# Republican party aims to make forms of birth control illegal? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 4, 2018, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-party-aims-to-make-forms-of-birth-control-illegal/820739 "2018-09-04T14:21:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-party-aims-to-make-forms-of-birth-control-illegal/820739/1 "2018-09-04T14:21:21Z")
I overhead this conversation recently: > [@](#): > > Person 1: The Republican party is trying to restrict legal access to some forms of birth control > > Person 2: You mean abortion, or abortifacients? > > 1: No, birth control. > > 2: You mean certain Republicans? > > 1: No, the whole party. > > 2: So you’re saying it’s a part of their platform? > > 1: Yes, exactly - they aim to make forms of birth control illegal. It never got more specific than that. So I appeal to the Dope - what is the evidence for or against this? ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-party-aims-to-make-forms-of-birth-control-illegal/820739/2 "2018-09-04T14:38:16Z")
Some birth control methods work, at least partly, by preventing implantation. If you believe personhood begins at conception, that’s abortion and murder, even though the rest of us would call it birth control. I haven’t heard about the Republican platform on this, though. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-party-aims-to-make-forms-of-birth-control-illegal/820739/3 "2018-09-04T14:47:50Z")
Here is a link to the 2016 Republican platform [https://prod-cdn-static.gop.com/media/documents/DRAFT\_12\_FINAL[1]-ben\_1468872234.pdf](https://prod-cdn-static.gop.com/media/documents/DRAFT_12_FINAL%5B1%5D-ben_1468872234.pdf) (2.7 MB PDF) There is opposition to school-provided contraception, but no call for an overall ban on family planning, that I could see. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-party-aims-to-make-forms-of-birth-control-illegal/820739/4 "2018-09-04T16:34:43Z")
> [@coffeecat](#): > > Some birth control methods work, at least partly, by preventing implantation. If you believe personhood begins at conception, that’s abortion and murder, even though the rest of us would call it birth control. I haven’t heard about the Republican platform on this, though. That includes BC pills, IUDs, and implants. To expand… BC Pills and implants primarily work by suppressing ovulation, but they have a backup effect of keeping the uterine lining inhospitable. So if you manage to ovulate while on the pill and it gets fertilized, implantation will not be successful. This is one of the reasons these methods of birth control are so effective - its belt and suspenders. But, as coffeecat said, if you think life begins at conception - conception happens about six days before implantation (IIRC), and so … that’s a problem. There is the Catholic “every sperm is sacred” school of thought - which doesn’t allow any contraception other than natural family planning, but that is a minority viewpoint even among American Catholics. That doesn’t come from “abortion is murder” but instead - and this is a gross simplification of Catholic thought - “God intended sex for the purposes of propagation, contraception bypasses God’s will.”