Why Do Conservatives Hate Contraception?
As a guy, I probably shouldn’t be wading into this subject, but, hey…I’ve got an opinion on it, so here goes.
Today, in yet another HUGE step backwards, Trump announced he’s rolling back a key rule of the Affordable Care Act requiring employers to cover contraception costs for their female employees. The new rule gives employers the “option” to not provide coverage, but doesn’t actually repeal the rule, which the administration knows would be hugely unpopular. The anti-choice knuckledraggers are rejoicing the move, even though unintended pregnancies and abortion have dropped after the ACA to their lowest levels since abortion became legal in 1973. This move is stupid, like most other decisions Trump has made, will drive costs up for women’s healthcare by hundreds of millions of dollars per yer, AND will cause unintended pregnancies to once again start climbing.
So what’s going on here? Why, in the 21st century, would anyone want to force women to bear children by making contraception harder to get, and abortion services almost impossible to receive. I understand (even though I don’t agree with) the long standing teachings of the Catholic Church, even though actually being a non-practicing Catholic, I know for a fact that clergy all over the world looks the other way when it comes to the whole no contraception thing. But why would others so vehemently oppose one of the most empowering methods for women to control their own bodies?
Well, I finally learned the reason just recently, and I can’t believe it took this long for me. The reason that conservatives hate birth control? Race. If you keep birth control services away from well-off white women they’ll start making babies as fast as those poor, dark skinned women. Yep, as shocking as that sounds, this is a theory born of white supremacists that has now permeated conservative politics to the point that normal people have been brainwashed to believe that women controlling ANY aspect of their own bodily functions especially when they make babies should not be allowed.
Hear me out – Just recently, the New York Times published the story of a young Swedish student who went undercover and penetrated several white supremacist organizations in Europe and the US, even videoing conversations with their leaders. The one thing that becomes clear in these videos is that these people are weird and scary. I’m mean REALLY weird and scary. They dress in goofy khaki shirts and shorts with ties like the Hitler youth used to wear, but spout the same dark ideology as their hero, Hitler. And they talk continuously of mainstreaming their ideas of separating all the races from one another so each race lives in its own “ethno society”. One of these weirdos is an American recluse named Greg Johnson who runs Counter Currents Publishing, that spreads racist hate and drivel. In a particular video shot undercover, he described how he would organize these societies. He says the first thing he would do is ban all “voluntary birth control”. Explaining further, he says,
“Voluntary birth control means that people who are far sighted and responsible restrict their fertility, and people who are impulsive and stupid don’t. That’s dysgenic on the face of it, so you can’t leave birth control up to the individual.”
He went on to talk about giving women a free year of education for each child they bear, and advocates for sterilization of those convicted of serious crimes. It goes on and on. The video is embedded in the NYT article I linked to, and I highly recommend you listen the entire thing even though it, and indeed the entire article, is chilling. This warped thinking has now actually been mainstreamed far enough to be picked up by conservatives in the US, and it comes straight from ethno fascist ideology that we thought had been stamped out when we destroyed the Nazis in 1945. But it’s back, and it’s back with a vengeance, aided today by evil toads like Steve Bannon, and useful idiots like Donald Trump.
Learning this little factoid helped me understand what was until recently one of those weird beliefs of conservatives that I never could get. I have to tell you, this is about as scary as it gets to this old guy.
Is Viagra still covered for these old farts?
1@Fran: yes.
Jefe: You figured it out….it’s ‘Kinder, Küche, Kirche’ all over again, a thing most of us wimmin have known for generations. Or, as we say in the south, ‘barefoot and pregnant’, right where those who do not wish to share power want us.
2Sarah Palin had an unlimited number of children. About all you say for their contribution to American society is, they’re white. Unless I missed it, I haven’t heard any of their names called by the Noble Committee this week.
However, over on the Wasilla police scanner…
3It seems so obvious that if you limit access to birth control, you increase abortions, and if you want to reduce abortions, you need to increase access to birth control. How can religious right “pro-lifers” support making it harder for women to get contraception?
4You cannot get across to people that free and available birth control has done more to reduce the number of abortions than all their anti-abortion ugliness.
Making white women breed to keep up with the darkies? Hadn’t heard that one, though the “marching morons” point that the smart and educated people restrict their births more than the gum-snapping rednecks do has been around for a while. (And a few elections back, all the GOP presidential candidates had at least 3 kids, and no Democratic candidate had more than 2.)
No woman should have more children than she wants to have. That’s my bottom line. Though I think that having more than two, or even one, should be strongly discouraged because seven billion heading rapidly for eight is too damn many already.
5Fifty years ago, I attended the Southern Baptist church. At that time the SBC did a study on demographics. IIRC, sometime when I was a really old woman, minorities would be the majority in Texas. That’s when the duty to reproduce came to be.
6I saw it in younger fundamentalists when I was the surrogate grandma for the kids next door. I went to programs at the private religious school. Prior to the program, they all met at the restaurant across the street. They all ha5 or 6 kids in elementary school. The tuition bill for 6 kids x 14 years of private school stopped me cold.
That actually sounds counter-intuitive. If you make birth control harder to get, then only the well-off women will have it. And since we still have inequality, there are more well-off Caucasians than minorities. So it would make a lot more sense to provide free birth control to the minorities than make it harder for everyone to receive birth control.
7I saw a recent article that showed surprisingly high numbers of people think that the birth control pill works the same way as the morning after pill. They think that life begins at conception, think that’s a biblical idea, and that the pill stops implantation of a fertilized egg. In reality, the pill stops ovulation before fertilization can occur. Try convincing these boneheads about that, though. To them, all birth control is the same.
8Why do conservatives hate contraception?
Oh, come on guys. You already know the answer.
Conservatives want women to be under their control in all ways and specifically they want to punish women for having sex without their specific approval.
Ever hear of the “Missionary Position” and how it got that name? This has been going on a long time.
Women (and men) having free access to contraception is anathema to that.
9Back to the old ‘master race’ thinking. Brilliant next step for them is forced inbreeding, just when we thought their gene pool couldn’t be any dimmer.
10Oftentimes, abortion is an economic decision. I know, I know. But, “Well, they should have of that before…” is no help now. If conservatives want more “white” babies, then they can initiate policies to strengthen middle income economics. But, no. It’s the super-rich who need that help, i suppose.
Frankly, in the broader sense it’s all about “control” with these people. Who has babies, who doesn’t. Who gets married, who doesn’t. Who is allowed to vote, who isn’t. And all based on what they think is right. Since the world won’t freely accept their way of doing things they’ll find a way to impose it on everyone. There’s a term for that. Lessee, what is it now?
11Edit: “Well,, they should have thought of that before…”
12I’d love to know how many abortions Trum-p has paid for. The GOP only believes in contraception when they need it.
13There is a grade B movie, made some years ago that developed just this premise. Titled “Idiocracy”, it depicted a world 400 years hence populated by really stupid people. This came about just as Greg Johnson fears. The stupids outbred the smarts to the extent that the latter disappeared. Something to ponder.
14I completely agree with Alan and always have been sure that controlling women’s sexuality was the main purpose. These “wimmin” (harlots) start having all that sex like men are free to do, and this is bad for those old farts who are no longer contenders and who desperately want punish the women for their “sins”.
Any of those farsighted and responsible woman will have no problem working around it. IUDs and birth control are cheap and easy for somebody who takes a quick trip to Mexico…unlike poor minority women who are less likely to be able to.
These idiots who have come up with ways to restrict women are just going to find themselves in the minority much faster.
15A couple of other things these geniuses obviously haven’t figured out. Farsighted and responsible women are starting to look with horror at the world these guys are creating for these kids and don’t want to subject their children to that. Also, I am seeing more white families adopting minority children who need homes instead of (or in addition to) bringing their own into the world.
16There is one fatal flaw. If affluent white women can’t get contraception through their insurance, they can afford to pay for it out of pocket. Working class and working poor women, on the other hand, are not in that position most of the time.
So … the birth rate in the lower and lower middle classes could surge to some extent, while the birth rate among upper class women likely remains stagnant.
I think the real reason for overturning this rule, like almost everything to come from this administration, is that Obama did it. The same thing is going to derail the Iran nuclear agreement and put the Ayatollahs back in the bomb-making business. It’s already lost us huge face over the Paris Climate Accord; why leave an unenforceable, voluntary-compliance treaty in place when you can utilize it to give a racist middle finger to your predecessor?
17No surprise! The rePUKEians started the totally failed war on drugs because of racist bigotry, so why not the war on women for the same reason.
18Let’s face it. Anyone who tries to deny a woman the right to an abortion forfeits the moral authority to also deny artificial contraception.
19Interesting theories all. But I think we just nicked the corner of the truth. The real reason for the GOP restricting access to birth control isn’t ideological, but political.
Yes, some of them do hold some of these various harebrained theories. But on a more cynical and realistic level, the GOP pols don’t want abortion to go away. Because it’s become one of the bedrock issues for their base. The more women who can use birth control, the fewer unwanted pregnancies. Leading to fewer abortions. And the lower the abortion rate, the less red meat to throw to the rabidly anti-abortion base. Which is why the GOP is extending their opposition to contraception, not just abortion. It has little to do with controlling women, per se. They want to control and profit from their base.
Granted, that base has many members whose febrile minds and psyches ARE virulently anti-woman. It’s one of the pillars of fundamentalism, regardless of religion or sect. And racial demographics enter into it. One of the best ways to keep people poor is to make sure that they produce more children than they can adequately care for and educate. But the ruling class uses these as instruments for maintaining power. If they had another mechanism that worked as well, most of them wouldn’t give a damn about abortion or contraception.
20Let’s face it. Birth control pills should cost at a maximum $4.00 per month. Think about how many are sold worldwide? (Admittedly, I have no idea what they cost these days, correct me please if I’m wrong)
They aren’t talking about restricting them (yet) just not having plans pay for them which is pure idiocy because, again, they should cost next to nothing.
It’s not about cost, it’s about riling up the mouth breathing base and it’s been a tough week/month/quarter so some meat had to be thrown in the cage.
21StuartC, I’ve been calling our form of government an Idiocracy since the dotard was nominated. It’s just gotten more and more fitting since then.
So many spot-on comments here: Yes, the Rs want to keep women “in their place”; yes, less contraceptives means both (a) more births among the lower classes and (b) more abortion; yes, the “war on women” is way too parallel to the “war on drugs”–both doomed to failure but sure to hurt plenty of innocents along the way.
Idiocracy, to be sure.
22The stupids have outbred the smarts…. Well, that’s one plausible explanation for how Trump got 62 million votes.
23Are y’all familiar with the Quiverful Movement? Absolutely no bc, natural or otherwise because only god opens and closes the womb.
“Some Quiverfull adherents believe they are building an army for God — or at least an army of conservative Christians.”
“anti-feminist and encourages a patriarchal system.”
“has been linked to sexual assault before.”
There’s more about this glorious lunacy of white people in North America, Australia and New Zealand. The notorious Duggars are best known of the batch. Huff Post has an article here:
24https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/26/quiverfull-movement-facts_n_7444604.html
BTW, while I think all the reasons offered here for snacilbupeR Neanderthalic behavior have merit, I’d put control of women at the very top of the list — All Alone.
Even males who do not actively participate in the patriarchy benefit from it, like fish benefit from water. It’s just there for them and more difficult to recognize, but for girls and women it’s often/sometimes/always(?) like a constant, nagging opponent. What snacilbupeR are doing is adding weight to that.
25Women knew who the mother was. No one could know who the father was. So, in the far past, control of women guaranteed the male line was carried on. It all grows from that. Why waste your resources raising someone not you kid?
26As El Jefe said, I probably shouldn’t wade into this. But f**k it. Every comment preceding this is true. The problem is that the people who benefit from our disagreements know how to keep us disagreeing. And the main thing they want is lower taxes. Period.
27Well duh???
28Hitler promoted aryan fertility even to the point of encourageing aryan women to take on multiple aryan partners.
Slave owners wifes were expected to be fertile no matter the physical, mental and emotional cost even when it ment giving up children to be raised by the African anny.
The whole point of wet nurses and nanny’s was to allow individuals of priviledge ( usually white women and Chinese Empresses) to have minimual disruption of priviledge while spawning a new generation of ubermensches.
Perfect example of the Quiverful mentality … The Duggar family. And they are still producing as fast as they can!!!
29No mystery here. This isn’t being properly digested by the electorate. All these forays into social engineering and social control are racist & sexist reminders of who’s in charge.
More choir practice is needed … with megaphones, loudspeakers, etc. Bring back the political tactics [but not values] and theatrics of Huey Long, George Wallace, Happy Chandler & William Jennings Bryan! Sound trucks, dancing girls, carny barkers, whatever it takes to get people to listen — without competing noise in their ears.
The rite-wing noise machine has effectively silenced liberal and moderate discussion on the issues and made facts useless.
30RE: Quiverfull Movement and the Duggars
Ohhh my g*d. Talk about taking one Bible verse on which to build your castle in the sky, then moving right into it … wow. A quiver full eh?
And just for the record, every single thing about the Duggars disgust me. Their 15 minutes is well done.
TLC should be ashamed of themselves. There are some things that should not be done for profit.
31Lunargent nailed it. If you missed that comment, please go back and read.
32As with anything Republican, it comes down to greed and intolerance; core values of the GOP.
33People of color have been the source of forced or cheap labor in this country since the 1600s. In addition to the Catholic church, the misogynists’ attitude towards women, the desire to “keep them in their place”, the fundamentalists’ Quiverfull movement, keeping the anti-abortion movement alive — all pertinent to the issue of access to birth control — there is this abomination in our nation’s past that I think may reside still in the psyche of those who oppose access to birth control:
lots of poor people means the opportunity to insure an ongoing source of cheap labor.
Read this gem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_breeding_in_the_United_States
34AK Lynne, They aren’t just adopting them- they’re giving birth to them.
True story: back in the 1930s, my Nana cried because her 100% Eyetalian firstborn took himself an Irish wife. (#2 son did the same, still a shock.) And she did say to me, in 1969 that it was a shame my Chinese friend “couldn’t look like us”. (Yeah, big nose and frizzy hair, some shame.)
Now fast forward to 2017 and Nana’s great great grands: they’re Native American, African American, Asian, Jewish, Indian- a whole rainbow of the cutest babies you’ve ever seen. There’s no going back to my 99% WASP town and I couldn’t be happier.
35If anyone thinks this business of the alt-right wanting birth control denied so that white, upper class women will be force to produce more babies is new, then they are a lot younger than I am. I remember a book in my parents’ house entitled
36Modern Eugenics, which spelled out the whole thing of keeping the population all white and extremely intelligent.
As a white, intelligent woman who is a writer, an activist who marched for Roe VS Wade, I recall with joy the moment I set that book on fire and watched it burn . . . . the only book I ever wanted to destroy.
lazrgrl, you remind me of a line I copied down from a mystery novel:
“I was adopted. I have no idea of my ethnic background.”
“I think you’re part everything. The first time I saw you, I thought, ‘Here’s what we all will come to look like when we get over this foolish idea of race and just marry the people we love. And what a glorious result it is.”
37I studied this for years, in and out of college. One other thing the eugenicists want: a predominantly white male society so the women can never revolt and all the other “ethno societies”
38can’t break their chains.
The hidden word in the phrase white supremacist is MALE. War on women is so much easier than anything going. White males are no longer in control and they can’t stand it! Birth control gives women control and rightly so. Birth control is about so much more than actual birth. It has a lot to do with preventive issues that women face and men ignore; endometriosis, poor health from having too many children too often, choices in life.
39If there’s one thing a man can’t stand it’s a woman who minds her own business!!
We didn’t beat the Nazis, the Russians did. We went into western Europe to stop them, not the Germans.
Once you bring our actual motives for WWII into better focus, our current mess follows more naturally and reasonably from past events. Even in the 1930s our leaders would sacrifice anything to stop communists while only pretending to mind fascists.
40