Birth control will be readily available to the poor

Beginning January 1, 2013, preventative measures, including birth control, will become available without co-pay under the overhaul of the nation’s health-care system.

In other words, amongst other aspects of health care available, finally, to the poor will be birth control.

One aspect of the argument against a woman’s right—let’s use a popular term for the matter, "sovereignty" over her body—to obtain an abortion has been religious/moral in that those opposed to Roe v. Wade, a rational view of the Ninth Amendment, and the penumbra of rights that emanate from the Bill of Rights believe abortion to constitute the killing of a human life. If one backtracks the position on the issue of choice of many (not all, but many) of these people, eventually one encounters a belief that birth control is immoral. This would be rooted, in most instances, in a belief derived from the bible that people should have sex only to procreate.

This is a view that has led to disastrous results in the form of unwanted pregnancies. In the May, 2001, issue of The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Professors John J. Donohue, III, and Michael Levitt cites statistics to indicate crime rates dropped significantly roughly 18 years after the Supreme Court handed down Rowe. The 18-year mark is important because that is about the time males typically begin to engage in anti-social activity such as crime.

So set aside the matter of Roe for a moment. Children should receive competent, that is comprehensive, sex education in school. Included in that should be an admonition not to engage in sex before a certain time. Marriage is not the hurdle in the view of the vast majority of people, who lose their virginity before marriage. An age at which a person legally can give consent and at which s/he fully understands the risks of sex—pregnancy, the responsibilities and changes in lifestyle it entails, and the of sexually transmitted disease—is the age to which people should refrain. Several studies and two Sarah Palin child parents indicate abstinence-only advocacy is not nearly as effective.

There are people who, if one backtracks on these arguments, ultimately believe women should remain in the home to bear and raise children. The argument against a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion is the final and most notable element of their argument against women’s rights. Readily available birth control is an important means by which abortion can be avoided.

As a society we benefit from the population not expanding further. The news yesterday was awful. Our economy will be crippled in the next decades my the deal cut to raise the debt ceiling. A major carpenter in the work of raising that ceiling was Ronald (is there supposed to be a little phrase such as "praise be his name"?) Reagan, who oversaw the ceiling lifted 17 or 18 times (depending upon the source reporting) during his administration. At least there was one aspect of the events of the day that was positive.