Pro-life folks are neighbors who often have strong beliefs on abortion, but are usually concerned about how to prevent unwanted pregnancies and worry about taking care of babies born to disadvantaged parents.
If you want access to contraceptives where can one most easily get such access and high quality health counseling? Planned Parenthood.
Not Birthright.
What is unclear about this point to people like Wil Saletan?
The problem is that while a minority of pro-life people oppose contraception, the ones who do have disproportionate influence. There are a number of reasons why this might be, but I think it’s the same reason that the right has muscled out the center and left in politics generally. For one thing, they’re really organized. For another, people who support contraception feel the need to respect others’ right to oppose it, but the reverse is often not true.
So, even organizations which started out being for a right to contraception, such as Feminists for Life and Democrats for Life, have moved to a mealy-mouthed “we take no position” position, which means there’s nobody to represent the majority who are for contraception. I think working within groups that have already caved may be hopeless, and it may be necessary to form a new, specifically pro-contraception group.
I’m seeing an increasing desire in a certain segment of the pro-life community for a sort of “pro-life Planned Parenthood” — an organization which would provide contraception, sex ed, and other services while also promoting respect for the life of the unborn child.
Not sure why I’m telling you all this, except that you seem to be reasonably fair-minded on the subject and might be interested to know that there is increasing dissatisfaction within the pro-life movement itself with the anti-contraception minority.
I do appreciate your comments and largely agree. I obviously disagree on abortion from those who are pro-life, but very much respect the position and most of the peopel I know who are pro-life for their beliefs.
And I respect people who are against contraception in terms of their personal lives and I think Catholic institutions as one example have a right to not provide it in the vast majority of cases.
Where I draw the line is when beliefs about contraception begin to reduce the availability of contraception who share different beliefs.
And I think a new group such as you describe would be a great step forward–where many of us could find common ground. For many reasons though–mostly what you covered, it’s harder and harder to work with groups that I think fit that middle ground.
It’s been increasingly clear to me that the Religious Right is more concerned with punishing sin than with governing well. The contraception issue is similar to using condoms to prevent HIV/AIDS. The two issues obviously overlap, but they are distinct. Even when it’s show that abstinence-only programs don’t work to prevent disease, the Religious Right fights condom distribution programs because they say they encourage people to be slutty.
They are more interested in saving souls than saving lives.
Let’s just see if they punish their own in 35 days…
Very very well put. This from a moderately pro life democrat (who opposes Some abortion completely) Unfortunately the extremes on both sides get so shrill that the sane cannot get a word in.