Rift Over Curbing Unintended Pregnancies (AP)

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Rift Over Curbing Unintended Pregnancies

By DAVID CRARY
The Associated Press
Thursday, June 7, 2007; 2:43 PM

NEW YORK -- America's conflicted attitude toward sex is at the heart
of an intriguing political struggle unfolding this year in Congress and
many states, as liberals and conservatives spar over bills aimed at
reducing the huge number of unintended pregnancies.

To the liberal coalition backing the measures, the so-called Prevention
First initiative is a commonsense package that would reduce the need
for abortions by providing better information about contraceptives
and expanding access to them.

To conservatives, the initiative is an alarming effort to eliminate
abstinence-only sex education, strengthen abortion-rights groups and
encourage sex outside of marriage.

"There's a utopian view that women ought to be able to have sex any
time they want to without consequences _ that's the bottom line of
all these bills," said Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America,
a conservative group which opposes the measures.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/07/AR2007060701282.html

[Sapere aude]

1. I thought the Hite Report told us that women liked to have sex.

Before that most guys I know thought that women really didn't like sex and all you needed to do was wam bam thank you mam.

It took many years before guys got sensitive enough to think about their partners pleasure also. Now come the concerned women for what ever to tell us that women liking sex is no good! Please take us back to the good old days!

"There's a utopian view that women ought to be able to have sex any
time they want to without consequences "

Well gaaaaaaaaaaaaly!

There has always been a utopian view that men ought to be able to have sex any time they want to without consequences and I'm a guy! Shouldn't we all be equal?

[Solo_in_MD]

6. Hite Report...damn that takes me back

I also want to remember that it was discredited, not that it matters much

[Bitwit1234]

2. Bear with me and explain this....

What right does the government have to tell a man or a woman, married or not that they can't have sex any thing they wish. Should we next tell a person they can't eat pizza...how about limiting their visits to the mall, the grocery store. This is getting ridiculous.

And again this leaves the onus on the woman. Why because she is the one who gets pregnant. The man is off the hook. Today we have DNA and the man can't escape as freely as he once did, but if a woman is made to have the child she ends up with having to support, and provide the care.

It is darn time government and these groups stay out of a person's private life. The only reason, the only only reason they are so obsessed with preventing woman from having sex or an abortion is this is the last bastion of control men have over women. Not all men,,,just the stupid republicans. The republicans who jump from wife to wife and girl friend to girl friend as often as they change a suit of clothes.

[Kagemusha]

3. With all due respect...

This is the government telling people that they shouldn't have sex any way they wish, not that they can't. There's no need to misrepresent this for rhetorical purposes.

[depakid]

4. The Post legitimizing fundies again....

and basically promoting their irrational agenda by giving it equal (if not more) prominence than responsible policy.

If anyone wonders how America found its way to such a sorry place, one need look no further than the Post, et al.

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. Abstinence education is like the parable of teaching a man to fish.

give a man a fish and he will eat for a day - teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.

Abstinence education will delay sex for teens by about 6 months, at which time they will go on to have sex just as ignorant as before - comprehensive sex ed may or may not delay teens having sex, but when they have sex they'll be a lot less stupid about it. In the long long run, everybody has sex, so abstinence only does everyone a disservice.