If Mitt Romney and a few Republican senators get their way, employers could be making women’s health care decisions for them.
Just another reminder that this is a thing that’s happening in America in 2012.
Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that’s okay, contraception is okay. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.
Rick Santorum is coming for your birth control - Salon.com
Hey, lunatic, get out of my vagina.
(via rachelfershleiser)
Rick Santorum: valiantly taking a stand against something that 99% of American women use.
(via rachelfershleiser)
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday overruled the Food and Drug Administration’s decision that emergency contraceptives be sold freely over the counter, including to teenagers 16 years old and younger.
The pill, called Plan B One-Step, has been available without a prescription to women 17 and older, but those 16 and younger have needed a prescription — and still will because of Ms. Sebelius’s decision. In some states, pharmacists can write the prescription on the spot for teenagers. But the restrictions have meant the pills were only dispensed from behind the counter — making them more difficult for everyone to get.
The pill, if taken after unprotected sex, halves the risk of a pregnancy. Under the law, Ms. Sebelius has the authority to overrule the agency, but no health secretary has ever done so, according to an F.D.A. spokeswoman. Her decision on an emotional issue that touches on parental involvement in birth control for teenaged children is likely to have powerful political reverberations in a presidential election season.
Sebelius Overrules F.D.A. on Freer Sale of Emergency Contraceptives - NYTimes.com
Dear Kathleen Sebelius: I used to like you, but we are no longer friends.
Source: The New York Times
Traditionally, support for birth control was bipartisan. The Roman Catholic hierarchy was opposed, but Republican presidents like Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush provided strong support. Then family planning became tarnished by overzealous and coercive programs in China and India, and contraception became entangled in America’s abortion wars. Many well-meaning religious conservatives turned against it, and funding lagged. The result was, paradoxically, more abortions. When contraception is unavailable, the likely consequence is not less sex, but more pregnancy.
Contraception already prevents 112 million abortions a year, by U.N. estimates. The United Nations Population Fund is a bête noire for conservatives, but its promotion of contraception means that it may have reduced abortions more than any organization in the world.
The Birth Control Solution - NYTimes.com
Sometimes I think Nicholas Kristof is the only smart person left.
Source: The New York Times
