NH Republican: Married Couples Should Use Abstinence Instead of Contraception

[RandySF]

A New Hampshire lawmaker with a history of surprising statements suggested on Thursday that married couples who want to use contraception should practice abstinence instead of using birth control pills.

State Rep. Lynne Blankenbeker (R-Concord) made the claim -- noting that abstinence is available "over the counter" along with condoms -- during a legislative committee hearing on a resolution urging the Obama administration to drop the birth control requirement for religious organizations. Blankenbeker was trying to explain her position on why the administration's requirement to provide insurance coverage for birth control should be overturned.

"People with or without insurance have two affordable choices, one being abstinence and the other being condoms, both of which you can get over the counter," she said.

The comments came at the same hearing where state Rep. Jeanine Notter (R-Merrimack) claimed that birth control pills lead to prostate cancer. In an interview with Merrimack Patch, Notter said that she was referring to studies discussing potentially high levels of estrogen in the environment through birth control pills and a connection to prostate cancer.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/17/birth-control-debate-new-hampshire-lawmaker-abstinence_n_1284934.html?1329504272&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008

[wryter2000]

1. Prostate cancer?

I guess men shouldn't take birth control pills.

[rfranklin]

6. I think it was referring to the drinking water pollution

Pharmaceuticals In Our Water Supplies

Are “Drugged Waters” a Water Quality Threat?

Developed to promote human health and well being, certain pharmaceuticals are now attracting attention as a potentially new class of water pollutants. Such drugs as antibiotics, anti-depressants, birth control pills, seizure medication, cancer treatments, pain killers, tranquilizers and cholesterol-lowering compounds have been detected in varied water sources.

Where do they come from? Pharmaceutical industries, hospitals and other medical facilities are obvious sources, but households also contribute a significant share. People often dispose of unused medicines by flushing them down toilets, and human excreta can contain varied incompletely metabolized medicines. These drugs can pass intact through conventional sewage treatment facilities, into waterways, lakes and even aquifers. Further, discarded pharmaceuticals often end up at dumps and land fills, posing a threat to underlying groundwater.

Farm animals also are a source of pharmaceuticals entering the environment, through their ingestion of hormones, antibiotics and veterinary medicines. (About 40 percent of U.S.-produced antibiotics are fed to livestock as growth enhancers.) Manure containing traces of such pharmaceuticals is spread on land and can then wash off into surface water and even percolate into groundwater.

http://ag.arizona.edu/azwater/awr/july00/feature1.htm

[CurtEastPoint]

2. She's the same charming lady who...

Lynne Ferrari Blankenbeker, a Republican lawmaker in the New Hampshire Legislature, has taken union-bashing to a whole new level.

In a July 21 email obtained by Mother Jones, the New Hampshire state representative wrote to fellow legislators about a recent training stint with the Army at Fort Dix, in New Jersey. A military veteran who has served in the Middle East, Blankenbeker described learning to drive an Army Humvee wearing night-vision goggles. She also trained as a gunner, and had to this to say:

Today I got to be the gunner which was fun. The .50 cal is quite a gun! I was never ascared of the unions but they better not F#%k with me again!!! Just saying.

[HopeHoops]

3. Creating spawn is the only reason Republicans have sex anyway.

[sharp_stick]

4. If I was married to her.....

yeah I could see abstinence as a pretty viable choice.

[southernyankeebelle]

8. Can you see her telling her husband I have a headache? I wonder how long that would last before he

could rape her? Of course he would say I didn't rape her because she is my wife.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Welcome to 1912!

[Renew Deal]

7. Talk about intrusive big government

[sammytko]

9. Probably what her husband tells her - "lets go with abstinence" n/t

[EC]

10. The only husbands that will put up with that as birth control

are gay men trying to act straight. I think they really think they are just being good Christians instead of just having absolutely no desire for their wives.

[NC_Nurse]

11. It's amazing that these people get elected. I guess somebody out there agrees.

Unbelievable.

[The Genealogist]

12. How about letting adults make their own choices?

Republicans gripe and piss and moan about getting TEH EBUL LIBRUALS AND BIG GUMMIT out of American's lives, then want to micromanage everyone's sex lives and sexual health. How about this, Blankenbeker...you worry about your sex life, and let the rest of America worry about theirs?

[RainDog]

13. exactly

my moral beliefs include the idea that it's not a good thing to have a lot of children. But I'm not going to try to force that on anyone. I also think others should have the right to engage in this moral practice if it is her or his belief too.

If someone else thinks they should engage in abstinence within marriage, that's their choice. But not mine. And that choice may not be forced upon others - esp. considering that both reproductive and sexual function medicines are covered, no big deal, because they deal with a variety of issues.

And because other medicines are included - this is clearly an attempt by a religious faction to force their sexual habits on the rest of the nation.

That violates the very essence of the separation of church and state.

Just because one religious group harbors intense desires to perform legislative rape on women - their vote doesn't make this action okay.

[surfdog]

14. I can't find a contact number for that monster

[HockeyMom]

15. Abstinence until Menopause?

If you think the marriage rate is down now, I am guessing you wouldn't like vasectomies for men either.

[MiniMe]

16. So if some rapist wants to rape me, I should just say, sorry, I'm abstaining now because I may be

fertile? Like that is going to work. Rape is violence against women

[Missy Vixen]

17. Someone needs to tell Rep. Blankenbeker that condoms are not 100% effective, either

So, Rep. Blankenbeker:

What's the point of being married if one cannot have sex with one's spouse? Maybe YOU don't want to, which is why you believe that suggesting abstinence to others is a dandy idea. The rest of us enjoy a physical relationship with the person we married. It's unfortunate that you don't.

I could suggest you find someone else you're a little more attracted to, but hey, I wouldn't want to suggest how you should conduct your sex life, hm?

Love always,
-MV