Why Did Contraception Stop Being Common Ground In The Abortion Wars?
An administration firmly opposed to abortion is taking steps that will only assure more unintended pregnancies.
Carole Joffe, Contributor Professor, Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, University of California, San Francisco
June 27, 2017
Many Americans are puzzled by the all-out attacks by the Trump administration on contraceptive services: the administration has signaled its intention to take contraception out of the list of no co-pay preventive services authorized by Obamacare; it has made clear its eagerness to defund Planned Parenthood; and it has appointed longtime ideological opponents of contraception to positions of power in the federal bureaucracy, including direct oversight of family planning programs. The question becomes, why is an administration firmly opposed to abortion taking steps that will only assure more unintended pregnancies, some of which in turn will lead to an increased demand for abortions? What became of that short-lived moment in American politics when contraception was viewed as the main point of “common ground” between supporters and opponents of abortion? The answer, simply put, lies in the ascendancy of the religious right as a dominant force in the Republican party.
Continued at source: Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-did-contraception-stop-being-common-ground-in-the_us_5952bd3ce4b0f078efd98594