Fiscal cliff: it’s a big deal

$2000 on a typical family

Very bad for low income families, and crushing for the economy.

Pro-life and Pro-Choice

(Via ThinkProgress) JF Peipert et al., Obstetrics and Gynecology, 10/3/12

METHODS: We enrolled 9,256 adolescents and women at risk for unintended pregnancy into the Contraceptive CHOICE Project, a prospective cohort study of adolescents and women desiring reversible contraceptive methods. Participants were recruited from the two abortion facilities in the St. Louis region and through provider referral, advertisements, and word of mouth. Contraceptive counseling included all reversible methods but emphasized the superior effectiveness of LARC methods (IUDs and implants). All participants received the reversible contraceptive method of their choice at no cost. We analyzed abortion rates, the percentage of abortions that were repeat abortions, and teenage births.

RESULTS: We observed a significant reduction in the percentage of abortions that were repeat abortions in the St. Louis region compared with Kansas City and nonmetropolitan Missouri (P<.001). Abortion rates in the CHOICE cohort were less than half the regional and national rates (P<.001). The rate of teenage birth within the CHOICE cohort was 6.3 per 1,000, compared with the U.S. rate of 34.3 per 1,000.

CONCLUSION: We noted a clinically and statistically significant reduction in abortion rates, repeat abortions, and teenage birth rates. Unintended pregnancies may be reduced by providing no-cost contraception and promoting the most effective contraceptive methods.
(emphasis added)

Before you file this under “Duh,” consider: one cannot be genuinely pro-life without being firmly pro-choice. Children who are chosen are desired, loved, and nurtured. Giving women the ability to choose when to have children means that the life they eventually bring into the world will be valued.

For some reason, the Catholic bishops have expended a great deal of energy in opposing the Affordable Care Act, which gives women the ability to choose, and thereby guaranteed more abortions and/or more unwanted children.

Friday Cat Blogging