Pro-choicer fumes over Sebelius decision against Plan B for children
If nothing else, the decision reveals the power anti-choice activists have over the Obama administration, which has a history of cowing to political pressure from anti-choice activists who want to restrict access not just to abortion but to emergency contraception and conventional birth control.
Fortunately, girls of all ages will still have access to over-the-counter emergency pregnancy tests. Unfortunately, with today’s decision, Sebelius and the Obama Administration have ensured that more girls will need them.
~ Erica C. Barnett, commenting on Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ decision to disallow Plan B emergency contraception for over-the-counter consumption by minors, Publicola, December 7
[Photo via blog.heritage.org]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Yes, we “anti-choice” activists have sooo much power over Obama.
Not like he rescinded the Mexico City policy. Or instituted Obamacare. Or free contraception on insurance plans. Or continues to prosecute sidewalk counselors. Or has appointed multiple strong abortion proponents into key positions in his cabinet and as judges and Supreme Court justices. Or, or, or…
But I get it. Maybe to be “pro-abortion enough” for those dissatisfied with him, he needs to get a little more actual blood on his hands.
Goodness! I had all this power and didn’t know it!
Sebelius’ decision doesn’t mean that the 11 year olds CAN’T kill their babies; they will just need an adult to help them kill their babies.
Mr. Obama, where is the hope when one gives up on teaching abstinence?
Can someone tell me what was Plan A? Did it differ from Plan B or Plan C? How many drugs does the government have to peddle before the US government is considered America’s Pharmacy or America’s local Drug Dealer?
Ms. Atwood needs to re-write The Handmaid’s Tale. Where a totalitarian secular judgeocracy mandates that all sex is for pleasure, and that a human being is not a legal person until it is born (with people advocating that legal personhood should not begin until the child is at least two years old). Unplanned pregnancies are not allowed in this secular society. Social peer pressure has made it so that women are forced to work outside the home, and that they are only allowed to become pregnant when they are in their late 30’s nearing the end of their biological reproductive clock. Women use sex for pleasure, denying the burden/joy/gift/responsibility nature has given them, and only them. Nature unchanged in this tale still states that in the species homosapien only the female gets pregnant. Ironically, in this Tale men still use women for sex, in fact even more so than in the original Tale, but the Men use the women just for sexual pleasure, and these men abandon the women once they get pregnant, fearing that reproduction will generate a stiff fine or court appearance, or a government mandated reduction in their wages. Enter Plan B…. The now abandoned pregnant women must abort their babies because if they don’t they will be frowned upon. Single Motherhood is too expensive for this government, this society, and these citizens to support – charity and all forms of unconditional giving has not been taught and has been branded as religious nonsense so that none of its citizens understand what it means to help someone else. Who would’ve thought that a secular reality could be worse than a fictional theocracy?
No, this can’t be true, a democratic government would never try to regulate the sex lives of its people.
Women can do it on their own, they don’t want help from men and men don’t need to help them
I will never understand why “reproductive health” issues are treated differently than any other health issue. I just don’t get it. Common sense safety measures that affect other areas regarding health are suddenly too much when it comes to “reproductive health”? Our daughters deserve the utmost in safety and aftercare when they get their tonsils or appendix or wisdom teeth taken out, but not if they have an abortion? The pediatrician can’t give my son amoxicillin for an ear infection without my knowledge, but I wouldn’t have the right to know if he’s being treated for an STI? The school can’t administer Tylenol without parental permission, but could take a girl for an abortion? How are these things logical?
Lrning – It is not the government’s job to inform you about what your children are doing. That is your job as a parent. If you child went to be treated for an STI and you didn’t know about it… well that’s a parenting fail not a legislation fail… If your 16 yo daughter takes plan B and never tells you anything about it there is a reason she didn’t want to tell you which means you lines of communication with your child is failing.
That being said I am against OTC plan B. These types of drugs need to be administered by a medical professional with medically accurate information; however I have no problem with a Dr. prescribing plan B to a 16yo girl without any sort of parental consent or reporting. Like I said if you don’t know what going on with your own kids that is your fault and responsibility.
Lastly, this says absolutely nothing about the “power” of the anti-choice movement. What it does say is that the pro-choice community is divided on the OTC availability of plan B.
Double check your ego!
Biggz–
Parents need to know if the school assists in any kind of medical treatment. That just makes sense.
We are not divided about abortion and the sanctity of human life. That’s what counts, and that’s what people are beginning to embrace. They’re coming over from the side of death and destruction. Love wins.
Tyler – Teaching abstinence does not work and never has in all of human history. We are genetically programmed to procreate and prohibition fails every time. We have programs in the schools right now teaching kids not to do drugs, smoke cigarettes, sexually harass other students, drunk driving, racial hate speech, and gay bashing… All of these things still happen at almost every school in the country. Besides these are lesions should be taught by you and not the school.
Tyler: Who would’ve thought that a secular reality could be worse than a fictional theocracy?
Secular reality is that we’ve had a huge decrease in mortality, and it follows that a decline in fertility would come too, and it has. “Fictional theocracies”? Who knows? Real-world theocracies = hell on earth.
Biggz, teaching abstinence did work, perhaps not for all people, but then neither has the various methods of contraception. Furthermore, the teaching on abstinence would have much more weight and wisdom now that we are on the other side of the legality of abortion. We know the reality and result of promiscuous sex.
Has anyone checked to see if Plan B can be taken by women who are also on the Pill but have just forgotten to take their Pill one day. Have any studies been done on women to show the health effects of using two birth control methods – Plan B and the Pill?
Yes Courtney parents should know if their kid is being treated for anything at the school… That’s why every time my daughter goes to the school nurse she calls me from the nurses office to tell me what is going on… because that’s what I taught her to do… You see my wife and I talk to our daughter very openly without restrictions about everything and that leads to the most open of parent/child dialog.
Also, Jill don’t you think it is a bit hyperbolic to title this story with the line “Plan B for children”? That is not what this legislation was about it was about making Plan B more accessible to adult women, not children.
Turn down you emotional spin machine a couple notches…
Doug
Secular reality is that we’ve had a huge decrease in mortality
Prove it…who are you counting? Obviously, not all the people who have been aborted? Not to mention that the statement is simply false: mortality, unqualified, is still the same inevitability for each human being – we all die eventually.
Medical science has improved the lifespan of individuals, not secular society. Secular society does not get to claim the benefits of medical science, nice try though. Science and secularism are different and distinct concepts.
Biggz says:
“If you child went to be treated for an STI and you didn’t know about it… well that’s a parenting fail not a legislation fail“
Incorrect. In every state, minors 12 years old and older have the legal right to consent to medical treatment for an STI without their parents knowledge or consent. However, they don’t have the right to consent to most other types of medical treatment. As I said, for some strange reason issues of “reproductive health” are treated differently than other health issues.
Courtnay says:
December 8, 2011 at 10:22 am
Goodness! I had all this power and didn’t know it!Sebelius’ decision doesn’t mean that the 11 year olds CAN’T kill their babies; they will just need an adult to help them kill their babies.
(Denise) Pregnant youngsters often HAVE babies. A 10-year-old in Mexico recently gave birth.
There is a woman named Lisa Coleman sentenced to death in Texas for murder who is in her 30s. She was born to a 12 year old girl who had been raped by her uncle.
Biggz said:
“Also, Jill don’t you think it is a bit hyperbolic to title this story with the line “Plan B for children”? That is not what this legislation was about it was about making Plan B more accessible to adult women, not children.”
It is already completely legal for any woman over the age of 16 to receive Plan B over-the-counter. The only thing this bill wanted to do was make it available OTC to any female. Since those 16 and older already can get it, the only people left out of “any female” are those 15 and younger. People 15 and younger are CHILDREN. Therefore, Jill was correct in titling this “Plan B for Children”
Yes, we “anti-choice” activists have sooo much power over Obama.
We DO have the power to get him out of office come the first Tuesday of November 2012!
Denise, what is your point?
There is probably a heap of other medicines that carry less risk than Plan B that AREN’T available OTC. For or against abortion, denying OTC access of this drug to minors *should* be applauded. But as Lrning said, ‘reproductive health’ seems to be different to everything else.
That’s why every time my daughter goes to the school nurse she calls me from the nurses office to tell me what is going on… because that’s what I taught her to do… You see my wife and I talk to our daughter very openly without restrictions about everything and that leads to the most open of parent/child dialog.
Wow Biggz, you are in for an eye opener. How would you know if she is calling you EVERY TIME? You don’t know about those times she hasn’t called you.
You see, you think you are the cool parent whose child listens to every thing you say. LOL. The school staff should be communicating to parents when children are meeting with nurses, counselors, police and administrators. If this communication is not taking place, there better be a darn good reason it is not.
These adults have an influence on young people too and some of them are able to influence young people, even those young people who have close relationships with their parents. Why is your daughter in the nurses office so often? It’s probably something you should be dealing with at home.
Courtnay says:
December 8, 2011 at 5:57 pm
Denise, what is your point?
(Denise) I was just pointing out the truth that pregnancies of the very young often DON’T end in abortion. In fact, it seems likely that extremely young girls are among those least apt to take ANY sort of action whether out of denial, shame, or simple ignorance.
A related point is that we can and should put our energies into helping children who have children care properly for them.
If Lisa Coleman had been properly cared for — if her 12-year-old mother had received more assistance — it is likely that Coleman’s step-son would be alive and she would not be on Death Row.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t oppose and work against abortion but that we’ve got to do more for those who make it down the vaginal canal.
Who wants to parent in village with Hillary?
She will tell your kids not to call you when they become pregnant, she will advise them to have an abortion, perhaps even pay for it, and then comeback and tell you that it requires a village (herself, your child, and an abortionist) to raise a child. Meanwhile, she has betrayed your trust, undermined your child’s relationship with you, and helped to murder your grandchild – all done while patting herself on her back.
That is a village that sacrifices its children for some abstract choice that your daughter never new she had because she never contemplated it as a possible choice.
Teaching abstinence does not work and never has in all of human history. We are genetically programmed to procreate and prohibition fails every time. Sez Biggz who is promoting birth control, against his genetic programming. How unnatural.
There are no studies showing that increased availability of birth control hormones causes a decrease in unwanted pregnancies or abortion. Anna Glasier stands out as a birth control researcher and proponent who admits to this failure of the social experiment.
The data has been rolling in….
This needs to be explained every time the politicians, bureaucrats, and whacky Erica Barnett demand our funds and support for their social engineering. Why do we have to pay for them to continue to fail?
Many people abstain from sexual activity. Unfortunately, they are often the ones for whom it matters least: post-menopausal women and long-together couples.