"Pro-life" more like "anti-reason", or: How the Republican Right Might Someday Meet the Enemy and Find that It is Them

Logic and reasoning from the Religious Right:

Contraception education leads to promiscuity.
Lack of education on contraception leads to abstinence.
Abortions are bad.
Pills like the plan B pill (which prevent conception) are abortion.
Preventing over-the-counter sale of plan B will prevent abortions.

I have to laugh at how conservative efforts to reduce abortion lead to more abortions. It is often said that abortions go up under Republican presidents, and I believe it. Google it yourself, but also go here for this quote: “Abortion rates fell during pro-choice President Bill Clinton’s administration by 17.4 percent. Abortion rates have risen under “pro-life” president George W. Bush by 14.6 percent.”

Hmmmmm...that's strange. So all those pro-lifers use their votes to increase the number of abortions (and, in an urelated matter, increase military deaths as well).

Here’s the reasoning over there:

No sex or health education, because I guess kids want to test out everything they hear in school. They seem to test gravity and evolution all the time.

Limited availability of contraceptives (don’t talk about them, don’t hand them out, don’t sell them at your pharmacies), because if you CAN'T get pregnant, then kids will have sex everyday all the time, and eventually, the earth will collide with the sun. The inverse is equally true (interpret "equally true" however you will) if you CAN get pregnant, then kids will never have sex ever - the past few millenia to the contrary are an aberration.

Abstinence education (yeah, sure, okay) – so our kids, taking their cues from hip and trendy educational films and overweight health teachers, will override the guh-zillions of messages they get in pop culture and “wait until they are married.” I guess it could happen. In fact, let’s work toward a world where no teens have sex ever. It makes way more sense than working toward a world where kids are educated about the decisions they make and the potential consequences of those decisions. But before we eradicate sex before marriage, let’s solve that pesky little perpetual motion conundrum.

Last, when there’s an ex post facto way to prevent egg fertilization, fight it with all you’ve got so that women will…will what? Have the child? Place the child for adoption? Sure, I guess sometimes they will, but guess what else they will do? Never have sex ever. Do we want such a world? I know I don't. But then, I suppose it's also possible that they will have unprotected sex, which may lead to unwanted pregnancy, which may also lead to...

So to recap:

If we don’t teach sex ed, then kids won’t have sex.

If we don’t make contraception available, then kids won’t have sex.

If we make plan b difficult to get, then the abortion rate will go down, because people won’t have sex.

I mean, there are no other options, right?

People frequently override intense passion and tremendous yearning to consider their long term options and make decisions based upon the availability of scientific and pharmaceutical options to reduce any associated risks. This "heat of the moment" thinking is far superior to the calm reasoning that might characterize post-coital/morning after reflection. So, having options the next day is really unnecessary.

Sure, okay.