We know that there are a lot of folks out there who are staunchly anti-choice. They funnel their activism into opposing
Planned Parenthood and other women's health centers. They protest, misinform, and often portray themselves as the extreme end of the ant-choice fray. And even now and then we hear about how they are anti-contraception. "Wow!" we think to ourselves, "that is
really extreme".
Or is it?
Cristine Page exposes the views on some of the GOP candidates who are taking on these anti-contraceptive views in order to align themselves with the far right. Page writes:
"The American public is unaware of the new wave of anti-contraception activism
by opponents of abortion. Possibly they are unwilling to believe something so wacky
and ironic. Whatever the reason, it has made it easier for politicians to stroke the anti-contraception base. For example, while Bush has delivered some big victories for the anti-abortion movement in the last seven years (Roberts, Alito, Federal Abortion Ban), the anti-contraception work has taken up more of his time (attempting to strip contraceptive coverage for federal employees, appointing anti-contraception leaders to critical posts including the contraception advisory panel of the FDA and to oversee nation's contraception program for the poor, de-funding international family planning programs, investing unprecedented sums into sex-ed programs that prohibit mention of contraception except for failure rates.)"
She looks at some of the
speeches of Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Sam
Brownback, Tom
Tancredo, and John McCain to uncover the way in which they campaign with this anti-contraception stance (often covertly). She even looks at Oklahoma's own Senator Tom
Coburn as he serves as John
McCain's advisor on sexual health matters. She write that he "...is (
Coburn) famous for leading campaigns claiming the condom is unsafe and opposing expanded access to emergency contraception." So...very...true.
It is a good, if not frightening read,
check it out.
