The Truth About Contraceptives Stimulating the Economy

You contradicted yourself.

In your first point, you are "depressed" because you conflate support for family planning with subsidies for abortion.

In your third point, you are "depressed" because people conflate support for family planning with subsidies for abortion.

I take it you are depressing yourself?

To be perfectly blunt, I don't know whether you are woefully ignorant - in which case you should not write about these topics - or deliberately mendacious. You write: "On the other hand, the pro-family-planning folks have never, as far as I know, come up with a way of promoting family planning services that wouldn't also lead to indirectly subsidizing abortion. And since they support direct federal funding for abortions, the pro-life forces are not wrong to fear some of this money will end up promoting abortion."

No federal money pays for abortion. Medicaid does not cover abortion. Family planning providers are required by law to keep their federal funding for family planning services - fee-for-service funding - separate from anything that has to do with abortion. What else do you want?

Seriously. What else do you want? If you can't articulate what policy you'd like to see that would keep abortion "subsidies" more separate from federal reimbursement for services providing contraceptive information and supplies to low-income women, don't blame anyone else for not dreaming it up.

This post illustrates to me the extent to which one must abandon logic and realism in order to support the position the GOP has staked out. You have literally contradicted yourself and demanded policy provisions you yourself cannot imagine.

And all to maintain your self-satisfied, oh-so-"reasonable" position in the "common ground." Once again, the base instinct to stroke one's own ego trumps both the public interest and common sense.

PS. I am morally opposed to my tax dollars being used to subsidize the capital punishment, which I view as immoral and deeply offensive to my faith. Until the federal government finds a way to separate my tax money from the execution (so to speak) of this policy, I demand the right to withhold my tax payments. I look forward to you advocacy on my behalf.

The article is confusing because it seems to argue both sides of the points. It seems to me the birth control is part of Obama's statements about reducing abortions.

I doubt Pelosi wants less babies. Nancy Pelosi's desire for contraceptives being in the stimulus package has practical benefits. Anyone receiving Medicaid is extremely low income. The current cost for birth controls pills is $50 or more a month, which is a considerable amount for someone already living at poverty level.

While taxpayers would not pay for birth control pills, we would pay for the birth of the baby. Women at poverty level have a higher rate of babies with problems. The babies are likely to grow up with physical or mental issues. They are more likely to need special education classes. Long story short, the cycle of poverty is likely to continue.

If the woman has a low paying job without health insurance, the woman and her baby will end up at emergency rooms for medical care.

I am surprised about that the current spending on family planning/contraception in Medicare being 1.3 billion. Unless the laws have changed, individuals on Medicare have to qualify for social security, which means they are 62 and above or disabled. It would be interesting to see a breakout of who is receiving family planning/contraception through Medicare.

The federal government gives states money for many different programs. There are controls and auditors from HHS's Office of Inspector General for Medicaid and USDA's Office of Inspector General for food stamps reviewing the programs. The audit structure is already established. Hopefully Congress has learned from giving the banks big money without controls.

What ever happened to no compromise in the area of sin? Have we as a country become so calloused that we no longer break and weep at the thoughts of our hard earned dollars having even the possibility of being used to fund abortions. How could we have strayed so far as to look upon these pure, innocent children, and speak words against them just as Hitler did the Jewish people? He didn't "kill" them rather he "purged society" of their presence. We don't "kill babies", rather we "abort fetuses". God have mercy upon us.