GOP: The Womb Control Patrol

It's been pretty clear that the anti-choice crowd has its sights on not only controlling the womb, but women's sexuality as well. That's why this should scare the bejesus out of women. According to Birth Control Watch, 86 anti-abortion groups are committed to opposing any form of contraception.

Abortion will never end as long as society approves the use of contraception. The practice of contraception means children are unwanted and provides the rationalization for abortion. It is a violation of human dignity to promote or accept the use of contraception.

OK. That extreme view is no surprise. But wait a minute -- there are occupants of the GOP clown car that are equally willing to deny contraception because of their anti-choice views - and they are on the record about it.

Do you want the policies of these men in your bedroom, in your womb, in your doctor's office, at your local pharmacy?

Cristina Page has an excellent piece in the Baltimore Sun that shows just how extreme the views of the GOP candidates are.

Mitt Romney: When he met with the National Right to Life committee, Mitt was ready to scale back access to contraception with this statement:

"I fought to define life as beginning at conception rather than at the time of implantation." The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines pregnancy as starting at implantation, the first moment a pregnancy can be known. Anti-abortion advocates want pregnancy to start at the unknown moment sperm and egg meet: fertilization. They'd also like you to believe, despite evidence to the contrary, that the birth control pill prevents that fertilized egg from implanting in the womb.

Mr. Romney's code, deciphered, meant, "I, like you, hope to reclassify the most commonly used forms of contraceptives as abortions." In fact, he told the crowd, he already had some practice redefining contraception: "I vetoed a so-called emergency contraception bill that gave young girls abortive drugs without prescription or parental consent."

Remember, emergency contraception isn't formulated to disallow implantation; it prevents ovulation. Mitt's clearly ready with the speculum.

Sam Brownback: Here's the man who said that every fetus is sacred -- abortion is the murder of fetal citizens). He has co-sponsoring a bill that would de-fund Planned Parenthood, which is the nation's largest contraception provider.

Tom Tancredo: He's off the hook --

According to Mr. Tancredo, a Colorado Republican, emergency contraception "cheapens human life and simply uses a woman's body to dispose of the child instead of a doctor." By the same logic, so do the birth control pill, the contraceptive patch, the IUD, the NuvaRing, and the Depo-Provera shot - which, it's worth noting, together account for 40 percent of the birth control American women use.

John McCain:

[H]e has "consistently voted against taxpayer-funded contraception programs." And Mr. McCain reports that his adviser on sexual-health matters is Sen. Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, who leads campaigns claiming condoms are unsafe and opposing emergency contraception.

These pols are at odds with American women who use contraception -- and this is a huge base of voters to piss off. Dreams of womb control are not going to appeal to this group. Some stats from the Guttmacher Institute:

* Virtually all women (98%) aged 15-44 who have ever had intercourse have used at least one contraceptive method.

* Overall, 62% of the 62 million women aged 15-44 are currently using a contraceptive method.

* 31% of the 62 million women do not need a method because they are infertile; are pregnant, postpartum or trying to become pregnant; have never had intercourse; or are not sexually active.

* Thus, only 7% of women aged 15-44 are at risk of unwanted pregnancy but are not using contraceptives.

* Among the 42 million fertile, sexually active women who do not want to become pregnant, 89% are practicing contraception.

And one other matter -- the last refuge of non-permanent birth control left, aside from the rhythm method, is the condom. I think it would be prudent to ask whether the candidates would like to pull all of the rubbers from the shelves because it is interfering with God's plan for procreation.