinence and safe sex methods. The Act will also end insurance discrimination against contraception, improve awareness about emergency contraception, and provide compassionate assistance to rape victims.

My question for the Right is, will outlawing all abortions end all abortions? If the answer is no then we must do everything we can to prevent unintended pregnancies.

Ending All Abortions

From Andrew Sullivan...

The campaign to defund Planned Parenthood is really about abortions. [The Family Research Council] would like to see fewer of them. So would I. And that's the crux of the idiocy: The single best thing you can spend money on to reduce the number of abortions, not just in this country but around the world, is Planned Parenthood.

I'll say that again: If you define pro-life as preventing abortions, Planned Parenthood is the most effective pro-life organization in the history of the world. No, it doesn't give teenagers the idea of having sex. That idea comes to them quite naturally, thank you very much. What Planned Parenthood does, more comprehensively than anyone else, is to distribute the means and knowledge to control your risk of getting pregnant when you don't want to be pregnant. And those two things, combined with pressure to exercise that control assiduously, are the surest way to prevent abortions. If you wait till women are already unhappily pregnant, you're too late.

If the Right were really serious about ending all abortions then real progress could be made. However, they think that outlawing all abortions would end them, which is not true at all.

"I Should Have a Choice About This"

This commercial ran right after the debate on MSNBC...

Video from Kerry event in Marshalltown

I hurried out of school today at lunch to go see John Kerry at the Iowa Veterans Home. Kerry was in Iowa today campaigning for Barack Obama. He made stops in Waterloo, Marshalltown, Ames, Waukee, and Des Moines.

The event was scheduled to start at 11;30, but I couldn't leave school until 11:40. Knowing there was a good chance that the event would start a few minutes behind schedule, I thought I'd get to see a good portion of it. However, the event must have started on time because I only caught the last few questions.

Kerry was asked by a veteran about the possibility of another economic stimulus check. The person said many residents of the Iowa Veterans Home were not eligible for a stimulus check and if they give out another one if something could be done. Kerry said that the government needs to focus on creating jobs and not on writing more checks.



Kerry was then asked by a man, who is supporting Obama and is Catholic, about the abortion issue.



As I was walking out, there were veterans registering to vote and filling out requests for absentee ballots. I didn't get a head count of how many people were there, but you could feel the excitement for the upcoming election in the room.

It's Important to have Alternatives, Options, and... What's that other word?

America is a Liberal Country

Now that the Republican convention is over it is worth noting that Americans hold liberal positions on a wide variety of issues.

A recent Gallup poll shows...

Americans are pro-choice (67 percent)

Americans support the Geneva Conventions with regards to torture (57 percent)

Americans don't want the government snooping in their bank and internet records (67 percent)

Americans support protecting the environment at the expense of economic growth (55 percent)

Americans believe that global warming is happening (86 percent)

Americans believe that it's the government's responsibility to provide health care (69 percent)

Americans support the decriminalization of marijuana (55 percent) and support the legalization of medical marijuana (78 percent)

Americans are opposed to attacking Iran (68 percent, according to a CNN Poll)

Americans support labor unions (60 percent)

Americans want government funding of embryonic stem cell research (56 percent)

Americans believe rich people and corporations aren't paying enough taxes (66 and 71 percent respectively)

Health and Human Services Now Say the use of Contraception is Abortion

Last week I posted about one of McCain's surrogates saying that it isn't fair that insurance companies cover Viagra, but not birth control.

Well, on Monday the Department of Health and Human Services announced that they hope to define contraception as a form of abortion.

In a spectacular act of complicity with the religious right, the Department of Health and Human Services Monday released a proposal that allows any federal grant recipient to obstruct a woman's access to contraception. In order to do this, the Department is attempting to redefine many forms of contraception, the birth control 40% of Americans use, as abortion. Doing so protects extremists under the Weldon and Church amendments. Those laws prohibit federal grant recipients from requiring employees to help provide or refer for abortion services.

Overturning Roe Won't Stop Abortion

Essential Estrogen has a post up about Sam Brownback using the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade as a fundraising pitch for his PAC.

Like many of you, I pray for the day that the highest court in the land overturns that decision, and this long dark night of abortion on demand comes to an end.

I don't understand how Rightwingers can think that simply overturning a law would stop all abortions. Until the Right actually gets serious about preventing abortions from happening in the first place, all the pro-life and anti-abortion talk from the Right is just a plea for money.

No one is for Abortion

Yesterday, I listened to Ted Sporer on the Steve Deace show. Sporer had a ridiculous comment that Democrats get enjoyment out of abortions. I responded with this comment on Sporer's blog...

Democrats aren't happy about people having abortions. That would be like saying Republicans are happy when a bomb is dropped on a school full of poor kids in a foreign country.

Sporer brought up this comment in a post today called Time for an abortion fight. See Democrats don't want to fight on the issue of abortion. Democrats don't enjoy when people get abortions. However, they believe people should have the choice over their medical decisions.

From Left in the West...

People, not governments or religionists or seculars or scientists, should be in control of this most private part of their bodies. The choice is and should be theirs.

Democrats want to elimanate the need for abortions and stop having it be used as a political football like the Republicans have been doing.

I posted this about month ago...

...no one supports abortion, no matter what kind abortion it is. However, instead of outlawing all abortions and forcing women in desperate situations to seek refuge in a back alley, we should be doing all we can possibly imagine to prevent the need for abortions. This includes providing scientifically based sexual education, make contraception more available, helping people out of poverty, and ensuring people receive prenatal care.

Let's debate how we can elimanate abortions instead of resort to blanket statements that only alienate and add fuel to the fire.

Answering Questions on Abortion

I am looking for a candidate to come out and take strong stands on the issue they believe in (even if those stands aren't exactly what I believe in). I don't want to have to guess what they stand for after I hear them talk.

There was one example during last night's debate. One of the questions was about the Supreme Court's recent decision about partial birth abortion. All of the candidates gave the basic liberal answer that danced around the issue. Some of their points might be true, it isn't what voters want to hear.

What they should have said about supporting a woman's right to choose is that no one supports abortion, no matter what kind abortion it is. However, instead of outlawing all abortions and forcing women in desperate situations to seek refuge in a back alley, we should be doing all we can possibly imagine to prevent the need for abortions. This includes providing scientifically based sexual education, make contraception more available, helping people out of poverty, and ensuring people receive prenatal care.