Monday, February 23, 2009
William Saletan on Abortion and the "Culture Wars"
NY Times Op-Ed: This Is the Way the Culture Wars End, by William Saletan:
PRESIDENT OBAMA wants to end the culture wars. He recently called for “common ground” on abortion reduction and an end to the “stale and fruitless debate” over family planning. His joint address to Congress this week could be an opportunity to change that debate. But to make a real difference, he’ll have to tell two truths that the left and the right don’t want to hear: that morality has to be practical, and that practicality requires morals....
Mr. Obama, like many other pro-choicers, doesn’t like to preach on these issues. He talks about family planning purely in terms of access and affordability. Overseas, that’s a huge challenge. But in this country, the principal cause of abortions isn’t that we can’t get birth control. It’s that we don’t use it.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/reproductive_rights/2009/02/william-saletan.html
The extent to which he misses the point in that article enrages me. He blathers on and on about how contraception is supposedly readily available but people (i.e. women who are at fault for everything) don't use it. He totally ignores the fact that young people are not getting comprehensive sex ed in this country. Of course people don't use contraception, if they have a very limited knowledge of sexual health.
Posted by: earlgreyrooibos | Feb 23, 2009 12:17:59 PM