UN- Birth Control a Human Right

[Bethella]

http://theweek.com/article/index/236509/is-birth-control-a-human-right not breaking link to news site

Is birth control a human right?

A U.N. agency says every woman and adolescent in the world should have access to contraception

The United Nations Population Fund has released an annual report in which it states, for the first time, that access to birth control is an essential human right. The agency says that the lives of women and female adolescents around the world will improve if they're ensured contraceptives, and that legal, cultural, and financial barriers to family planning services therefore violate their basic rights. Beyond the rights issue, the report says that increasing annual funding for these services by $4 billion in poor countries could save $11.3 billion in medical bills for mothers and newborns. The Population Fund's conclusions aren't binding, and the procedures it advocates don't include abortion, but critics said the group is just trying to pave the way to declare universal abortion rights, too. Is the U.N. going too far, or is this a necessary stand in the defense of basic rights?

This is long overdue: Of course all women, no matter where they live, have the right to "reproductive freedom," says Taylor Marsh at her blog. For women to be able to decide how to manage their lives, they must have control over their bodies. As in 1995, when Hillary Clinton declared in China that women's rights are human rights, the U.N. Population Fund's statement is a welcome step "in a new direction." It doesn't have the force of law, but it's progress.

The U.N. wants to trample the rights of people of faith: If we declare birth control a "right," then everybody has to pay to make sure people get it, Brian Clowes, director of research for Human Life International, tell LifeSiteNews, "even if those forced to pay for it may object to it on moral grounds." That's a clear violation of "the more basic human right of freedom of conscience."

Health is the most basic right there is: To hear Mitt Romney and other conservatives tell it, says Amanda Marcotte at Slate, the only reason we're having this conversation is that "trollops around the world want an all-you-can-screw buffet and they want it to be free." As the Population Fund points out, however, women who use contraception are healthier, better educated, and more empowered than those who don't. It's "distinctly unsexy," but this is about giving people access to a better life.

Don't you just love the persecution complex? Birth control being a universal human right persecutes Christians because they might actually have to pay for someone's ebil birth control.

[doggie]

Don't you just love the persecution complex? Birth control being a universal human right persecutes Christians because they might actually have to pay for someone's ebil birth control.

of course their freedom of conscience is not phased by all the starving and dying children all the woman that suffer. all that matters is their beliefs and fuck who it hurts it's gods will.

[ADoyle90815]

of course their freedom of conscience is not phased by all the starving and dying children all the woman that suffer. all that matters is their beliefs and fuck who it hurts it's gods will.

That's true, they don't give a fuck if women die because they're not allowed to get an abortion, as what happened recently in Ireland, nor do they give a shit about pubescent rape victims giving birth, as they consider it an act of God in the first place. Those people piss me off. :violence-rocket: :angry-cussingwhite: :angry-screaming:

[ElphabaGalinda]

Didn't this happen on the same day that Mitt Romney called birth control a gift? No one is making anyone take birth control, they're just making sure women have a reliable way to prevent pregnancy, even those Godly married women. Though I can't think of any woman who wouldn't be considered a slut by fundie definition, myself included. They can't cry persecution when they're still aloud to have a billion babies they can't take care of.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Yes birth control is a human right

Not everyone can afford 19 kids, or even one, so allowing birth control is better for already existing kids in families who are struggling for money so much they couldnt afford another child.

Birth control also reduces the rate of abortions, because less people will be having unwanted pregnancies.

If they dont want birth control, they shouldnt take it, but shouldnt be allowed to ban something for everyone just cause they dont like it.

[JeanneD]

I believe in a right to access safe, affordable birth control. This seems like a reasonable, grown-up decision that would benefit women (and their families) across the globe.

As far as the fundie "OMG wimmens is sluts" argument, I wonder about how these men treat their wives, sisters & daughters. Are they really this cruel to their loved ones? I personally know at least a dozen young women who have children from pre-marital sex because they believed birth control to be a greater sin than premarital sex. I have tremendous compassion for them, but I have violent tendencies towards those who prevented their access to contraception, which has prevented their access to higher education, which has prevented them from achieving many of their dreams. Those blowhards needs to pipe it down.

Lastly, maybe I'm in the minority, but I spend probably less than an hour a day engaged in or thinking about sexy times. Why do these fundie men insist that this is what defines me? I'm over the slut shaming. For realz.