Conservative Solution to Teen Pregnancy: Coca Cola?

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday July 14, 2015 · 3:06 PM PDT

2015/07/14 · 15:06

Teens don’t feel ready for babies? Let them drink coke!

Take this pop quiz: A sexually active teen doesn’t feel ready to raise a baby, so she goes to the health clinic at her high school. Which of the following should be available to her: A. the best birth control options recommended by medical experts for sexually active teens. B. Coca Cola.

You’d be amazed at how many Right-Wing commentators just got this wrong. Or maybe you wouldn’t.

Fox and friends are celebrating summer by assaulting a teen health program in Washington State that offers young women the top tier contraceptives recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Centers for Disease Control, meaning IUDs and implants that totally tank the teen pregnancy rate (as they did in Colorado) and have bonus health benefits like cancer protection and lighter less frequent periods.

Want to know why the AAP and CDC recommend these methods for sexually active teens?

Valerie Tarico

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday April 08, 2015 · 11:58 AM PDT

2015/04/08 · 11:58

Did a recent graphic by the anti-gay, pro-religious-freedom American Family Association make their intentions a little too clear?

The American Family Association (AFA) proudly describes itself as one of the largest and most effective “pro-family” organizations in the United States.

This doesn’t mean that AFA advocates for healthcare or paid family leave or family planning or education funding or laws that protect abused children, or aid to dependent children, or other evidence based services that promote family flourishing. Nope; it means they use their legal clout and broadcast media to oppose gay rights in places like Indiana, obstruct access to abortion care, repeal universal healthcare, and defund public services and regulations.

Valerie Tarico

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday March 13, 2015 · 3:24 PM PDT

2015/03/13 · 15:24

Unwanted pregnancy is contributing to a new "caste system" in America. Is that about to get worse?

When new and better technologies become available only to people who are already privileged, the rich get richer and opportunity gaps get wider. That's exactly what's happening with family planning--and unless trends change, a recent revolution in contraceptive technology may deepen Americaâs economic divide.

Many factors intersect to create poverty or keep people mired there: racism, sexism, untreated illness and mental illness, hopelessness created by lack of opportunity, structural barriers between social classes, and more. Disruptive, unsought pregnancy and childbearing is one of these factors, both a cause and consequence of poverty. Modern long-acting contraceptives offer women impressive protection, literally toggling the fertility default setting to "off" until a woman wants it on. But as with so many empowering tools, access is least available to those most vulnerable to having their family wellbeing, dreams and opportunities derailed.

Valerie Tarico

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday November 04, 2012 · 9:12 AM PST

2012/11/04 · 09:12

Christians of many stripes are scrambling to distance themselves, their religion, or their God from Republican comments about rape. Those Christians who see the Bible as an imperfect human document have the right to distance themselves. Those who see the Bible as unique and perfect revelation, essentially dictated by God to the writers, do not. The perspective that God intends rape babies and that such pregnancies should be allowed to run their course is absolutely biblical.

Valerie Tarico

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday February 09, 2012 · 12:14 PM PST

2012/02/09 · 12:14

What do Koch Industries and the Catholic hierarchy have in common? A determination to shift rights away from individuals and assign them to institutions.

In their campaign to block medical access to contraceptives, marriage equality and death with dignity, religious institutional leaders are going after a non-profit version of corporate personhood. They want the organizations they control to have the constitutional rights of natural persons (in this case freedom of conscience/religion) just like multinational corporations want the constitutional rights of natural persons (in their case, free speech). The only real difference is which constitutional rights they find most conducive to their ends.

Valerie Tarico

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday February 01, 2012 · 10:09 PM PST

2012/02/01 · 22:09

Abortion kills 25 million women a year, he wrote. Women.

Strength of Character As anyone who reads news knows by now, the Susan G. Komen Foundation has decided that fetal survival is more important to them than the survival of girls and women; more important than their brand as objective advocates for women’s health; more important than their ability to bring diverse communities together around our common love for our mothers and daughters, sisters and friends.

In the storm of controversy surrounding Komen’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood’s breast exams and mammograms, people I call pro-birth are out in force. On the Komen Facebook page, one made a point of sneering at people he sees as hypocrites because we value both the work that Planned Parenthood does to save women’s lives and their contraceptive and abortion services. Abortion kills 25 million women a year, he said.

Women. Women?

Valerie Tarico

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday January 21, 2012 · 4:16 PM PST

2012/01/21 · 16:16

One of the great ironies of American society is that most abortions in the U.S. are caused by conservative Christians. Read the statistics: Forty nine percent of pregnancies in this country are unintended, a rate that has been painfully stable for almost 30 years. Almost half of those pregnancies end in abortion. Or, to turn it around, over 90% of U.S. abortions are the result of accidental pregnancy. U.S. rates of unwanted pregnancy and abortion far exceed any other country with similar economic development. So does our rate of religiosity. The fact that we are outliers on both is not a coincidence.

Valerie Tarico

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday January 14, 2012 · 2:27 PM PST

2012/01/14 · 14:27

Last month, the Associated Press distributed an article titled: Birth control: Lots of choices, but confusion is widespread. Good news: Even if you feel hazy or muddled right now, you likely have access to technologies your parents could only have dreamed of. Bad news: The confusion is no accident. When a serious presidential candidate can approve outlawing contraception, you know there are powerful forces aligned against you having control over your fertility. Getting the facts takes some digging, because powerful people are intent on burying them. If you know who is obscuring information and why, you're more likely to figure out your real options.

Valerie Tarico

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday June 20, 2010 · 10:28 AM PDT

2010/06/20 · 10:28

British Petroleum has become an enemy we love to hate. The face of Tony Hayward provides a focus for our outrage as we watch images of oil soaked birds struggling to fly, as simple people along the coast weep about lost livelihood, as we face years of conservation efforts undone, as we think of black goo oozing toward places we love.

It is one of the ironies of human nature that we can feel this outrage as we drive to work or sit in comfort on a transatlantic flight.

Our brains are built for causal analysis. When things go wrong, we instinctively ask why—we look for something or someone to blame. That’s good. Seeking explanations is part of intelligence; it allows us to survive and thrive, to avoid harm and pursue goals. But our ability to allocate blame is fundamentally flawed.

Valerie Tarico

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday October 15, 2009 · 1:12 PM PDT

2009/10/15 · 13:12

Advice for candidates from a former fundie.

One thing I learned not long after finishing my Spanish degree was – never volunteer to translate anything into a language you don’t dream in. I was visiting Flores, Guatemala, and offered to help a small art collective. In response, they handed me some fliers to translate from English to Spanish. I had that four year degree, you know, so I did--with embarrassing results. My sentences were grammatically correct, and the words even meant what I thought they meant. But no native speaker ever would have said things quite that way, and someone had to tactfully tell me so. I still wince at the memory, at my own naiveté and hubris.

Valerie Tarico

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday October 12, 2009 · 4:26 PM PDT

2009/10/12 · 16:26

Next week in King County, Washington, "nonpartisan" Susan Hutchison will be vying with Democrat Dow Constantine for the role of County Executive. The seat controls significant resources in a region that often plays a leadership role in future oriented public policy. If King County were a state, its budget size would be 13th in the country. Economically, the county lives on cutting edge science, engineering and technology: Microsoft, Boeing, Amgen, Nintendo and a host of tech/biotech start ups.

What national precedents is King County likely to be setting in the next go around? That depends in part on who sits in the executive seat. Constantine has track records in brokering anti-sprawl, sustainable development and historic preservation. He’s a proponent of strong, innovative carbon policies. But who is the elusive Hutchison?

Valerie Tarico

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday October 08, 2009 · 12:37 PM PDT

2009/10/08 · 12:37

"I don't know if it's real," my friend Laura said, "but some conservatives have decided to edit the Bible. I sent you the link." She started laughing, and I laughed too. Over the next few days more friends sent articles about the Conservative Bible Project. All asked the same question. Is this a spoof or is it legit? Andrew Sullivan, who linked the project subtitled his post: "Not an Onion Headline."

Newer
Older

RSS

Conservative Solution to Teen Pregnancy: Coca Cola?

American Family Association Posts then Hastily Deletes Explicit Theocratic Aspirations

Will Unequal Access to New IUDs and Implants Worsen America's Economic Divide?

The Bible Says Yes To Legitimate Rape and Rape Babies

Catholic Bishops Demand Corporate Personhood

I am Woman

Righteous Abortion: How Conservative Christians Promote The Thing They Claim to Hate

15 Things Old Boys like Rick Santorum Don't Want You to Know About Your Contraception

Anger About Spill Offers Opportunity

Campaign Talk: Tricks for Speaking Evangelese; Pitfalls to avoid.

Susan Hutchison – Washington State’s Sarah Palin?

Conservative Edit of Bible Follows Time Honored Precedents