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Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
(Note: Think that anti-choice politicians and activists aren't trying to outlaw contraception? Think again. Follow along in an ongoing series that proves beyond a doubt that they really are coming for your birth control.)

Charlotte Lozier Institute's Michael New is at it again, with another article reminding us of why the battle over the right to control a woman's reproduction is about more than just abortion, but also about contraception and the act of sex itself.
Writing in the National Review Online, New posits that the clearest way to determine a person's opinions on whether abortion should remain legal is to examine whether or not that person believes premarital sex is immoral. It's a fairly simple gamble to make, and one that doesn't need any studies or surveys to really back it up. Considering almost 60 percent of Americans think that premarital sex isn't a sin, and that 95 percent of Americans have had premarital sex (yes, even people who believe they were going to Hell for doing it... well, do it), the idea that the same minority of people would also believe abortion is immoral would make perfect sense.
What doesn't make sense (at least, not if anti-choice advocates really want to end legal abortion) is arguing that the best way to proceed is to convince people that premarital sex is wrong. I guess the assumption is that as a corollary, more people would then want abortion ended as well?
I always remind pro-lifers that a promiscuous society will never support significant restrictions on abortion. While pro-lifers are good at talking about fetal development and personal responsibility, we are less comfortable with subjects such as sexual activity and contraception. Indeed, it is doubtless more difficult to advocate for sexual restraint than for the unborn. However, this is a battle in which pro-lifers must continue to engage if we are to succeed in our goal of providing legal protection to all unborn children.
I'm just going to backtrack and insert this again. Over 95 out of 100 people report having premarital sex. Yes, 95 percent. And they have been for decades. The only difference between 95 percent of people in the fifties having sex and 95 percent of people today having sex before marriage?
Now we have birth control.
Or, at least we do at the moment. But who knows how long that will last since, as New makes it clear, they are coming for your birth control. For the sake of ending abortion, of course.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
(Note: Think that anti-choice politicians and activists aren't trying to outlaw contraception? Think again. Follow along in an ongoing series that proves beyond a doubt that they really are coming for your birth control.)

Charlotte Lozier Institute's Michael New is at it again, with another article reminding us of why the battle over the right to control a woman's reproduction is about more than just abortion, but also about contraception and the act of sex itself.
Writing in the National Review Online, New posits that the clearest way to determine a person's opinions on whether abortion should remain legal is to examine whether or not that person believes premarital sex is immoral. It's a fairly simple gamble to make, and one that doesn't need any studies or surveys to really back it up. Considering almost 60 percent of Americans think that premarital sex isn't a sin, and that 95 percent of Americans have had premarital sex (yes, even people who believe they were going to Hell for doing it... well, do it), the idea that the same minority of people would also believe abortion is immoral would make perfect sense.
What doesn't make sense (at least, not if anti-choice advocates really want to end legal abortion) is arguing that the best way to proceed is to convince people that premarital sex is wrong. I guess the assumption is that as a corollary, more people would then want abortion ended as well?
I always remind pro-lifers that a promiscuous society will never support significant restrictions on abortion. While pro-lifers are good at talking about fetal development and personal responsibility, we are less comfortable with subjects such as sexual activity and contraception. Indeed, it is doubtless more difficult to advocate for sexual restraint than for the unborn. However, this is a battle in which pro-lifers must continue to engage if we are to succeed in our goal of providing legal protection to all unborn children.
I'm just going to backtrack and insert this again. Over 95 out of 100 people report having premarital sex. Yes, 95 percent. And they have been for decades. The only difference between 95 percent of people in the fifties having sex and 95 percent of people today having sex before marriage?
Now we have birth control.
Or, at least we do at the moment. But who knows how long that will last since, as New makes it clear, they are coming for your birth control. For the sake of ending abortion, of course.
(Note: Think that anti-choice politicians and activists aren't trying to outlaw contraception? Think again. Follow along in an ongoing series that proves beyond a doubt that they really are coming for your birth control.)

Charlotte Lozier Institute's Michael New is at it again, with another article reminding us of why the battle over the right to control a woman's reproduction is about more than just abortion, but also about contraception and the act of sex itself.
Writing in the National Review Online, New posits that the clearest way to determine a person's opinions on whether abortion should remain legal is to examine whether or not that person believes premarital sex is immoral. It's a fairly simple gamble to make, and one that doesn't need any studies or surveys to really back it up. Considering almost 60 percent of Americans think that premarital sex isn't a sin, and that 95 percent of Americans have had premarital sex (yes, even people who believe they were going to Hell for doing it... well, do it), the idea that the same minority of people would also believe abortion is immoral would make perfect sense.
What doesn't make sense (at least, not if anti-choice advocates really want to end legal abortion) is arguing that the best way to proceed is to convince people that premarital sex is wrong. I guess the assumption is that as a corollary, more people would then want abortion ended as well?
I always remind pro-lifers that a promiscuous society will never support significant restrictions on abortion. While pro-lifers are good at talking about fetal development and personal responsibility, we are less comfortable with subjects such as sexual activity and contraception. Indeed, it is doubtless more difficult to advocate for sexual restraint than for the unborn. However, this is a battle in which pro-lifers must continue to engage if we are to succeed in our goal of providing legal protection to all unborn children.
I'm just going to backtrack and insert this again. Over 95 out of 100 people report having premarital sex. Yes, 95 percent. And they have been for decades. The only difference between 95 percent of people in the fifties having sex and 95 percent of people today having sex before marriage?
Now we have birth control.
Or, at least we do at the moment. But who knows how long that will last since, as New makes it clear, they are coming for your birth control. For the sake of ending abortion, of course.