Roe v. Wade to be overturned?

Repeat. Ignorance leads to poor decision making. "It's not the right time in my cycle, we're safe". "It will be ok just this once. Be sure to pull out, though". Condoms work, used properly, but to repeat what I said above, there are a high percentage of men who don't like and won't use them.

 

This issue is no place for public policy. It should be left up to the woman, the man, the camera and the TV.

 

But if you take a job at Hobby Lobby ...

 

Coitus interruptus, as I learned in AP Euro History.

 

But that's what all of this comes down to. We have this Puritan idea about sex when it comes to women, but a macho-man attitude toward men. A woman wants to be on the pill or other measures to reduce the risk of pregnancy, we move Heaven and Earth to stop that from happening. We preach abstinence or "being responsible" all the while we make it abundantly easy for men to get a condom for cheap and to get a penis pump from any drug store. Frank Thomas pimps a product that promises to give men "more drive and she'll love it too." If a man has sex with 100 different women over 100 nights, we hail him as a stud and speak his name with reverent tones (Wilt). But if a woman goes out and does the same thing, she's a whore and being irresponsible.

Condoms break. In the heat of the moment, you forget. And there's a failure rate. Why can't women have access to the same things and the same curtsey as men?

And, oh by the way, birth control for women is also used as hormone replacements if a woman has a medical condition. Should they be denied because men have access to condoms?

 

You're still allowed to shop at 7-11 ...

 

See my post above

 

I don't think "all of this" comes down to any one thing. There are lots of considerations, lots of things to take into account, lots of competing interests. I made the crack about Samaritan's Purse re: OTC oral contraceptives, but it absolutely was not the "religious right" that kept that from happening.

 

Oh, of course

 

You're right that there's more than one thing that fuels these debates. My point by saying that was we have a certain attitude toward women's sexuality that we don't have toward men and it informs much of the debate. To me the idea of "right to life" is perfectly fine, but we should do everything we can to eliminate the choice from needing to be made in the first place, mainly access to care, contraceptives, education and assistance. That would leave extreme cases like rape, incest and health of the mother (mostly, not 100 percent so).

When I was working on a Women's Shelter story, the director told me about a woman who came in near her due date in a panic because she had no money to raise a child, no support to raise it and didn't know her options. At some point, it came out the woman had considered an abortion, but got hooked up with a religiously affiliated group that claims it was all about giving access to ultrasounds but really was a front to convince women not to get an abortion. This woman was convinced but asked how she was going to care for the child. She was told God would provide. Of course, God did not provide money or other resources and the group was not about to give her money. I don't think I was told what the woman ended up doing (at least I don't remember). But it just stuck with me. In this moment when they could have done God's work and reached out and been the miracle the woman was seeking, these right-to-lifers left her worse off than before. Probably hating God to boot. There is such an opportunity to reduce unwanted pregnancies and do some real good, but some people are simply dogs chasing cars with no idea what they will do if they catch one except blame the car for driving on the road.

 

Should poor people not have sex? Not everyone can afford a three-pack at the local corner shop.

 

I dated a beautiful, bright Catholic girl when I was in college. She was on the BC pill to regulate her period, which was otherwise very erratic. She was a virgin and adamant about staying that way, trust me on this... but she was on the pill.