# Racialism: Everyone's Favorite Politics **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 11, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racialism-everyones-favorite-politics/817715 "2018-07-11T14:56:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 34
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racialism-everyones-favorite-politics/817715/661 "2018-07-27T15:53:37Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > That racism or whiteness or whatever has anything to do with women not utilizing birth control methods. > > I have no idea what the answer to that would be. Okay. It seems absurd to me that you’d have literally “no idea” – seriously, no idea one way or the other? It’s 50/50 which group might have more pregnancies? I have trouble understanding how you feel that way, but okay. Note that I’m not saying “not utilizing” – I’m speaking of whether it’s more or less likely that women and couples will utilize them. I think it’s a pretty clear logical supposition – if two parties have some level of input into a decision, and one party’s input is held constant, then the other party’s input will have some level of sway towards the final decision. So if we look at very large groups with in which the second party usually comes from two very different pools, there will be trends one way or the other in terms of the likelihood of the final decision, regardless of the “culture” of the first party (i.e. the women). But if you disagree, okay, we can stop there. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racialism-everyones-favorite-politics/817715/662 "2018-07-27T15:55:56Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Okay. It seems absurd to me that you’d have literally “no idea” – seriously, no idea one way or the other? It’s 50/50 which group might have more pregnancies? I have trouble understanding how you feel that way, but okay. > > I think it’s a pretty clear logical supposition – if two parties have some level of input into a decision, and one party’s input is held constant, then the other party’s input will have some level of sway towards the final decision. So if we look at very large groups with in which the second party usually comes from a very different pool, there will be trends one way or the other in terms of the likelihood of the final decision, regardless of the “culture” of the first party (i.e. the women). But if you disagree, okay, we can stop there. I disagree with one of the premises - namely that two people must have input into birth control. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racialism-everyones-favorite-politics/817715/663 "2018-07-27T15:58:11Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I disagree with one of the premises - namely that two people must have input into birth control. But it’s not “must”. In a large group of millions, many of these decisions will be made with input from both parties. Not all of them, but many of them. Enough to mean that 2.5% of unmarried black women might be more likely to get pregnant in a given year than unmarried white women, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racialism-everyones-favorite-politics/817715/664 "2018-07-27T16:02:20Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > But it’s not “must”. In a large group of millions, many of these decisions will be made with input from both parties. Not all of them, but many of them. Enough to mean that 2.5% of unmarried black women might be more likely to get pregnant in a given year than unmarried white women, perhaps. Perhaps. But in your hypothetical, they were identical twins. So there is no racial disparity that you can count on when comparing pregnancy rates. So, it seems like you are just making up the fact that one group of twins would get pregnent at a higher rate. I, on the other hand, have no idea how it would turn out, question why you would say “it’s absurd” that I couldn’t make up numbers. Have there been any studies that have asked unmarried women who got pregnant WHY they didn’t use birth control? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racialism-everyones-favorite-politics/817715/665 "2018-07-27T16:07:30Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Perhaps. But in your hypothetical, they were identical twins. So there is no racial disparity that you can count on when comparing pregnancy rates. So, it seems like you are just making up the fact that one group of twins would get pregnent at a higher rate. I, on the other hand, have no idea how it would turn out, question why you would say “it’s absurd” that I couldn’t make up numbers. > > Have there been any studies that have asked unmarried women who got pregnant WHY they didn’t use birth control? 1000 sets of twins. Some of those sets of twins might put their foot down no matter their partner’s input. Other sets of twins might take their partner’s input. It seems logical to me that those who take their input will be more likely to be swayed towards one decision or the other by the input of their partner. Is that not logical and reasonable? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racialism-everyones-favorite-politics/817715/666 "2018-07-27T16:19:36Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > 1000 sets of twins. Some of those sets of twins might put their foot down no matter their partner’s input. Other sets of twins might take their partner’s input. It seems logical to me that those who take their input will be more likely to be swayed towards one decision or the other by the input of their partner. > > Is that not logical and reasonable? Sure, but you have no way of knowing the numbers without making them up. I say that all the women have received birth control information, and only 2 of them from group B decide to have sex with no contraception because they want to get pregnant for whatever reason. The rest get norplant because they are smart. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racialism-everyones-favorite-politics/817715/667 "2018-07-27T16:22:45Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Sure, but you have no way of knowing the numbers without making them up. > > I say that all the women have received birth control information, and only 2 of them from group B decide to have sex with no contraception because they want to get pregnant for whatever reason. The rest get norplant because they are smart. Okay. I’ll say that in a group of 1000 women, I think the chances are high that some of them will be the type who makes these decisions with some input from their partner. But we’ve probably gone as far on this as we ought to. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racialism-everyones-favorite-politics/817715/668 "2018-07-27T20:13:47Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Perhaps one day a method of birth control will be invented that doesn’t require decisions right at the moment of passion. One that can be utilized daily, or even yearly, where the reckless and irresponsible person won’t have a say in it. Some way of _Planning_ when to engage in _Parenthood_, you say? Why, surely if such things were possible, they’d be f_reely available_ to anyone who needed or wanted them, not, say, [blocked](https://www.everydayhealth.com/birth-control/politics-birth-control-access-america/) from those who _couldn’t otherwise afford them_… ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racialism-everyones-favorite-politics/817715/669 "2018-07-27T20:29:06Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Some way of _Planning_ when to engage in _Parenthood_, you say? > > Why, surely if such things were possible, they’d be f_reely available_ to anyone who needed or wanted them, not, say, [blocked](https://www.everydayhealth.com/birth-control/politics-birth-control-access-america/) from those who _couldn’t otherwise afford them_… That’s a good article, thanks. However, it mentions nothing about all the contraceptives that are available via Medicaid. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racialism-everyones-favorite-politics/817715/670 "2018-07-27T20:38:58Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > That’s a good article, thanks. However, it mentions nothing about all the contraceptives that are available via Medicaid. Medicaid delivers contraceptives? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racialism-everyones-favorite-politics/817715/671 "2018-07-27T20:44:24Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Medicaid delivers contraceptives? Not sure. You should probably ask someone who said that Medicaid delivers contraceptives. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racialism-everyones-favorite-politics/817715/672 "2018-07-27T20:48:12Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > That’s a good article, thanks. However, it mentions nothing about all the contraceptives that are available via Medicaid. “available” is a polite fiction for the people most at risk, and that’s how the [government](https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/blog/black-and-latina-women-would-bear-the-brunt-of-the-presidents-budget-heres-how)[likes](https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2017/07/women-color-access-vital-health-services-threatened) it nowadays _The president’s budget proposes to cut Medicaid by at least $600 billion — and that’s on top of AHCA Medicaid cuts of over $800 billion. The AHCA also ends Medicaid expansion. Across the next decade, these changes would kick approximately 14 million people off the program, including many women of color._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racialism-everyones-favorite-politics/817715.md?page=33)