Drilling down to the lizard brain
by digby
To those who continue to believe that the "pro-life" movement is concerned with cute little babies and not the sexual behavior of women, I offer this:
“Planned Parenthood has stopped providing birth control pills and other contraception in New Hampshire after the state’s executive council rejected up to $1.8 million in funding for the group” because it also provides privately-funded abortions. After losing its contract — which paid for education, distributing contraception, and the testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections — the centers have “turned away 20 to 30 patients a day who have arrived to refill their birth control prescriptions”
Ok, but why?
New Hampshire’s Council rejected the contract in a 3-2 vote, arguing that taxpayers should not fund abortions or so-called irresponsible behavior. “I am opposed to abortion,” said Raymond Wieczorek, a council member who voted against the contract. “I am opposed to providing condoms to someone. If you want to have a party, have a party, but don’t ask me to pay for it.”
I think that clears that up, don't you?
I know that the issue of abortion rights isn't popular, even among progressives, many of whom just want it to go away. Polling shows that many young women are, shall we say, less than animated by it and don't see any real margin in fighting for it. But it's important to realize that the right to abortion isn't just about pregnancy, it's about a woman's freedom to control her reproduction at all. These people believe that women should not have sex unless they are prepared to be pregnant. This is far more related to primal images of the evils of female sexuality than it is to specific religion.
Everyone assumes that women's rights can't go backwards now that women are in the workforce and have achieved such prominence in the world at large. But these primitive, archetypal beliefs are extremely well-embedded in the human psyche and thinking society can't go back is extremely short sighted. Women are not equal if they do not control their own bodies and they are not free if their natural human sexuality is considered frivolous "partying" unless they are prepared to procreate.
I'm afraid the female frog is heating up slowly, thinking it's in a nice comfortable hot tub.
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