We need to address reproductive issues as much more than a political fight

I am not “pro-abortion.” I’m not sure anyone is.

I support a woman’s right to choose whether or not she can decide to have an abortion or not. I believe birth control and birth control counselling should be widely available free or at minimum cost to any person who wants it. Better birth control availability will mean fewer pregnancies and, thus, fewer abortions. 

That’s perhaps a somewhat logical and reasoned approach. An approach proved ineffective time and time again and in study after study is an “abstinence only” educational policy. It just doesn’t work.

While schools do, and should, teach sex education, including open discussions about birth control, many schools and districts have found that opens a can of worms many people just don’t want to tackle. Lots of parents are opposed to schools teaching any sex ed (they argue that parents should be doing that, not schools). Some programs can’t include any talk about birth control. Others limit sex education to older students, in junior high, for instance. Programs vary from region to region and state to state, and also from private to public to parochial schools.

All well and good, but we know parents in general are bad sex educators and often just don’t take on the subject . . . even though they don’t want schools to either. We’ve already noted that “abstinence only” programs don’t work, no matter how many kids hear the pitch. As for age-appropriate, junior high school is too late to start, since kids have already crossed the sex bridge around that age.

Unfortunately, largely due to the fact that they are the ones who get pregnant and therefore bear the costs, emotional and physical burden and often all the responsibility, women face the biggest challenges when talk about birth control is bantered about by politicians, pastors and teachers, as well as health workers.

I don’t know how we can “force” men to bear more responsibility, but in all this talk about abortions, abortion exemptions and politics, there’s no talk about men . . . only women. Male (and some female) politicians want no exceptions to an abortion ban, meaning no exceptions for rape or incest. You’re 10 years old and raped by your uncle . . . too bad.

It’s that line of thinking that scares some people away from getting birth control counselling and obtaining birth control. Often parents stand in the way of that as well.

So besides teaching younger boys to not only treat girls with respect . . . we need to teach them to take responsibility for their actions (something that certainly should be taught at home and school).

The discussion and political hot potato are stalling real solutions and putting up roadblocks for women. Politicians who want to ban abortions too often also want to limit or restrict birth control. 

That makes no sense if we’re trying to lower the number of unwanted pregnancies. Often politics makes no sense.

So where does this leave us? First, we need to better educate our kids, and that means better and complete sex education in schools, age appropriate and continuing through high school. Second, we need better access to birth control. We need to change the negative tone some pundits take about women who have sex to one that acknowledges many people, men and woman, enjoy sex for sex’s sake.

(Why is it OK for a man to have dozens of sexual partners and not OK for a woman? Somehow she’s a slut and he’s a stud.)

If kids see bad behavior and hear bad words from adults, why would we expect them to act differently?

We also need to make sure we embrace clinics, doctors and health centers that provide counselling, screenings, and birth control. And like it or not, that includes Planned Parenthood, which provides a wide range of service to both men and women.

It’s a nationwide organization where men and women can get counselling about birth control and get help as to what might be best for them. Additionally, since costs are based on a sliding scale, Planned Parenthood is more accessible than many other clinics. Planned Parenthood serves a wide range of women, including college students, lower income women and those, frankly, who want to pay less for their prescriptions, among others.

I support a woman's right to be responsible for her health care without interference from politicians. Her health care decisions should be made by her and her doctor. Period.

There will always be a heated discussion when the topic of abortion comes up, and often people aren’t interested in compromise (or changing their values to find a compromise) but if we want to lower the pregnancy rate in this country, as well as the abortion rate, then we need to face the challenges and not avoid them or try to cover them up with political rhetoric and conflicting proposals.