For the record

Hy there,
is there a contraception debate going on in the US? Forgive my ignorance, I am a humble European chick.
In my country (Austria) there are all forms of contraception available for everybody and always. There is no social stigma to it either and the state pays if the individual can not do so itself. Condoms, Nuva Rings, the coil, anti baby pill, vasectomy, etc. Further there is the morning after pill, which can be given 24 hours after unprotected intercourse - for everybody. It works.
Abortion is legal if it is done within 3 months, though it has to be paid by the patient herself unless it has to be done for medical reasons. Further the health system funds all costs for medical care for pregnant women plus the cost of the birth of their child. This goes for everybody legally in the country whether you were employed or insured or not! Further: maternity leave lasts 2 years (!) during which the social system pays an amount of Euro 600 monthly to every woman for each child regardless of her having paid tax or insurance fees before. Hence, I guess I live in the paradise you are dreaming of. And I am thankful for it. Maybe I should add that our health system is bancrupt. The paradise will be cut down soon. And I guess the same goes for your country. The paradise you are dreaming of has to be funded. But I think it can be done by cutting down on other expenses. Though not an expert on state budgets and the like, I am still in favor of the liberal state and society in social and in legalistic terms!

[Hi Sista.S. You're right that many forms of contraception are available, though not as many forms here as in your country, and not nearly as available. I happen to believe the funding could also be available (I agree there are other funding priorities that could be shifted productively) but our conflicted moral attitudes towards sex and chastity combined with our tendency to abandon posterity makes such funding politically difficult. However I think it's far less difficult than the proxy issue that we've been obsessing over instead. Thanks for visiting! Come back any time. --fl]

I'm in health care, have been for 24 years, and the hottest "trend" in my field is prevention. We've all heard the drill: don't smoke, or quit if you do, to prevent lung cancer. Lose weight and exercize to prevent any number of problems that cost the health care system billions yearly. folic acid for women from puberty on to prevent certain birth defects. And so on. In that vein, then, it makes sense to me that prevention -- birth control WITH education -- is the best way to reduce the demand for abortions. Many people don't realize - or turn their noses up at - the fact that local health departments GIVE AWAY birth control! Low income women and men can obtain birth control for free at their local health depts. But the health depts are not just for low income people, or people receiving assistance. ANYONE can go to their local HD and get any kind of medical care they need, but for the purpose of this post, birth control foremost, and payment is based on income.

I don't have hard copy statistics, but I've read the majority of abortions are NOT performed because the mother was raped, nor because the mother is a victim of incest. Most abortions are performed because someone didn't use birth control that could have prevented the pregnancy in the first place. I think ALL options have to be available: education first and foremost (how babies are made, and how to NOT make them), birth control options, including abstinence, as well as the option of abortion if an unwanted pregnancy does happen. Sex WILL happen!! Thankfully!! And it isn't a crime, unless you're messing with a minor. Why, therefore, should common sense and logic be criminalized? If you're going to have sex, but don't want or aren't ready yet to have children, PREVENT the "oops" factor! But I guess if more of these politicians and lobbyists could get past their own biases and personal agendas and see the common good for society (which is what they're supposed to be elected to do, right?) then they wouldn't have a leg to stand on when it comes to imposing their own "morals" on the rest of the citizenry of the country.

HI Rhia. First of all it's important to remember that it's not just politician and lobbyists -- they may be exploitative but what they're exploiting are widely and deeply held views. Next, you're absolutely right that local health departments are chartered to serve all citizens and not just the disadvantaged; I might add that based on past experience even in very backwards areas they do an excellent, professional job. Third, you're absolutely right that most unplanned, unwanted pregnancies (at least 90%) are due to a failure to employ available contraception and not a failure of contraception itself. Finally you're right that education and counceling is a critical component, with denial or avoidance of feelings about the sex being had being a major reason people fail to employ contraception. Thank you, Rhia. --fl]

Sorry to be so wordy, but this just occurred to me after I hit the post button: Why are people so willing to allow politicians (or anyone else, for that matter) to regulate what should be a PERSONAL responsibility? I am barren, therefore it's a moot point for me, but for other women (and men) who are NOT infertile, the decision to bring a child into this world is too intensely private and intimate to permit what I consider outside interference. If more people took thoughtful responsibility for their actions, the STD rate as well as the unwanted pregnancy rate would decrease dramatically.
Okay, end of rant. Sorry to take up so much of your space!

[First of all, Rhia, I think you should get your own blog because you've got a lot of intelligent things to say. Next I want to say that if you get a blog I hope you'd still come and comment often because I value your insights and advice. Please don't apologize for making long comments. Finally, you're right that people should be educated and encouraged to consider *all* options and to take *and be granted* personal responsibility for their reproductive decisions. Thanks! --fl]

Fig, you always make me think. I have read a lot of your abortion posts with interest. I think turning the question on its head, like you have done here, is so important. But it is so much harder to "solve" the real problems. It is so much easier to deal with the black/white stuff.

I have a really hard time with the abortion debate. On the one hand, with my liberal bent I see the shades of gray.

However, being a mom and knowing what a miracle that is, I have a hard a time with the idea of terminating a pregnancy.

I feel like I don't have it figured out. I think I need to figure out that some of this is not "figure-out-able."

Thanks for making me think. You make me have to "launder" some ideas and conversations. The "I heard this great argument on my favorite blog that has naked pics on it, oh did I mention I am a blogger talking sex (gasp)" doesn't work so well. So I do a lot of, "I read the other day somewhere" or "on some blog" :-)

[You make an excellent point, Sweetpea: while each side of the debate believes their answer *ought* to be the obvious choice for everyone it *is* not and no amount of wishing, hectoring, or legislating will make it so. Even at a superficial level consider that most pro-choice people don't get abortions and that many, many nominally anti-abortion people do! Then consider the conflicting soup that leaves everyone else bobbing in. I've only recently been thinking hard about "turning the question on its head," and I keep having those unproductive little post-traumatic outbursts, but I really feel like prevention is the direction we should be looking in and I don't think it's unreasonable to reach out to *both* sides of the abortion debate. Thanks so much, Sweetpea. --fl]

Come on, that's using common sense. There's no place in American society for common sense. We're too intwined with religion and religious thought to think things through. It's unfortuante but true.

I'm a victim of unwanted pregnancy. Yes, I AM A BASTARD SON! Didn't find out until I was 40, but none the less, I am a mistake. Thankfully, my birth mom decided to give me up (well, thankfully for me, I can think of quite a few people who probably wish I was aborted, but that's another story) and my adoptive parents DID want me. They picked me!

These days though, I think people want the quick solution. Me? I think it's a woman's choice what she wants to do with her body. Not mine, not the President's, not Congress', not the local priest's, only her's. I'd rather see more education and prevention than abortion. Unfortunately, I don't see it happening any time soon.

[Hi MrMD. I want to chide you a little on one point. I disagree that there's no common sense in America. I think we need to stop saying that about ourselves because too often it gives us an excuse to do whatever we want. :-) I do agree, however, that too many people want the quick solution: ban it, permit it, slurp it out, shackle her and make her have it, just say no, they'll figure it out... all quickie solutions that disregard a rather central, valuable, and enjoyable part of our lives. Finally, I too would like to see more education and prevention and I happen to believe it *will* happen soon. The same South Dakota legislature that gave women a big fuck you last week also had sense enough not to mandated abstinence-only sex education the week before. So I think we really can find ways to work with even the most draconian partisans in the other debate. Thanks. --fl]

Great post, fl. Thanks.

[Thanks, Camo. I like this one better myself. I want to stick to it. --fl]

...the possibility of preventing unwanted, unplanned pregnancies can unite all but the most trenchant activists on both sides of the abortion debate.

Nice try, no cigar. Sorry, Fig, but I don't see that happening.

In 1994 Dr. Joycelyn Elders was asked to resign as Surgeon General of the United States because she advocated sex education as a means to stop the spread of AIDS and teen pregnancies. The only reference she made to masturbation was in response to a question raised after her speech at a U.N. sponsored conference on AIDS. She agreed that a comprehensive curriculum of sexuality would have to include an explicit discussion of masturbation. Do you really think the conservative groups who called for her resignation have changed in those twelve years?

If these groups would not balk at the thought of an adolescent dying of AIDS simply because she never learned how a condom could have protected her health, do you think they will agree to educate her younger sister to help her avoid a pregnancy? They won't.

You're right --abortion is not the issue, and but it isn't unwanted pregnancies either. The issue is morality, and if you are doing the moral or right thing, you must not stray from that path because it causes suffering or it means more children will be born in poverty without prenatal care. Teaching an adolescent how to have sex before marriage and avoid getting pregnant is immoral, in the views of many Americans, not just the very conservative voters. However, the trenchant activists do have organized campaigns to persuade school boards to teach abstinence only sex education, rather than anything that is related to Alfred Kinsey. Go to the websites of Concerned Women for America or Focus on the Family to see their views on Alfred Kinsey and sex education.

Not only do these organizations have campaigns, they have money. The website of Focus on the Family is hiring to fill administrative, professional, technical and clerical positions. I didn't see any employment opportunities on the website of the Kinsey Institute.

If you think that an appeal to "family values" might work, consider the federal welfare reform act of 1996. Remember those girls who did not have sex education or access to abortions (if they were on Medicaid)? Well, if that young lady doesn't get a job after five years, her welfare benefits will end. If she loses her job because the city she lives in has an unreliable public transportation system to take her to the job that pays less than her benefits, she will have no choice but to ask her own mother to take in her grandchildren. The grandmother will receive the benefits for the children, and that young lady will go to the homeless shelter. Am I exaggerating? Read Flat Broke by Sharon Hays, who interviewed welfare recipients and caseworkers for three years to assemble research for her book.

Sex education and contraception will not be part of a school curriculum because it makes sense or is humane. It'll happen when there are a sufficient number of prochoice Senators and Congressional Representatives at the state and Federal levels to push the legislation through. If not, expect to see more grandparents raising their children's children.

I could write more but I have a headache and you probably have one too after reading this.

Kochanie

[Hi Kochanie. I agree it's unreasonable to expect either of the entrenched sides of the abortion debate to come together on anything. I happen to be feeling unreasonable however, though in a very positive way. I still maintain that nobody really wants unplanned, unwanted pregnancies with the possible exception of the moralists you describe who imagine that if only unplanned, unwanted pregnancies were utterly unavoidable then there'd be... well... fewer unplanned, unwanted pregnancies. There may be (vindictive) circularity to their argument but nevertheless their ultimate motivation is the same as mine. *AND* lest you think I'm being totally pie-in-the-sky, the vast, vast majority of non-activist Americans, even those distinctly uncomfortable with abortion, believe strongly in contraception. Whether we actually reach the hard-core anti's or not, reaching out in their direction will capture an awful lot of people in their orbit. So why not try? Thanks, Kochanie! --fl]

I think making both education valid and relevant AND options avaliable to people (so that they can exercise these options without feeling bad about themselves) is the key.

I read recently about pharmacists not wanting to give out the pill because it went against their religious beliefs and was absolutely aghast by it. How can we live in this day and age where women are unable to walk into a pharmacy and purchase contraception because someone else says no?

No wonder there are problems!

[Just to be clear, the pharmacists in question are mostly objecting to dispensing so-called *morning-after* pills. A far lower number object to dispensing contraception *period.* It's worth noting, though, that it's very important that we stand by the general principle that pharmacists should despense what the doctor orders. The issue isn't forcing pharmacists who genuinely oppose contraception, it's protecting those in conservative areas who would otherwise be subject to "but Sister Elizabeth, why aren't *you* invoking the "conscience clause?" style peer pressure. Thanks, M. --fl]

Let me point out that right off the bat that I had an abortion my senior year in high school. What they do not teach is the guilt, the tears, and the psychological inpact an abortion has on a person. They never teach you that for the rest of your life you will wonder what that child will look like, the personality it will have, who it will marry, and so on. They teach you that it is the easy way out. If I could do it all over again, I would not of had an abortion. I would have giving that child a chance on life. Maybe he/she would of been a great leader, or just a wonderful father/mother. We will never know.

Adoption is not easy either. Even if the birth mother did not want you, at least she loved you enought to carry you to term and give you to someone who could not have kids. Most birth mothers do not want to give their children up and spend the rest of their lives regreting or wondering about the child they gave up. I have worked with many birth mothers and adopted children who are reunited later in life. Not all birth mothers are terrible creatures who didn't want their children. Most of the time birth mothers are forced to give up their children by family pressures from parents to siblings. These family members who forced this mother to give up the child later in life regret the decision.

I now believe because of education that life begins in the womb. Look at it this way, a newborn cannot live if someone doe not care for it, feed it, cloth it, and love it. It is the same in the womb. I am a nurse and they do not teach you this in school. They teach you to accept everyone's choice.

I believe that the pill should be bought over the counter with all the warnings printed on the package. If birth control were easier to get without going through goverment hoops at a heath dept. or going to the doctor more women would be on the pill.

Everyone must make a stand in their believes and have that right. People that make a stand for abortions are loud and clear..There are other pharmacists in the world. Those pharmacists who do not believe in abortion or giving out the pill have the right in America to stand up for their beliefs. They are not telling you that you cannot purchase contraception. The are just telling you to go somewhere else. If you are a smoker are you going to smoke in a no smoking section just because someone told you no? Don't you shop where you want? Maybe you like Target over Walmart, or Dillards over J.C. Penny's.

Religion is a big part of all of this. It's a fact, accept it. America was based on religion. That is why it is hard to separate the two.

[Hi Shelby, I'm so glad you dropped by. I know several dozen women who've either had abortions or been persuaded to surrender their children for adoption and you're right, there's very little follow-up councelling. And you're right that those who surrender their children tend to feel at least as guilty, even 30 years later, as those who choose to terminate their pregnancies instead. That's a big part of why I believe so passionately in *preventing* unplanned, unwanted pregnancy in the first place. I agree that faith plays a large role in our lives but I would observe that most people of faith in America are perfectly comfortable with the idea of contraception. Rather than argue back and forth about the divisive -- and *after the fact* -- issue of abortion, I think focusing instead on *avoiding* the problem can bring almost everyone on both sides of that divide together. There'll always be small numbers of hold-outs on both sides. Of course! But there's no sense letting people on the fringes dictate to everybody else. Thanks again, Shelby. I appreciate your insights. --fl]

Figleaf:

I'll be very happy to be proven wrong. I don't think you're pie-in-the-sky, because without hope, how would you muster the courage to even try? Sorry for raining on your parade.

[No problem at all, Kochanie. I only just realized there's a way out of this particular 35-year-long brawl. While I don't think most people want to be in it I agree it'll take a little while to help them find the exit. But in good conscience I have to try. Thanks! --fl]

I don't live in the States, but I want the right for myself or any other woman to have an abortion for genetic abnormalities and these are generally planned pregnancies.

Contraception is better than any woman going through the trauma of abortion, but if that fails or if she for any reason that is not for us to judge does get pregnant then she must have the personal right to terminate that pregnancy safely. Women have always attempted to terminate pregnancies throughout history and the result has often been death of both mother and child.
Women still are judged more harshly than men.
And I'm sorry, but some States in the US still have the death penalty.

The human race is getting to be grown up now, we need to get some joined up thinking on this whole issue.

[Thanks, Astra. Estimates from a decade ago suggest that 90% of abortions are the result of consenting adults neglecting to use birth control with all other reasons combined accounting for the final 10%. One of the promenent American anti-abortionists has said he opposes contraception because everybody used it the number of necessary abortions would plummet and he's concerned that most people would lose interest in making it illegal. I completely agree with him except I don't think that's a bad outcome at all, at all. --fl]