You might not believe it if you listen to conservatives, but the US abortion rate has been declining recently — dropping 14% in the last three years — and now has hit a historic low. The rate is now the lowest it has been since abortion became legal in 1973 (we don’t have a precise idea of the abortion rate before that because, of course, it was illegal).
The obvious question is why. Why are fewer women getting abortions? Is it because some states have passed laws making it more difficult to get abortions? After all, the Texas legislature just introduced a bill that would make receiving or providing an abortion a felony, which if passed (it won’t) would have the added feature of taking away the right to vote from women who get an abortion.
No, that’s not it. The abortion rate has been going down in virtually all states, regardless of whether they have passed anti-abortion laws.
The real reason is because one of the features of Obamacare was that it mandated that health insurance had to cover contraception. It’s simple really: fewer unwanted pregnancies, fewer abortions.
And yet, conservatives hate that mandate, and will almost certainly eliminate it as soon as they can. Which puts conservatives in the hypocritical position of doing something that will dramatically increase the number of abortions in the US.
Some people might say that they aren’t really against abortions, they just want to punish women for having sex. Not men of course, since they just elected a man who brags about sexually assaulting women.
7 Comments
“Which puts conservatives in the hypocritical position of doing something that will dramatically increase the number of abortions in the US.”
No it does not. Being against abortion and against mandate is not hypocritical. These are not either/or situation. It is not even directly related (except in minds of liberals). No wonder there is so much divide between red/blue teams.
Conservatives are not against mandates. They just want to mandate that abortions are illegal.
Directly comparable.
Are you in original post referring to obamacare insurance mandate, or just any law (all laws are mandate in that sense)
I was talking about the mandate that health insurance plans have to cover contraception. Not that people have to have health insurance (although that also means that more people have access to contraception).
Ok, I understand now. Although I disagree on general/individual mandate of Obamacare, but if it is to be, there is no reason of not making insurance companies be mandated to provide contraception. Those who are against using it, are not forced to use it anyways. But I guess their opposition is that they are part of group/or paying for someone’s else contraception.
But I still don’t find it hypocritical for those who are against contraception and abortion same time. Person can be against contraception and abortion same time. Because they think both are killing babies or going against God’s will. (contraception is allowed in Islam, and abortion in very restricted/limited cases)
Hassan – the added hypocrisy is that ED drugs (like Viagra) are also covered under the mandate but we haven’t heard Republicans gripe about that. So it’s okay to, so to speak, stoke the fire but not to put up a shield?
Right, because this is all about controlling women’s bodies to mandate their own narrow, Bronze Age religious moral code. That it happens to impose all its inconveniences and health outcomes on women is irrelevant. But they can’t escape the hypocrisy of wanting to keep government out of people’s lives and then invade the bedroom, or public rest rooms for that matter. BTW, where did they think those people were going to relieve themselves all these years before they started taking such interest? There’s a reason the Forefathers separated Church and State. But I digress.
Even condoms are considered sinful if you’re a strictly practicing Catholic. You know how long condoms have been around? Since BEFORE the Bronze Age, when they discovered sheepskin. I was raised a Catholic (still recovering!) and, still, the only sanctioned form of contraception is the so-called “rhythm method”. People who practice this form of birth control are most commonly referred to as parents.
“But I still don’t find it hypocritical for those who are against contraception and abortion same time.” … if not directly hypocritical, absolutely and demonstrably anti-reality – evidence based reality, that is, not opinion based “reality”