I read David Broder’s column today on the crafting of the Republican plank regarding contraception and other things. www.washingtonpost.com
It has got me wondering what Republicans actually think about contraception. Should it be allowed or shouldn’t it? What types of contraception should be allowed? Should it be allowed only to married couples? What is the situation if you decide never to get married (and you are heterosexual)?
Should you be required to use contraceptives? How will the dispensers (-ors?) of contraceptives know who has a right to them and who doesn’t?
If so, at what age does one have the right to an IUD or birth control pills or the sponge (to invoke Seinfeld)?\
More importantly, at what age can one decide that they wish to have sex, but not to have children? Or do you all believe (and I am admittedly a liberal Democrat), the words of Cathie Adams of Texas who said, “We should not be spending money to promote promiscuity.” (from the article above)
It was a close vote on this plank of the platform (50-39), however, it seems absurd to me that Republicans continue to concern themselves about issues of promiscuity.
If you think Republicans are of one mind on this issue, you have a lot to learn. There are even <gasp!> some pro-life Republicans out there lurking in the shadows.
My words exactly, Bibliophage. But I think Mr. Oscar is referring to the stereotypical Republican stance over the years (guns are good, military is good, abortion is bad, homosexuality is bad, religion is good, school is good, religion in school is good, etc.), which generally follows a stricter lifestyle (that’s open to debate, but I don’t care).
Anyway, the hardcore conservative (not necessarily the Religious Right) would probably be against contraception, but only based on the fact that they believe that it shouldn’t ever be necessary… don’t “do it” 'til you’re married, basically. With the idea of staying chaste until the vows are exchanged, I can understand the mindset of “make it easy to get away with, and you make it desireable.”
Some pro-choice ones, too.
In response to the OP: the issue is not about contraception in general; I think you’d find little support for the outlawing of or restrictions upon contraception usage for adults.
What some conservatives object to is the matter of distributing contraceptives in school, combined with the message from sex education that “with precautions, sex can be safe.” Conservatives would rather that students be taught that abstinence is the only guarantee to avoid pregnancy and STDs.
Yes, some conservatives take a pretty bizzarre line in seeming to believe that if schools don’t talk about sex, kids won’t learn about it, and therefore everything will be fine. However, the more mainstream viewpoint is that the distribution of condoms in schools, along with the attitude of “well, the kids are going to have sex anyways, so let’s make sure that they’re safe” is self-defeating: no contraception is completely effective, and so you’re already damning those kids for whom the contraception fails. In addition, there’s the entire question of what values the entire “nudge, nudge, wink, wink, we don’t think you should be having sex yet, but here’s a bunch of condoms for you for when you do” message instills in teens.
Really? Funny; a few years ago, you couldn’t read the news without hearing another story about teen pregnancy being on the rise, and about how yet another study showed how disastrous it tended to be for a child to be born to a teenage parent, especially if said parent was trying to raise the child alone. Maybe teaching kids that sex can fuck up your life (pun intended) and that no precautions can be absolute might actually help cut down on teen pregnancy.
But no; I guess you’re right; it’s all about Puritan morality upon the part of Republicans.
I’ve yet to hear a Republican actually speak out against contraception. They might not like family planning in schools but I’ve never heard one complain about adults being able to buy condoms or the sponge.
I’m a life-long card-carrying Republican. Though I have a lot of Libertarian ideals I’m really off to the right of Reagan and Rush. I’m NOT a member of the “Religious Right”. (Why is it that those two words are continually put together to mean a ‘bad’ thing?)
Briefly, the Republican position is definitely NOT anti-contraceptive. Any confusion on this fact may come from the party platform’s opposition to taxpayer dollars being used to fund give-aways of contraceptives in public schools.
There is no conflict there. In fact, the contradiction comes from the more moderate and even left leaning positions that cry “family values” while simultaneously demanding that tax dollars be used to give contraceptives to teenagers AND claiming that parents have no inherent rights to know that their children are receiving contraceptives, are pregnant, or are considering abortion.
Simply looking at the title of this post I am left wondering if Oscar is perhaps suggesting that there are far too many Republicans, and they (as a group) ought to use contraception more often whilst fornicating within their ranks.
Of course I may be wrong… it’s happened once before.
Like I said, I’m so far to the right that I can barely see Reagan and Rush on my left. There isn’t too much room left on my right. (Damn! There’s that Buchanan fellow again – I need to move over a little bit…)
I’m not sure it’s that stupid a question; but then, I’m here in the D.C. area where there’s been a huge flap about contraception.
(My facts may be a bit off; I apologize for this, as well as warn you of this, in advance.) The DC City Council has been considering a law which would require companies in DC to have health-care providers which cover contraceptives. This has been furiously opposed by the Catholic Church, which is both a direct employer in DC (the CC runs at least one hospital here) and which has always opposed contraception in any form.
As the Catholic Church is pretty darn conservative, I can see someone who doesn’t follow the issues much to jump to the conclusion that all conservative religious types oppose contraception.
(This would be a great time to insert some quotes from the Protestant rant in Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life, but I’ll be damned if I can remember any of it now. Sorry.)
