Amazing. How simplistic. How short-sighted. How....stupid. Really, the cut $317 million for Title X passed by the House a couple weeks ago is still being seriously considered as an acceptable budget cut.
Title X program is designed to provide access to contraceptive services, supplies and information to all who want and need them. By law, priority is given to persons from low-income families.
Ok, the assault on women's rights is in full swing and it's getting more than ugly. It's getting stupid. I understand the repressive Republican talking points and agenda, but I don't agree with it and I reject it.
Please explain to me how withholding access to birth control is going to decrease federal spending in the long term. Explain to me how this will decrease abortions. Explain to me how this will decrease cancer deaths.
Explain to me why it's ok to cut contraceptive funding for women, but retain it for wild horses?
Explain to me how this is an intelligent policy position, because if you think the costs of birth control is expensive, wait until we're hip deep in unplanned babies.
90% of the $317 million is used for family planning services for 5 million people in about 4,500 community based clinics. It's a vital service. A vital service that a bunch of jerks in Congress don't think is necessary. May the Democratic majority in the Senate stand strong and stop this foolishness in it's tracks.
Here's the thing. We'd save on the front end only to pay dearly long term. Florida pulled funding for birth control in their Medicaid program about 10 or so years ago only to put it back in short order. It seems the accountant/actuary failed to factor in the added costs of the new Medicaid recipients from this boneheaded idea.
There's more to consider. Maternal mortality in the United States has doubled from around 7.1 per 100,000 live births to over 13 since 1999. The U.S. has a birth rate of over 4.2 million babies per year which means about 546 of those babies will never know their mother because she died giving birth to them (4.2 mil births / 100,000 x 13 = 546). Obviously, pregnant, insured women fare better than uninsured pregnant women and you'd be correct in suspecting over 70% of those 546 women were un or underinsured as health insurance and income go hand in hand. No birth control means a lot more babies as the "failure rate" of using the "no birth control" method is about 85% in the first year. 85% of 5 million people would double the U.S. birth rate and over 500 more mothers would be likely to die because they have inadequate access to health care during their pregnancy.
I'll grant you that 13 mothers out of 100,000 and 546 women out of 308 million people is a low stat, but let's just ask: What if we're talking about your mother? Does that change it up for you? It's clear that the right wingers hell bent on eliminating Title X funding have no affinity for empathy, heart or having sex for that matter. Then, again, that's the core issue isn't it? Women having the audacity to have and like having sex.... the utter gall to want to have sex without worrying about getting pregnant. Apparently, the temerity to want to have control over when to have a baby and the desire for a guilt free sex life is too much to ask of these cretins in Congress.
This Congressional stunt says a lot about the Republican agenda of coercive reproduction and their disrespect for women. The lack of community response to this short sighted proposal says a lot about how our society views women in general. Sure, the NYT has something about it as does the LA Times and Wapo and The Hill, but the comment threads after these articles is telling. The paternalistic bullcrap and assumptions forced birthers spew screams misogyny. The comments scream ignorance about what pregnancy does to a woman. They demonize Margaret Sanger, who true, had some issues herself, but did a lot to help women decide for herself when she wants to have a baby. Sanger was a product of her times influenced by a mother who died too young from Tb because she was weakened by 18 pregnancies over less than 30 years.
To say all birth control is wrong because Margaret Sanger promoted eugenics is akin to saying all mental health therapy is a waste because Sigmund Freud did cocaine. Margaret Sanger, like others of the 20th Century including Ayn Rand were people. Flawed like everyone else. Like the proverbial broken clock, flawed people are bound to be correct a couple times a day. Likewise, great people are bound to have not so great ideas alongside their accomplishments.
The house thinks defunding birth control is smart public policy, but it's simply an overture to a modern day Comstock Law and a travesty for many women and their partners. Conservatives decry that not enough is spent on abstinence programs that have a 33% failure rate over 2 years and who knows how badly it fails over 5-6 years. It is entirely possible that this is one instance where a conservative Christian would declare a 66.6% to be a holy number. The truth is, every woman in America should feel assaulted by the United States house of Representatives and should demand effective birth control continue to be made available to those who want it.
House Republicans think Title X funding is still on the Table. It's up to us to inform them that they are wrong. Please take the time to let your Senator and Rep know how you feel about Title X funding.