The Alan Guttmacher Institute recently released the newest information that they have available on induced abortion. For those that are unaware of the Alan Guttmacher Institute their mission statement is as follows "Advancing sexual and reproductive health worldwide through research, policy analysis and public education" In reviewing the information of particular interest for me was the section on contraceptive use. 54 % having abortion used contraceptive the month they conceived, of those 76% of them were inconsistent with their use. 46% had not used birth control the month they conceived. 8% never used birth control. For me personally this is aggravating. It is basically like they are using abortion as birth control since they are not using birth control at all or haphazardly if they do. There is no excuse for this in today's society.
PLAGAL's stance is that life begins at conception thus the slogan HUMAN RIGHTS START WHEN HUMAN LIFE BEGINS. We recognize that it's members have different thoughts on the issue of birth control and take no official stance on the issue thus letting our membership form their own beliefs on the issue. We do however as a group do not support abstinence only education until marriage. One reason is that members of the LGBT community cannot get married so that would be hypocritical for us to even ask others to do what we cannot. You can view this publication at http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html
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3 comments:
Hi Cecilia,
I have a different interpretation of such data. While I can understand getting upset when it appears that people are not careful enough about a matter of life and death--it's immportant to consider the contexts in which many women have sex.
Aside from the poor quality of sex education, if any, contraception is most likely to work as intended in a relationship where there is open communication and there is shared power over such basic matters as whether, when, and how to have sex; whether or not to use birth control, and which method(s).
Unfortunately, all too many women are still raised to not identify and value their own wishes.
They may end up in relationships where they are subjected to sexual, emotional and physical violence that makes them vulnerable to unprotected sex and thus crisis pregnancy and abortion.
Abortion is often part of a whole cycle of intimate-partner and family violence. I think prolifers' energies are best spent on helping to break this cycle and promoting male nonviolence and responsibility.
And making contraceptives foolproof...even the most conscientious use of contraceptives may not prevent pregnancy.
And encouraging people who have penis vagina sex to double or even triple up on the brith control methods.
PS More on violence against women and its role in unplanned pregnancies and abortion (includes an action alert--please respond!):
http://nonviolentchoice.blogspot.com/2008/10/violence-against-women-much-neglected.html
Thanks Marysia for putting a side to the issue that I completly overlooked. The side that deals with violence. Thanks for the action alert.
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