Holy shit. You are a man. And mansplaining to the rest of us about how we should control our bodies. Do you have any idea how cliche you are?

If you are a man, telling women about how they should be held accountable for their own birth control choices, then I seriously feel livid violent anger towards you and it’s a good thing we are not in the same room right now.

I’m touchy about this because my doctor told me the same thing a couple days ago. You have no idea what works for me and what doesn’t. I’m tired of this one-size-fits-all advice. I’ve managed to never get pregnant. Surely I’m the expert on the best thing for me?

Even from that link, the effectiveness is 73-96% of the time depending on the man. So for many of us who are having sex with one man who is really good at pulling out, 96% effectiveness is pretty good odds.

Yeah but what I want to know is- on the ones that got pregnant accidentally, was it because the guy pulled out before he came but the woman still got pregnant (because of really fertile precum or something). Or was it because the guy, oops, didn’t pull out fast enough. Because if it’s the second (and my unprofessional…

You are the professional here and probably have more data. But in my experience, it works perfectly so long as the guy actually pulls out before he is going to cum. I mean, if there is no sperm in your body, you can’t get pregnant. That is why it is effective.

Absolutely you should not be having unprotected sex outside of trusting relationships. But suggesting that people who are in ltr should use condoms is silly. If pull-out works for people (and it does) then so what? I do not at all feel less empowered because I trust my husband to pull out. I share a life and a family…

THIS exactly. I posted something just like this yesterday or the day before. So far we’ve been using nothing at all but pull-out for over a decade with no pregnancy. I figure I’m not very fertile. But birth control- several forms- all gave me terrible side effects. Plus it’s expensive and I don’t feel like using my…

Nonsense. This line of argument is semantics.

Absolutely. We are in total agreement there. I just hate it when this motivation (that you explained perfectly) doesn’t suffice and we have to tack “and it reduces abortions too” on to it as if that somehow enhances the morality of policies that are designed to improve women’s health, women’s choices, family health…

Luckily for me, there is no need to do this. The Democratic party already has a platform that includes separation of church and state AND prochoice policies on demand.

The problem I have with this reasoning is that it is embryo/fetus-centric. Women should have widespread access to various forms of contraception. Quality sex ed, STD-prevention/treatment, women’s health clinics- all that should be widely available, routine norms. Affordable childcare, parental leave, quality public…

I feel your rage. I’m with you here. It makes me want to smash and scream and cry bloody murder.

Or simply, I don’t like kids or I don’t want to be a mom or I don’t want to put my body through pregnancy or I feel absolutely no moral obligation to treat a tiny cluster of cells as anything more valuable than the blood in my tampon every month.

To play devil’s advocate, Flying Squid seems to be saying that from their point of view (which yes, is religious), their reasons for supporting the Democrats make sense. And yes, she is correct. I’m not arguing with that, and I think Flying Squid did a pretty good job of walking us through THEIR thought process- how…

Yes, and everyone is going to be different. This is why politicians should have no say in the matter. Let me give you an example from my own life. I’ve tried various forms of birth control- back when I was in my early to mid 20s. ALL OF THEM caused terrible side effects.

I think it makes sense from the fiction that they are believing. My response is that their fiction should be corrected rather than embraced. Life does not begin at conception. Fetuses do not have rights. And there is nothing inherently immoral about abortion or inherently more moral about carrying a pregnancy to term.

YES EXACTLY. I have a friend who runs a charity to help single women who want to keep their babies but would consider abortion or adoption because they are poor. I’m all for that.

NO. This only makes sense if there is no alternative. Like, if I lived in Saudi Arabia, then this would make sense. But I don’t. I live in a country where there are plenty of progressive alternatives even within this very party.

Yes I agree with all of this. And I’m not talking about throwing out allies. I will vote for him, and I always vote strategically anyway. That NARAL rating is important to me. But also I can bitch about how frustrating that personally religious prolife attitude is. On an emotional level, I’m ready for religion to just…