It seems like they think having the pill and abortions is more important than having air to breathe or food to eat. I don’t know why they cling to this so much especially since the pill causes an increased risk for cancer in women.
First, this question is worded in such an inflammatory way as to produce more heat than light in this thread.
Second, I’m a liberal, but I certainly don’t act as though having the pill and abortions is more important than having air or food. In fact, I don’t know anyone of any political stripe that says that, though I understand your hyperbole.
Third, no one in political discourse talks about the real issue: sexual behavior. The left puts it in terms of “reproductive freedom.” The right is now come lately to the “religious freedom” argument. But fundamentally, the political issue is whether the government has the legitimate authority:
(a) to regulate how a woman may manage her fertility – meaning the likelihood of conception,
(b) to compel employers to pay for insurance policies that allow a woman to manage her fertility in all possible ways (e.g., abstinence, NFP, artificial contraception) without making demands on her sexual behavior, and
(c) to prevent a woman from terminating a pregnancy for any reason (which includes the use of abortion as an insurance policy against both failed management of fertility and rape).
(a) pertains to what the government used to do: outlawing artificial contraception;
(b) pertains to the DHHS mandate;
(c) pertains to abortion regulation.
On the issue of “the pill” and contraception, one notable research finding is that under the present cultural mores, education programs involving “comprehensive sex education” are effective at reducing the rate of STD infection and seem to reduce the onset of sexual behavior in teens. Abstinence-only policies are ineffective, largely because they attempt to use a school or government program to counteract cultural trends.
There is an unwillingness to talk about sexual behavior. Most people would like to feel that their frequency and timing of sexual activity is a matter of personal choice. Using artificial contraception enables that freedom.
