I really, really wish this would get more attention

[smokey nj]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.contraception21aug21,0,7842827.story

The quiet campaign against birth control
By Cristina Page
August 21, 2007

At National Right to Life's conference this year, Mitt Romney set out to convince anti-abortion leaders he was their candidate. At the podium, he rattled off his qualifications. To a layman's ears, it sounded pretty standard for abortion politics. He wants to overturn Roe v. Wade. He supports teaching only abstinence to teens.

But for those trained to hear the subtleties, Mr. Romney was acknowledging something more. He implied an opposition to the birth control pill and a willingness to join in their efforts to scale back access to contraception. There are code phrases to listen for - and for those keeping score, Mr. Romney nailed each one.

One code phrase is: "I fought to define life as beginning at conception rather than at the time of implantation." The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines pregnancy as starting at implantation, the first moment a pregnancy can be known. Anti-abortion advocates want pregnancy to start at the unknown moment sperm and egg meet: fertilization. They'd also like you to believe, despite evidence to the contrary, that the birth control pill prevents that fertilized egg from implanting in the womb.


Mr. Romney's code, deciphered, meant, "I, like you, hope to reclassify the most commonly used forms of contraceptives as abortions." In fact, he told the crowd, he already had some practice redefining contraception: "I vetoed a so-called emergency contraception bill that gave young girls abortive drugs without prescription or parental consent." <snip>

Pam Spaulding wrote about this at Americablog. She linked to the Baltimore Sun piece.
http://www.americablog.com/2007/08/gop-womb-control-patrol.html

Since pharmaceutical companies are bomparding us with ads anyway, can't they at least include a brief description of how their products work. Just a quick line for the benefit of the not-so-bright who have been brainwashed into believing this bullshit. I'm curious as to why THEY allow this misconception (no pun intended) to persist.


:banghead:

[bliss_eternal]

1. Agreed...

...I'd like to see it get more attention so those that support our stance will become more aware. They need to know just how far the opposition is willing to go with this. There are those on the right that don't "get" this, and they should, those that are pro-choice, and support a woman's right to birth control.

People really need to wake up, this isn't "just about abortions." If zealots like this are successful, it will further limit women's access to bcp, too. I say further because there have already been limits set by pharmacists who refuse to fill women's prescriptions to birth control.

[smokey nj]

2. I think one of the reasons people (men especially) identify themselves as "pro-life"

is because of the misconception that BCP are widely available and therefore any woman who gets pregnant and doesn't want to be is just irresponsible. I don't think men realize that this assault on womens' reproductive freedom will have a direct impact on them as well because DNA testing denies them the "he said/she said" protection that they had in decades past.

[uppityperson]

3. Thank you for posting this.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

4. It's so aggravating that they speak in codes

And that those codes are so clearly understood by their target audience. Why don't these groups come out and admit what they are trying to do? "We want to ban birth control in addition to abortion." Because something like 90% of people support contraception, that's why. :grr:

[Name removed]

5. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MountainLaurel]

6. Me too

I once got into a "discussion" with a pro-forced-birther on another board who wouldn't believe that the leaders of that movement have contraception in their sights, even after I provided quote after quote from folks like this.

So many people, including so-called progressives who are willing to sell reproductive rights for a political victory, do not know this information.

[bliss_eternal]

8. Wow--that brings back memories.

I got into a similar discussion. This woman on a board I used to visit was a staunch right winger (listened to fox, supported the gop, etc.), but she claimed she supported choice. :eyes: When some other pro-choice women (and I) pointed out the gop's stance on contraception (taken from the gop website no less), she still wouldn't believe that there was a concentrated effort on the gop's part to dismantle women's rights, reproductive choice, etc. She just kept posting to us all,"...it's not true, it's not true--stop with all of your liberal lies." :eyes: I wish I was kidding.

The proof was right there and she refused to even see it for exactly what it was. It was like she refused to read it and process it as it was. :banghead: It was a frustrating encounter but scary, too. It alarmed me to find a human being, and especially a woman would allow a political party to "think" for her.
:scared:

[Ilsa]

7. This is a very important issue and I raised it on another

discussion board. There were alot of pro-choice women, but they were obviously young and don't remember when getting borth control was such a big deal. A forced-birther, who also only wants NFP, said something about looking forward to getting rid of abortion completely and for all reasons. I replied, "Yeah, because you and your church are going after birth control next." It's an eye-opener for younger women.

[smokey nj]

9. Does NFP stand for Natural Family Planning?

If so, I'm living proof that that shit doesn't work. My mom had 6 kids courtesy of the rhythm method.

[bliss_eternal]

10. LOL. Yep.

Or at least that's what I learned in our "marriage encounter course", required before marrying in the Catholic church. :eyes: It was such a joke, every other couple we talked to during the break admitted that they were living together. ;) Totally spitting in the face of the catholic--no premarital sex thing. (snicker)

My entire life, I was told how many cousins were products of NFP and spermicidal foam(another birth control method). In jest (I thought it would be funny) I pretended not to remember any of that and teased a relative after our marriage encounter class--saying we were really excited about trying NFP. Alarmed she exclaimed,"....oh no! Don't do THAT...It doesn't work!!!" :rofl:

Still cracks me up remembering that!

[smokey nj]

12. That's pretty funny.

My mom was fond of saying that she believed in self control, not birth control. Whenever she said that I'd just shake my head and laugh.

[Ilsa]

11. Yeah, but it is a little more refined than "rhythm." It calls for

temperature readings, examining cervical mucus discharge, and planning around those days. I laughed at a NFP person asking her how women at work are supposed to plan their coffee breaks, "I have to go examine my cervical mucus."

Another problem is that if you have sex within 48 hours prior to the cervical mucus' appearance, you could get pregnant.

[smokey nj]

13. Thanks for the clarification, Ilsa. Doesn't leave much room for spontaneity, does it?

:crazy:

[bliss_eternal]

14. None at all.

But what can you expect from a system created by people that don't have an active sexuality (priests and nuns)? :shrug: It's like because they've given up a life of sexual expression, we should be able to reign ours in to utilize their wacky methods.

Sometimes when I think about it, it seems a sick joke. Something the priests and nuns probably have a great giggle about behind their parishioners backs.

[smokey nj]

15. Makes me wonder why anyone even gets married in the church anymore.

How can any thinking person take this seriously? Although, I'm sure the laughs couples share after these classes can alleviate some of the stress that comes with planning a wedding - so maybe it's not a complete waste of time.

[bliss_eternal]

16. My husband really regrets it...

...at the time, he wasn't hadn't quite found his "voice" so to speak. So a lot of it was trying to keep in w/family tradition and what he (and I) were told our entire lives. He's apologized profusely for his insistence at the time that we get married in the church. lol.

Since our wedding, so much has happened involving the catholic church--the priest molestation scandals, some churches telling parishioners not to vote for Kerry in 2004, the various conservative stances of the popes, etc., etc. Given all of this it wasn't hard for him to distance himself from the catholic church and see it all in a very different light.

[smokey nj]

17. I understand how it is. The same thing happened to my best friend.

She really didn't want a church wedding, but her husband (whose Catholic upbringing was a lot less intense than hers) really wanted one, so she went along with it. She hated going to the classes, apparently they went out of their way to make her and her partner feel like crap for living together.

[Ilsa]

18. My best friend became Catholic about ten years ago.

It was before the scandals, etc. She is really PO'ed about that becasue she is in the San Diego "group" and they are essentially bankrupt. She can't stand the priest assigned to her church. She said alot of people there have stopped contributing over both incidences. She doesn't have to worry about the NFP thing -- she had her tubes tied in the preious decade.

[BlueIris]

19. Kick. Gosh, it'd be nice if we kept up our support for CHOICE

in the choice forum, wouldn't it?

[bliss_eternal]

20. I abandoned that forum.

I probably shouldn't have--so I do apologize for doing so. But I tired of being baited, attacked and called a murder enabler by snarky boys that are ultimately enable to conceive or know what it's like to have one's rights sanctioned by others.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

21. Oh man...

I feel like Im being closed in on all sides. Even a small number of DUers can be guaranteed to show up in or start anti-choice threads like clockwork.

[bliss_eternal]

22. You'll be safe here.

:hi:

I understand your frustration. I seem to recall a time when there weren't as many "anti-choice" threads posted in the main areas of the board. Not sure what happened that made them feel they needed to let that side of themselves out so frequently. Maybe the stance of the courts, made some feel braver in sharing with us. :eyes:

[SemiCharmedQuark]

23. I really am grateful to DU for this group

And grateful to all those members who worked to start it. I'm also grateful that DU hasn't listened to some and formed a "pro-life" group. Go Skinner!

I'm 23 and I've never known a time where I could not get an abortion or birth control if I wanted it. I think that this is part of the problem. People my age just assume that things will always be this way. They don't take the threat seriously.

[smokey nj]

24. Pro-life group?

:puke:

[lizerdbits]

25. When I tell other women

that those who wish to outlaw abortion will then move to birth control they laugh and say I'm crazy. And most of them are in their mid-late 30's, just slightly older than myself. It's really sad to see so many women brush it off (like feminism in general) thinking it's all just fine now and will never go back.

[ismnotwasm]

26. They don't get it

I don't think they understand that many forced birth people think life begins at conception, and don't use the medical definition of pregnancy as implantation. Therefore, any zygote is a "life." You bet they'll go after birth control