Skip to main content

Psst... Pro-Lifers - the abortion rate is lower under Obama than at any time since '73

Hard-core conservative evangelicals seem to obsess over two things - gay marriage and especially abortion. Leading up to the 2008 and 2012 elections, many referred to candidate and President Obama as a baby-killer. However, while the president may be pro-choice, a new study shows that the 2011 abortion rate is lower than at any time since 1973.

The Guttmacher Institute just published a paper which showed that as of 2011, of every 1,000 impregnated women, only 17 had abortions. That is a decrease of 13% from 2008.

So why the dramatic drop? It's not the anti-abortion laws that were passed by Republicans, since many of those hadn't fully taken effect by 2011. One main factor was a greater reliance on birth control, which these same conservative evangelicals have also criticized. Several "Christian" organizations have even taken the healthcare law to court over requiring them to cover birth control in women's healthcare plans.

So, what's it going to be? If people are less educated about contraception due to abstinence-only education and don't have as much access to attain birth control, this will result in more unwanted pregnancies and with that, more abortions. If people receive an adequate sex education and are more readily supplied with different forms of contraception, the result will be fewer unwanted pregnancies and fewer abortions. Many of these far-right conservatives seem to want to live in a make-believe world, where no one has sex until marriage, and when they do, all sexual encounters are void of any kind of birth control and every pregnancy will go smoothly. In the real world, that's not the case. Many people do have sex before marriage, and even when they get married, many will use some form of birth control until they feel completely ready to have children. Also, last I heard, not every pregnancy went perfectly, unfortunately.

So, what's it going to be, far-right? Sex education, easier access to contraception, and fewer abortions, or abstinence-only education, less access to contraception, and more abortions? It's your call, but if you truly believe yourselves to be "pro-life," you'll support comprehensive sex education and easier access to contraception. If not, I'm afraid you might as well just call yourselves pro-abortion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/study-abortion-rate-at-lowest-point-since-1973/2014/02/02/8dea007c-8a9b-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Boycotting jukeboxes because of TouchTunes

I love music and enjoy hitting the bar(s) over the weekend, so naturally, when the mood strikes me, I've never been coy about playing some songs on the jukebox. This past Thursday, a friend of mine turned 50, so several friends of her's, including myself, all met up to celebrate the occasion. At around 9:30, a friend of mine and I both chipped in $5 to play some songs on the jukebox. Four hours and 231 skips later, we gave up on hearing the songs we had selected, and went home knowing we had just wasted $5. This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened to me (and many others), and due to that, I'll be boycotting jukeboxes. Why? The scam known as TouchTunes. You see, here's how the plot typically breaks down. A person (or group of people) downloads the TouchTunes app on his/her phone, consumes one too many adult beverages, and due to this, has less care for spending extra money to hear the songs of their choosing right NOW. That's the thing with TouchTun...

Face guarding is legal in college football and the NFL

I just wanted to remind fans and announcers especially, that face guarding is legal in both college football and the NFL. It all comes down to contact. So long as a defender doesn't make contact with an intended receiver, he doesn't have to turn around to play the ball. I can't tell you how many times every week I hear announcers talk about face guarding being a penalty. It's not. I even heard one announcer yesterday state, "If the defender doesn't turn around and play the ball, the ref will call pass interference every time." That's simply not true. Courtesy of referee Bill LeMonnier, he says this with regard to the rule at the college level (answered on 8/12/13): "NCAA rules on pass interference require the face guarding to have contact to be a foul. No contact, no foul by NCAA rules." In the NFL rule book, this is written:  "Actions that constitute defensive pass interference include but are not limited to: (a) Contact by a ...

A closer look at the Scramble With Friends power-ups

I am unashamed to admit that I'm a nerd. My idea of a good time is playing a word game like Boggle or Scrabble. Thankfully, I (and many others) can play such games via Facebook and/or my (our) cell phone(s). While it seems that cheating has become more commonplace in these games (Words With Friends in particular) than San Diego has had nice weather, I've yet to give in to that craze. One element present with the game Scramble With Friends (Boggle) not present in Words With Friends (Scrabble) are legal boosts called "power-ups," which cost a number of tokens from the 15 available. I've now tried all five power-ups, including the latest one which costs money. So, in case anyone's curious about playing the game or giving these power-ups a gander, here's a rundown of them all: Freeze - I think this is probably my favorite of all the power-ups. With the freeze, time stands still for a matter of seconds, which allows you more time to find words and improve...