I should really stop with the excessive uses of alliteration, shouldn’t I? Interesting anecdote: I was at the World of Coca-Cola this past weekend, and the tour guide was telling us about the origin of the name Coca-Cola. The name Coca-Cola was created by John Pemberton’s (the inventor of Coca-Cola) assistant, who thought two capital Cs looked great next to each other in terms of marketing. After considering Coca-Cola’s incredible global success, I decided to try not two, but three capital Cs in my title.
Before starting, I want to say that I am not really looking forward to sparking up a political, ethical, or religious debate; however, I do believe and will defend what I write. I am not exactly a fanatic for feminist issues. Frankly, I never really cared. So, why am I writing a post about something that I never cared about? Because of some recent interesting developments that caught my eyes.
After doing much research and reading, I finally took a stance on the issue of abortion. I have decided that I am definitely pro-choice, and the decision will help me in coming November when it is time to vote in the presidential election. Shoutout to President Barack Obama! (I haven’t made my decision yet, but you know, I’m getting the feeling).
During my research, I was shocked to learn that about half of the pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended (fact from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention). Yet, several safe and highly effective methods to prevent unintended pregnancy are available.
There were two recent developments that have both captured my attention. The first one was an instance where Fox News, America’s pro-life newsroom, attacked President Obama for referencing the “evil organization” Planned Parenthood in his speech in New Hampshire.
Fox News and several other media outlets blamed Obama for “pushing abortion” and “talking about contraception and Planned Parenthood to high school students.” Let’s clear out some things. To say that he was talking about contraception is too far of a stretch while he only mentioned it in one sentence. Although the event was held at a high school, the crowd of 1200 people was filled with workers of all ages. So, his audience was not strictly high school students.
In his entire speech, Obama said only one sentence concerning contraception and/or Planned Parenthood. He stated, “You can decide that instead of restricting access to birth control or defunding Planned Parenthood, we should make sure that in this country, women control their own health care choices.” I don’t know about you, but I honestly don’t see where Obama was “pushing abortion” or “telling high school students what to do with their sex life.”
Yes, we all know the media–in some instances, especially Fox News–is full of crap, but this is just pitiful. Women should and must have the choices and options they deserve to control what is going on with their own health and life in general. No one should be mandated to be pregnant, especially if it is not their choice. Therefore, contraception should be made available for all women all around the nation and the world. I am not saying women “should” use contraception or anything; I just want them to have the option.
Conservatives not only want to obliterate the option of abortion, but now, most want to limit access to birth control as well. I find this issue to be at least just as big of a threat to freedom (if not more) as the SOPA Act, and I kind of wonder why there wasn’t the same level of protest.
If you’re interested, check out this very interesting post from my fellow blogger, Athena Writes. Athena offers her opinion on contraception in American politics from a female’s point of view. http://politerate.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/someone-pass-the-birth-control-please/
I will be discussing the second development (even more interesting than this one) that captured my attention on part II of this post. The second part deals slightly more with religion and its impact on contraception in the modern world.
