The Side Effect Of Birth Control No One Talks About

[eridani]

http://www.upworthy.com/the-side-effect-of-birth-control-no-one-talks-about?c=upw1

Other side effects of birth control include people of all genders living longer and earning more money.

[ProSense]

1. Excellent. This was posted in February:

National Abortion Rate Sees Huge Drop As More Women Are Using Birth Control

By Tara Culp-Ressler

Between 2008 and 2011, the national abortion rate declined by 13 percent, according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute that will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health journal. That puts 2011?s abortion rate at 16.9 abortions per every 1,000 women of reproductive age, the lowest rate recorded since Roe v. Wade legalized the procedure in 1973.

The anti-choice community celebrated the news, claiming that an increasing number of women are choosing to carry their pregnancies to term...In fact, that perspective doesn’t actually align with the research in this area. Previous studies have found that sonograms don’t actually change women’s minds about having an abortion. And the Guttmacher’s new report concludes that the abortion rate isn’t declining because fewer women are choosing abortion in favor of giving birth to a child; rather, it’s because fewer women are getting pregnant in the first place.

<...>

It’s also important to note that a drop in abortions shouldn’t necessarily be considered a positive thing, depending on the circumstances. As states have imposed an increasing number of harsh state-level restrictions on the procedure, many women — especially economically disadvantaged individuals and communities of color — have struggled to exercise their right to choose. Many of those women end up giving birth not because they didn’t want an abortion, but because they simply could not access one. For instance, harsh anti-abortion laws in Texas are projected to result in 22,000 women losing access to safe and legal abortion this year alone.

The Guttmacher Institute, which tracks state-level attacks on abortion, is well aware of this reality. Since the bulk of the wave of new abortion restrictions were enacted after 2011, the group’s most recent report didn’t find a clear connection between harsh state laws and declining abortion rates. But, according to the researchers, “this does not mean these laws are not problematic.”

- more -

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/02/03/3238271/national-abortion-rate-drops/

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024436262

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Thank you for this post.

There is much good information here...

K&R

[SunSeeker]

3. And yet the SCOTUS Conservatives say not having contraception is not that big a burden on women.

I guess it is easy for them to say that when they don't have a functioning uterus.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

4. K and R!!!!

I like this graphic---thanks!

[alarimer]

5. I don't get why so many are opposed to birth control.

Isn't it better that you can have sex with your partner (or someone else, whatever floats your boat) whenever you want to? without fear of an unwanted pregnancy? Doesn't it make everyone's lives just a little better?

I have never had a satisfactory explanation for why it isn't, overall, a very good thing for all parties concerned?

What it DOES expose, is the fact that, for fundamentalists, it really is about controlling women and keeping them tied down. That is the only logical conclusion I can draw from the Hobby Lobby case.

Is it just me, or is all this a relatively recent development? I mean, they've won on abortion, for all intents and purposes. It may not be illegal in fact, but it is very, very difficult to get for someone of little means. So, that battle won, I guess it's time to show their true colors.

[LuvNewcastle]

6. The goal is to have women barefoot, pregnant, uneducated, and

out of the job market. Women are competing for jobs with men and earning their own money and getting a little too uppity. They're more respectful when they're dependent upon a man. All this is happening because women aren't raising hell like they did when they were protesting for the right to vote. Also, too many women are collaborating with the enemy.

[Scuba]

15. Those are interim goals. It's women's suffrage they want.

[progressoid]

14. Every sperm is sacred, Every sperm is great. If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate.

[mountain grammy]

7. K & R

[cprise]

8. K&R

[BrotherIvan]

9. Birth control is an issue for Women AND Men

Anyone who argues that adults should not be free to choose when they wish to have children is a moran. Why on earth are we arguing to go back to the days of huge (quiverfull) families? That used to be shunned by educated people who understood the dangers of multiple childbirth and the cost. It is very difficult to properly raise that many children, pay for their health care and necessities as well as pay for their education in today's modern world. I have no idea why men don't vociferously defend the right to access to birth control because it affects them equally.

[thesquanderer]

10. The downside of longer lives

Okay, I think we can all agree, living longer is a good thing. But if you're going to look at the economic benefits of these scenarios which include living longer, there is an economic cost to taking care of people who live further into old age as well, and I wonder if that's been considered here, as they are actually making an economic (rather than strictly humanitarian) argument.

[eridani]

12. And there are the benefits of older people keeping civil society alive

--not to mention taking care of their grandkids.

[obxhead]

11. Reduced crime levels. nt

[Wilms]

13. ^

[CFLDem]

16. Donor countries? Fair share?