Guest post by Terence Strait
So, recently something I said got memed and there have been lots of responses, both positive and negative. The negative responses all seem to follow the same theme, with one individual claiming that
So I wanted to take a moment and break down why that line is just completely insane, especially in the context of that quote.
Here’s the meme:
Republicans do everything imaginable to *increase* the rate of abortions, while fighting to make them illegal. I know that sounds odd, but follow me here. They push abstinence only education, which has been demonstrated over and over to actually increase the incidence of risky sexual behavior in teens
They fight against organizations that offer family planning services and are trying to make it so insurance companies will not have to cover birth control. Now, I know what you’re saying, there’s always condoms. But here’s the thing. The rate of misuse of condoms gives them a 15% failure rate, compared with a 2% failure rate with proper use.
So that’s them presumably deliberately increasing the rate of pregnancies, especially among teenagers and the less affluent members of society. Now let’s take a look at their policies regarding the consequences of those pregnancies.
They think employers should be able to fire women for being pregnant . They don’t think that insurance policies should cover maternity care which especially concerning given that our maternal mortality rate is higher than China’s. And the cost of giving birth is incredible .
They don’t do any better after the baby is actually born.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – previously food stamps – is a really easy place to start, which they are always trying to cut. And with several states refusing the medicaid expansion causing people to fall in the gap between medicaid and health insurance subsidies under PPACA, that’s a lot of people not having health insurance, and by extension, access to regular health care. On top of being fired for being pregnant, women can be fired for breastfeeding and the cost of childcare puts it out of reach for many families.
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