Slog
News & ArtsFriday, October 5, 2012
The Ladies No Brainer: Offering Free Birth Control Reduces Abortion Rate
Posted by Cienna Madrid on Fri, Oct 5, 2012 at 8:50 AM
Giving women access to free contraceptives results in significantly lower pregnancy rates and abortion rates, according to a recent study of 9,000 women and teens conducted in St. Louis.
The study suggests that offering women access to no-copay contraceptives through Obama's Affordable Care Act will be incredibly effective:
The effect on teen pregnancy was striking: There were 6.3 births per 1,000 teenagers in the study. Compare that to a national rate of 34 births per 1,000 teens in 2010.
There also were substantially lower rates of abortion, when compared with women in the metro area and nationally: 4.4 to 7.5 abortions per 1,000 women in the study, compared with 13.4 to 17 abortions per 1,000 women overall in the St. Louis region, Peipert calculated. That's also lower than the national rate of almost 20 abortions per 1,000 women.
..."As a society, we want to reduce unintended pregnancies and abortion rates. This study has demonstrated that having access to no-cost contraception helps us get to that goal," said Alina Salganicoff, director of women's health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
"It's just an amazing improvement," Dr. James Breeden, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said of the results. "I would think if you were against abortions, you would be 100 percent for contraception access."
Yeah, you'd think.
1
If the anti-abortion movement cared about fetuses and life, they would be for contraception, but of course they are not.
This is because the movement does not care about life. If they did, they would be protesting war and the death penalty. But they never do.
What they care about is women being punished for not being chaste. With abortion, birth control and condoms, a woman can now be very sexually active without being punished by an STD or a pregnancy. When looked at this way, the resistance to both contraception and abortion becomes very apparent.
Personally, I think it is because deep down they (and everyone else) knows there is no afterlife. They are worried that these women will never be punished on this world or another, so they do everything they can to ensure they are punished here and now.
This is because the movement does not care about life. If they did, they would be protesting war and the death penalty. But they never do.
What they care about is women being punished for not being chaste. With abortion, birth control and condoms, a woman can now be very sexually active without being punished by an STD or a pregnancy. When looked at this way, the resistance to both contraception and abortion becomes very apparent.
Personally, I think it is because deep down they (and everyone else) knows there is no afterlife. They are worried that these women will never be punished on this world or another, so they do everything they can to ensure they are punished here and now.
2
See, here's the problem. The people who are anti abortion are actually more anti earthly pleasure. To quote the serenity prayer, they want people to be "reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next".
With the exception of the Prosperity Gospel sects of protestant Christianity the idea of this life sucking is a feature, not a bug, to most schools of Abrahamic theology.
With the exception of the Prosperity Gospel sects of protestant Christianity the idea of this life sucking is a feature, not a bug, to most schools of Abrahamic theology.
5
1, Agreed.
On that last bit: Yeah, you'd think if they were truly assured that people would burn in "hell" for their earthly sins, they'd just let their God do his alleged duties and simply leave the sinners well enough alone to suffer the consequences. Same with any fundamentalists, really, they have to go and exact punishment in this life.
I think it is because they don't want the "sinners" to actually have a good time, a good life and the freedom to think and act how they please... because their example would show other Xtians that perhaps all the sanctimony and "strict living" is little insane and wholly unnecessary, and maybe other ways of living are equally good, and perhaps better.
Anyone that's studied anthropology knows that there are thousands and thousands of ways to live, and that they are all quite good.
That said, yay for contraception being available under this Obamacare, and yay for more studies showing the obvious reality.
I'll just get my coat, I'm off to Croatan.
On that last bit: Yeah, you'd think if they were truly assured that people would burn in "hell" for their earthly sins, they'd just let their God do his alleged duties and simply leave the sinners well enough alone to suffer the consequences. Same with any fundamentalists, really, they have to go and exact punishment in this life.
I think it is because they don't want the "sinners" to actually have a good time, a good life and the freedom to think and act how they please... because their example would show other Xtians that perhaps all the sanctimony and "strict living" is little insane and wholly unnecessary, and maybe other ways of living are equally good, and perhaps better.
Anyone that's studied anthropology knows that there are thousands and thousands of ways to live, and that they are all quite good.
That said, yay for contraception being available under this Obamacare, and yay for more studies showing the obvious reality.
I'll just get my coat, I'm off to Croatan.
6
Yup. As someone who thinks abortions are horrible and should never be necessary except in the cases of rape and ill health, I'm a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood, education, socialized health care and social welfare programs.
The best way to prevent abortions is to make sure women don't feel like they need them.
(the fact that its not my business to decide when they need one makes me decidedly pro-choice)
The best way to prevent abortions is to make sure women don't feel like they need them.
(the fact that its not my business to decide when they need one makes me decidedly pro-choice)
7
I can't add much more than the others above have said.
But I want to support @6 too, because too often we hear "you must be 100% for or 100% against, no exceptions!" which is bullshit.
Abortion is a terrible thing and it would be great if we could eliminate abortions due to nobody getting pregnant on accident anymore. We're far, far away from that stage (if we'll ever even get there), but even though I'm completely pro-choice/pro-abortion, I hope that some day they become obsolete.
But I want to support @6 too, because too often we hear "you must be 100% for or 100% against, no exceptions!" which is bullshit.
Abortion is a terrible thing and it would be great if we could eliminate abortions due to nobody getting pregnant on accident anymore. We're far, far away from that stage (if we'll ever even get there), but even though I'm completely pro-choice/pro-abortion, I hope that some day they become obsolete.
8
OMG #1 I want to have all your babies we won't need any condoms or anything! Okay all joking aside I still want to have your babies.
9
In less than three months, it'll be 2013. Contraception and access to safe abortion shouldn't even be issues anymore. This country needs to wake (the fuck) up and realize that religion may be a comfort to many people in the sense that it helps explain away life's difficulties, but it has also been the single factor most responsible for the impediment of progress and discovery.
I guess we can't ignore people who want to impose their personal beliefs on everyone else. Modern Christianity is all about "spreading the good news" whether one wants to hear it or not. But there has to some way of re-enforcing that vital but ever more porous wall that's supposed to separate religion from affairs of state.
Let's start by removing tax exempt status for churches that get involved in politics. That'll shut 90% of them up.
I guess we can't ignore people who want to impose their personal beliefs on everyone else. Modern Christianity is all about "spreading the good news" whether one wants to hear it or not. But there has to some way of re-enforcing that vital but ever more porous wall that's supposed to separate religion from affairs of state.
Let's start by removing tax exempt status for churches that get involved in politics. That'll shut 90% of them up.
10
You'd think...if you weren't an irrational lunatic who believes in fairies solely because your grandpa believed in fairies.
11
Probirthers don't listen to reason. Besides most think birth control, or any method to prevent pregnancy, is equivalent to an abortion because humans should only have sex to procreate. *dies laughing*
12
@1
Pretty much. They're not pro-life, they're pro-birth. Anything that promotes birth is great; anything that comes after is irrelevant.
Pretty much. They're not pro-life, they're pro-birth. Anything that promotes birth is great; anything that comes after is irrelevant.
13
What @9 said. Can anyone explain to me why the Catlick church hasn't been stripped of their tax exempt status and declared a partisan political organization, without invoking the fantabulous cowardice of the Democratic party? 'Cause if ACORN was a church, that would not have stopped the Pukes.
14
Reduced abortions, reduced welfare dependency, reduced single-parent households. The humanity.
Problem is, this is means nothing to people who believe that preventing a fertilized embryo from implanting in the uterus is the moral equivalent of killing a baby. There is no room for reason there.
Problem is, this is means nothing to people who believe that preventing a fertilized embryo from implanting in the uterus is the moral equivalent of killing a baby. There is no room for reason there.
15
@12 They're anti-choice—period. Everyone, unless they are psychotic, is technically "pro-life' or "pro birth." The anti-choice crowd played smart when they coined the "prolife" phrase, but it's bullshit. They are not "pro" anything. They are anti-freedom.
16
@14 If you extend that logic a little further, preventing people from having sex at all is the moral equivalent of killing a baby.
Hurrah for the potential for certain things to become other things!
Hurrah for the potential for certain things to become other things!
17
If the anti-abortion crowd were truly pro-life, they'd do something against our ridiculous infant mortality rate. But no, they'd rather punish women, cut social programs, and kick her (and the baby they wanted to save!) into the streets to die. Catholics should know a sin of omission when they see one.
18
Contraception is neat and all....
but just to be sure these women should still get a free abortion every month.
but just to be sure these women should still get a free abortion every month.
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