{"id":19285,"date":"2012-07-20T10:46:57","date_gmt":"2012-07-20T14:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=19285"},"modified":"2013-04-03T22:34:17","modified_gmt":"2013-04-04T02:34:17","slug":"time-columnist-declares-birth-control-essential-to-the-american-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/time-columnist-declares-birth-control-essential-to-the-american-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"TIME<\/em> columnist declares birth control essential to the American dream"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

\"\"<\/a>There\u2019s always been something slightly creepy about the way pro-aborts have elevated birth control into an object of worship.<\/p>\n

I mean, there\u2019s using and appreciating it, and then there\u2019s subsidizing it with taxpayer dollars and legally compelling private entities to provide it. Dare to suggest that people should be able to decide for themselves whether their money goes to supporting someone else\u2019s sex life, and expect to be incomprehensibly painted as a sex-hating theocrat out to control the nation\u2019s bedrooms.<\/p>\n

The latest missive from the Cult of Contraception is a TIME Magazine<\/em> editorial<\/a> by Erika Christakis, who argues that birth control is essential to finding the American Dream:<\/p>\n

Gary King, the eminent political scientist<\/a> at Harvard, likes to talk about \u201cevil hypotheses,\u201d the vexing hot-button social problems that people find too politically or morally controversial to address systemically. This is a terrible shame because the more we put our heads in the sand about the comprehensive economic impact of unwed motherhood on working-class and middle-class families \u2014 including a thorough reckoning of its downstream financial costs to children\u2019s and mothers\u2019 physical, academic, psychological and social health \u2014 the more the void is filled by people who don\u2019t have much intention of doing anything about it.<\/p>\n

This is not to say that single motherhood takes a uniformly negative toll; its impact varies quite a bit. Some economists<\/a> have suggested that for the very poorest and least educated young women, having a baby doesn\u2019t significantly alter the already low prospects. In those cases, a baby born to a poor (usually unwed) teenage mother is often the symptom, not the cause, of a larger problem of dashed opportunity. That\u2019s a depressing story in its own right, with its own dire policy implications.<\/p>\n

But equally concerning are the women on the bottom rung of the middle class for whom single motherhood does,\u00a0indeed, derail them. These are the women with a year or two of college headed to decent jobs: without the burden of motherhood, they would have moved up the socioeconomic ladder but now find themselves languishing, along with their children, in near poverty. According to a recent report<\/a> in the New York Times, the proportion of\u00a0these unwed mothers who have some college education but didn\u2019t finish a college degree rose from 10% in 1990 to 30% today. This is a stunning finding.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s of course true that children impose a substantial financial toll that can keep people from economic and educational advancement, especially when they don\u2019t have a spouse to help share the responsibilities of parenthood. And yes, birth control can reduce the odds of unplanned pregnancy.<\/p>\n

But the author fails to mention some other germane truths – namely, that there is no crisis of contraceptive access. Considering how widely available<\/a> and affordable<\/a> birth control is, the continued specter of unplanned pregnancy can\u2019t simply be attributed to people not knowing about or being unable to afford it.<\/p>\n

The heart of the problem is behavioral, not economic or pharmaceutical. Some choose to have sex without bothering to use birth control, because our hyper-sexualized popular culture places instant gratification so far above consideration of consequences. And many who do use birth control seem to be under the very mistaken<\/a> impression that it guarantees<\/em> that they won\u2019t get pregnant, rather than merely lowering the likelihood.<\/p>\n

The good news is that the one surefire way to avoid premature parenthood is pretty simple: taking care to think about<\/em> whether your life can handle a baby before you make the decision to have sex. The bad news is that anyone who dares offer that advice should expect to be met with a torrent of abuse.<\/p>\n

To the left, any suggestion that people would be better off deferring sex is tantamount to denying their right to even have a sex life. Christakis admonishes conservatives not to \u201cfall into the morality trap\u201d of \u201creligious convictions\u201d when discussing these matters.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s become increasingly clear that ignoring<\/em> the moral component of sexuality is what\u2019s really trapped too many young people. Rather than some niche theological hang-up, sexual responsibility is a commonsense principle that ought to transcend all<\/em> religious backgrounds. We recognize in most other areas that our children must be instilled with a sense of self-control, that they can\u2019t always put their immediate desires first. So why is sex any different?<\/p>\n

Contrary to the lies of libertines on the other side of the aisle, numerous studies have affirmed<\/a> the effectiveness of abstinence-based sex education, and earlier this year even the Obama administration, no fan<\/a> of abstinence education, finally recognized the effectiveness<\/a> of at least one such program.<\/p>\n

The question isn\u2019t whether people have a right to make their own sexual decisions. It’s not even whether people have a right to use (non-abortive) birth control. It\u2019s whether we care enough about our children to be honest about those decisions\u2019 consequences, and whether we respect adults enough to believe them capable of\u2026well, adulthood. Without a mature, realistic sense of self-interest and responsibility, nothing else can help make the American Dream a reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Missing the point entirely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nTIME columnist declares birth control essential to the American dream - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/time-columnist-declares-birth-control-essential-to-the-american-dream\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TIME columnist declares birth control essential to the American dream - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Missing the point entirely.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/time-columnist-declares-birth-control-essential-to-the-american-dream\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-20T14:46:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-04-04T02:34:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/march_group_photo_og-1-700x467.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"467\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/time-columnist-declares-birth-control-essential-to-the-american-dream\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/time-columnist-declares-birth-control-essential-to-the-american-dream\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Calvin Freiburger\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6eb2bf94c8064b71953ba137bf413c4d\"},\"headline\":\"TIME columnist declares birth control essential to the American dream\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-20T14:46:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-04-04T02:34:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/time-columnist-declares-birth-control-essential-to-the-american-dream\/\"},\"wordCount\":865,\"commentCount\":39,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Issues\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/time-columnist-declares-birth-control-essential-to-the-american-dream\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/time-columnist-declares-birth-control-essential-to-the-american-dream\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/time-columnist-declares-birth-control-essential-to-the-american-dream\/\",\"name\":\"TIME columnist declares birth control essential to the American dream - 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