Contraception

Overview

Contraception (also known as: birth control, reproductive choice) is an issue because of (on the one side) the significant number of (mainly religious) groups who seem out to restrict or prevent it, and (on the other side) the bad effects of not using it when needed.

Conclusions

Many groups apparently are both against abortion and against contraception or even sex education, usually favoring a policy of promoting abstinence until marriage. This is highly irrational and irresponsible, as it essentially "wishes away" a number of realities:

• as a contraceptive tool, "abstinence" is actually planned abstinence, which is notoriously unreliable
• the reality that teenagers and young adults will be interested in sex whether or not they are educated about it (humanity was around long before sex education)
• the reality of the large number of unwanted births which would result if "pro-life", anti-contraception, and "abstinence-based education"/anti-sex-education policies were enacted in any combination, in the absence of a significant and widespread cultural change or some as-yet-unknown but more acceptable means of contraception
• the reality that in any case, a large portion of people do not wish for such a culture change, and would not abide by it
• the reality that many married people do not wish to reproduce every time they have sex while fertile

If these groups are aiming to prevent unwanted conception solely by somehow significantly changing our culture so that most people only have sex when procreation is desired, they do not seem to be putting their efforts in that direction; if anything, they seem to want to maximize procreation at any cost.

Related Pages

• Contraception is a reproductive issue.
• Some (generally anti-contraception) groups seek to make it a sexuality issue by stating or implying that sexual abstinence is the only acceptable form of birth control.
• Many groups, especially certain religious organizations, are against the use of contraceptives to varying degrees.
• Forms of contraception include:
  • planned abstinence

Links

Reference

• Wikipedia
• The Emergency Contraception site at princeton.edu
• Media Matters: media items related to reproductive choice

Projects

• The Church of Euthanasia appears to be a borderline-extremist organization in favor of essentially any measure which prevents procreation (...or are they a parody?)

Opinion

• 2006-05-18
  • The War on Sex by Cristina Page on TomPaine.com
    • Claims that all pro-life groups in the United States are also against contraception – is this true?
    • Claims that anti-choice groups are claiming that many contraceptives (including the birth control pill, the patch, the IUD, and the Depo-Provera shot) are actually abortifacients, i.e. that they induce abortions – is it true that they are claiming this?
  • Will we choke on the pill? blog entry by Jill Stanek: a pro-life Biblically-based argument against contraception, with much discussion (on both sides) afterwards
    • commentary by PZ Myers at Pharyngula

Discussion

• 2006-05-25 That great and arbitrary abortionist in the sky by PZ Myers (Pharyngula)

News

version 3

• 2011-07-28 [L..T] Unapproved emergency birth control medicine possibly in U.S. distribution may be ineffective and unsafe The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning U.S. consumers not to use the emergency birth control medicine labeled as Evital. These products may be counterfeit versions of the “morning after pill” and may not be safe or effective in preventing pregnancy.

version 2

• 2010-05-29 [Talk|Index] Drop in rates of teen pregnancy is a good sign for the future § “according to a new study from the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada ... teen pregnancies decreased by nearly 37 per cent nationally and 35 per cent in British Columbia in the 10-year period between 1996 and 2006.”
• 2009-09-16 [Talk|Index] Teen Birth Rates Higher in Highly Religious States § “U.S. states whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs on average tend to have higher rates of teenagers giving birth, a new study suggests.”

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