The Prowler
Don’t sweat the small stuffWednesday, February 22, 2012 By Briana Reilly
Condoms, birth control, sex! Now that I’ve gotten your attention, recognize that this is probably one of the last times those words will be read due to the fact that it’s about to become a taboo subject because of the new Republican regime, which stresses abstinence methods over contraception. Many of the prospective GOP nominees, one being former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, have chosen to focus on these social issues rather than tackling other nationwide problems, including the ever-increasing amount of public debt and the constant warfare. R ick Santorum believes that contraception is both harmful to women and to society. However, he continues to stress the fact that, should he become president, his opinions of contraception—his personal beliefs about what is right and wrong—will in no way influence his decisions and his policy. Is that hypocritical? Maybe. Believable? Definitely not . Now, when the idea of enacting an abstinence-only education system and way of life is considered, it’s extremely difficult to see this as being realistic at all. It isn’t a good policy; in fact, it only actually reduces teen pregnancy rates if teens practice abstinence. And, let’s face it, for those pro-life people who want to get rid of abortions, they’ll have to admit that birth control is pro-life advocacy to prevent exactly that. E ssentially, the Republican nominees should all be pulling a Ron Paul (a Republican congressman from Texas also running for the GOP nomination) and discussing other more important issues, such as the national debt that is now reaching $16 trillion, because focusing solely on abstinence, especially at this time, is definitely unnecessary . |