Nicholas Kristof: Beyond Pelvic Politics

[babylonsister]

Beyond Pelvic Politics
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: February 11, 2012


I MAY not be as theologically sophisticated as American bishops, but I had thought that Jesus talked more about helping the poor than about banning contraceptives.

snip//

A 2009 study looked at sexually active American women of modest means, ages 18 to 34, whose economic circumstances had deteriorated. Three-quarters said that they could not afford a baby then. Yet 30 percent had put off a gynecological or family-planning visit to save money. More horrifying, of those using the pill, one-quarter said that they economized by not taking it every day. (My data is from the Guttmacher Institute, a nonpartisan research organization on issues of sexual health.)

One-third of women in another survey said they would switch birth control methods if not for the cost. Nearly half of those women were relying on condoms, and others on nothing more than withdrawal.

The cost of birth control is one reason poor women are more than three times as likely to end up pregnant unintentionally as middle-class women.

In short, birth control is not a frill that can be lightly dropped to avoid offending bishops. Coverage for contraception should be a pillar of our public health policy — and, it seems to me, of any faith-based effort to be our brother’s keeper, or our sister’s.


more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/opinion/sunday/kristof-beyond-pelvic-politics.html

[TheMastersNemesis]

1. The Churches And Religious Right Have A Simple Solution

JUST BECOME CELIBATE!

[Angry Dragon]

2. That goes against the catholic church

because the church says you need to 'go out and multiply'

[Remember Me]

3. Kristoff and his wfie also do extremely good work to fight

of sex trafficking and sexual slavery.

I certainly admire and thank him.