Trump's New Plan for Women... Barefoot & Pregnant
By Thom Hartmann A...
The Republicans - or apparently the Trump/Pence Republicans - have a new campaign: 'end birth control for American women'.
No, not making this up. This is a leaked memo.
What you're seeing here in my opinion is Mike Pence's influence on the the Republican ticket, on this administration.
"A leaked memo" - this from Erin Gloria Ryan over at Daily Beast - "A leaked memo shows that Team Trump wants American women to go back to relying on total abstinence or the rhythm method to prevent pregnancies."
This is amazing. The list was obtained by Crooked Media. That's the group that syndicates the podcasts like "Pod Save America" and "Pod Save The World".
And the memo advises "there should be cuts to the U.S. government's “gender and 'Let Girls Learn' initiative.”" and then the real show starts when they get into birth control.
"If the Trump administration got its way, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) budget for family planning would be slashed, with 'no other family planning programming for girls except fertility awareness methods.' "
Now, if you're Catholic or if you went to Catholic school, you know what 'fertility awareness' means. It means the rhythm method.
First of all it puts all the responsibility on women. You must know when you are fertile.
I remember when a friend of mine, we were down in Bogota, Columbia. We spoke to the Archbishop of Bogota, sitting on his throne at the headquarters of the Catholic Church there in Bogota. And she asked him to put a special dispensation for pharmacists so they wouldn't go to hell if they passed out birth control pills. And this guy starts pounding his fist on his throne and pointing at me - he wouldn't talk to my friend Elizabeth because she was a woman - and pointing at me and screaming, "women know when they're fertile. This is all their fault. Original sin came into the world through Eve," etcetera, etcetera.
And "Title X funding which helps poor women afford contraception would be slashed in half if team Trump gets its way. Money would be diverted from sex education that emphasizes “risk reduction”" - in other words, don't get AIDS, use condoms, things like that - and move this toward instead " “sexual risk avoidance,” which is another term for “abstinence-only education.” "
One quarter of people who use fertility awareness end up getting pregnant.
"Abstinence-only education doesn't work. A report published this year declared the practice both "ineffective and unethical."
In fact, in her article, Erin Gloria Ryan writes if you had a car that 25% of the time crashed and everybody died, or required hospitalization at least to make the metaphor parallel to pregnancy really solid, would you ever use that car? One quarter of the time you end up in the hospital? Whereas with an IUD what are the odds of an unintentional pregnancy? 0.01%. One one hundredth of one percent.
But science and Trump? No.
Or really we should say science and Pence. Really? No. They just want to oppress women. It comes right down to that.
Comments
#2
A God with a vengeful spirit? Hmmm, must be the same God Pat Robertson thinks he has. He linked the Las Vegas attack to disrespect for Trump. I never realized how completely bat sht crazy people can be.
#3
The thing here is some tax payers don't want their hard earned dollars going to pay for birth control for others. Whether for financial or religious reasons I believe it is a far request. I am pretty sure if you asked all the movie stars and wealthy lefties they could come up with enough money for free condoms for all.
#4
There have been aprox. 1 million abortions a year in the us per wiki or 51,888,303
between 1970 and 2013.
There are 12 types of birth control according to http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20354669,00.html
Very few people talk about being accountable for their own actions.
Some abortions are nessasary but 1 million a year?
#5
I really don't see the problem. Our fearless leader has shown us the solution: If you simply grab them at the appropriate anatomical location and don't let go, the whole thing is a non-issue!
#6
Haha... Bring back the chastity belt, shaped like Trump's little hand!
Wow! It's uncanny how a leaked memo so accurately reflects the long-held personal views of Pence -- uncanny, that is, if the memo wasn't the real thing.
The old joke is as true as ever: Do you know what they call a Catholic who practices the rhythm method? A very busy parent.
#7
Kend. In the long run, if there were not easy and affordable access to and widespread use of prophylactics and other forms of birth control, would not an ocean of even more hard-earned tax dollars then have to pay for the rapid, inevitable expansion of already under-funded welfare programs, which would now be dealing with millions of more unwanted children? Would there not also be a spike in abortions, confounding a fundamental tenet of right-wing religious fanaticism?
#8
What women need to do is let the republicans that there is no sex for republican men for the next 200 years.
#9
Deepspace I do agree it is a lot cheaper to provide free birth control for everyone but if it's against their religion they should not be forced to pay for it. These poor children who are born into these horrible neighbors because their mother is left to try and raise children alone when they can't afford is truly tragic. What chance to they have. Maybe we need a charity that focuses solely on birth control for those who can't afford it
#10
I don't how much tax money actually ends up subsidizing birth control, but it has to be a tiny fraction of what it would cost taxpayers for the millions of unwanted children dumped into the system because of unwanted pregnancies.
As far as allowing religious exemptions to paying taxes for individual items in a budget proposal, worked out through a supposedly democratic negotiating process involving many people of many different religious persuasions, where do you draw the line?
There are millions of taxpayers who have their religious sensibilities offended by being forced to pour billions every year into subsidizing private defense contractors, who export arms to dictators and war-mongering nations, and who lobby Congress for the tools of endless warfare because we taxpayers make it so damn profitable.
Our money subsidizing needless death and the destruction of civilization:
https://fas.org/asmp/campaigns/subsidy.html
What about the millions who strongly object on religious grounds to subsidizing the fossil-fuel industry to the tune of billions, if not trillions, every year?
Our money subsidizing needless death and the destruction of the environment:
#11
Then of course, there is the old fashioned conservative method that takes a retroactive approach to birth control. Allow the fetus to come to term and then a few years later, if the child that results doesn't die of famine or is slaughtered by religious fanatics or is bombed by drones, etc., then in the case of the US, the born baby can be shipped off to some ungodly hell hole to fight for the right of the filthy rich to be even richer.
In fact, this plan insures that the rich will become richer by manufacturing the weapons for this endless war cycle that relies on cheap labor, a steady supply of cannon fodder and desperately poor souls around the world that feel they have nothing to lose.
Definitely a lot more fun than scientific forms of birth control, think…marching in parades…fourth of July…bumper stickers that prove your patriotism and support of the troops. It always feels great to be part of something truly American! And what has become more American, than war. The ultimate form of birth control.
#12
Why don't we let people who believe in faith healing have sway and we'll all save a ton in taxes since no taxes would pay for medical care? If something is against your religous beliefs, don't do it; but don't tell other people that they can't do it.
#13
Off topic; Trump complains.
Trump complains about just about everything and everyone. We need to tell him that criticism comes with the job, it's what he signed up for.
#14
Well said, stopgap. Nationalism, xenophobia, and jingoism -- it's the American way (to keep the masses ignorant).
#15
I've settled on a name for conservative contraception: Retrocide, the practice of aborting the post birth fetus. Thanks to the NRA, Retrocide is practiced by many here in the US virtually every day. And thanks to the defense department, Retrocide is practiced worldwide. Especially honored recipients of Retrocide may even have the extreme honor of suffering excruciating torture before the Retrocide is complete.
#16
I guess The Handmaids Tale was a big influence on certain kinds of men.
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Ahhhh! another leaked memo which must have far better creditability than the usual anonymous or undisclosed source.
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Please God, let Mike Pence be the final revenge.