Arkansas GOP Voted To Ax Sex Ed In State With Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

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Addicting Info

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

This is sad and pathetic.  I don't have words for such stupidity.  These politicians literally don't give a damn about the children in their own state. 

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Beebe still has the veto pen. Hoping for the best.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Beebe still has the veto pen. Hoping for the best.

Not much to hope for.  The state legislature only needs a simple majority to override a governor's veto, so the Republicans pretty much control everything down there.

[Zioneer]

Beebe still has the veto pen. Hoping for the best.

If Governor Herbert of Utah vetoed it (though in a special session after he originally signed it), then I'm sure Beebe will.

[RogueBeaver]

Veto time.

[afleitch]

Yeesh.

Just teach teenagers to f-ck. Teach them to  with condoms, teach them to check themselves if they've been f-cking and something down there doesn't feel right. Teach them that there's nothing wrong with sex or jerking off or fingering. Teach them pornography projects the same body issues as men's health or women's fashion magazines. Teach them there's nothing wrong with f-cking with a boy of you're a boy or a girl if you're a girl if that's what you want to do.

Then you'll have an educated, confident, safe groups of teenagers and if you're into that sort of thing; less abortions too.

And if any parents wring their hands and say that's not okay, tell them to f-ck off. It has nothing to do with them. If a church says the same thing, tell them to get f-cked.

Anything else is a disservice to society.

[Indy Texas]

Is there something about Southern politicians that makes them so opposed to measures to prevent women from birthing too many unwanted babies?

When George H. W. Bush was in Congress in the 1960s, he was a very enthusiastic family planning advocate and a group of mostly Democratic Southern congressmen used to call him "Rubbers" behind his back as a result.

Clearly this is not a recent development that can be blamed on Tea Partyism.

[Torie]

To play devils advocate for the moment, Planned Parenthood, and its involvement with providing abortion services, is a tangled web indeed. This may have been more about animus to that organization for its abortion enmeshment, and less about Sex Ed and disease prevention. Planned Parenthood should really spin off its abortion activities into a separate organization, with a separate name. Of course, abortions is where the money is, so bifurcation is probably not in the cards, and this will be an issue that simply will not go away, the way gay marriage will go away over time as an active issue.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Is there something about Southern politicians that makes them so opposed to measures to prevent women from birthing too many unwanted babies?

When George H. W. Bush was in Congress in the 1960s, he was a very enthusiastic family planning advocate and a group of mostly Democratic Southern congressmen used to call him "Rubbers" behind his back as a result.

Clearly this is not a recent development that can be blamed on Tea Partyism.

Meh, I chalk it up to the South's long history of entrenched social hierarchy and control.

[Indy Texas]

To play devils advocate for the moment, Planned Parenthood, and its involvement with providing abortion services, is a tangled web indeed. This may have been more about animus to that organization for its abortion enmeshment, and less about Sex Ed and disease prevention. Planned Parenthood should really spin off its abortion activities into a separate organization, with a separate name. Of course, abortions is where the money is, so bifurcation is probably not in the cards, and this will be an issue that simply will not go away, the way gay marriage will go away over time as an active issue.

Or maybe the "pro-life" alternatives to Planned Parenthood that these states want to get the funding instead should actually provide family planning services. Crisis pregnancy centers are not an acceptable alternative to Planned Parenthood from a public health standpoint. They don't provide birth control or treatment for STDs or women's health issues like breast cancer. All they do is tell pregnant women not to kill their baby and send them on their merry way. They do nothing to lower the likelihood of these women becoming pregnant again or help them in managing their health.

I would have less of a problem with this kind of thing if the pro-lifers were willing to create what was essentially a clone of Planned Parenthood minus the abortion services. But they have no interest in doing that. Because they really don't care about public health. They see STDs and unplanned pregnancies as God's punishment for fornication.

[DC Al Fine]

To play devils advocate for the moment, Planned Parenthood, and its involvement with providing abortion services, is a tangled web indeed. This may have been more about animus to that organization for its abortion enmeshment, and less about Sex Ed and disease prevention. Planned Parenthood should really spin off its abortion activities into a separate organization, with a separate name. Of course, abortions is where the money is, so bifurcation is probably not in the cards, and this will be an issue that simply will not go away, the way gay marriage will go away over time as an active issue.

Or maybe the "pro-life" alternatives to Planned Parenthood that these states want to get the funding instead should actually provide family planning services. Crisis pregnancy centers are not an acceptable alternative to Planned Parenthood from a public health standpoint. They don't provide birth control or treatment for STDs or women's health issues like breast cancer. All they do is tell pregnant women not to kill their baby and send them on their merry way. They do nothing to lower the likelihood of these women becoming pregnant again or help them in managing their health.

I would have less of a problem with this kind of thing if the pro-lifers were willing to create what was essentially a clone of Planned Parenthood minus the abortion services. But they have no interest in doing that. Because they really don't care about public health. They see STDs and unplanned pregnancies as God's punishment for fornication.

What's with all the blanket statements about social conservatives lately?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The trouble with you people is that you're all so judgmental.

[Ban my account ffs!]

"You people" is the perfect pejorative for modern day Republicans.  What is wrong with you people?

[Badger]

To play devils advocate for the moment, Planned Parenthood, and its involvement with providing abortion services, is a tangled web indeed. This may have been more about animus to that organization for its abortion enmeshment, and less about Sex Ed and disease prevention. Planned Parenthood should really spin off its abortion activities into a separate organization, with a separate name. Of course, abortions is where the money is, so bifurcation is probably not in the cards, and this will be an issue that simply will not go away, the way gay marriage will go away over time as an active issue.

Or maybe the "pro-life" alternatives to Planned Parenthood that these states want to get the funding instead should actually provide family planning services. Crisis pregnancy centers are not an acceptable alternative to Planned Parenthood from a public health standpoint. They don't provide birth control or treatment for STDs or women's health issues like breast cancer. All they do is tell pregnant women not to kill their baby and send them on their merry way. They do nothing to lower the likelihood of these women becoming pregnant again or help them in managing their health.

I would have less of a problem with this kind of thing if the pro-lifers were willing to create what was essentially a clone of Planned Parenthood minus the abortion services. But they have no interest in doing that. Because they really don't care about public health. They see STDs and unplanned pregnancies as God's punishment for fornication.

What's with all the blanket statements about social conservatives lately?

Alternatively stated, ubiquitous right-winger adherance to abstinance only "sex education" is a given notwithstanding results that range frrom middling to lousy.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

To play devils advocate for the moment, Planned Parenthood, and its involvement with providing abortion services, is a tangled web indeed. This may have been more about animus to that organization for its abortion enmeshment, and less about Sex Ed and disease prevention. Planned Parenthood should really spin off its abortion activities into a separate organization, with a separate name. Of course, abortions is where the money is, so bifurcation is probably not in the cards, and this will be an issue that simply will not go away, the way gay marriage will go away over time as an active issue.

Or maybe the "pro-life" alternatives to Planned Parenthood that these states want to get the funding instead should actually provide family planning services. Crisis pregnancy centers are not an acceptable alternative to Planned Parenthood from a public health standpoint. They don't provide birth control or treatment for STDs or women's health issues like breast cancer. All they do is tell pregnant women not to kill their baby and send them on their merry way. They do nothing to lower the likelihood of these women becoming pregnant again or help them in managing their health.

I would have less of a problem with this kind of thing if the pro-lifers were willing to create what was essentially a clone of Planned Parenthood minus the abortion services. But they have no interest in doing that. Because they really don't care about public health. They see STDs and unplanned pregnancies as God's punishment for fornication.

Yeah, they are so convinced that new mothers are under God's punishment that they offer free services such prenatal care, childcare supplies, emotional and relational counseling, parenting classes, various referrals for social support and yes, in some cases, comprehensive sex ed.   They do all this relying on donations and volunteers rather than government funding and proceeds from abortion.  But they don't spend their meager resources on providing birth control because they just hate women that much.

[DC Al Fine]

To play devils advocate for the moment, Planned Parenthood, and its involvement with providing abortion services, is a tangled web indeed. This may have been more about animus to that organization for its abortion enmeshment, and less about Sex Ed and disease prevention. Planned Parenthood should really spin off its abortion activities into a separate organization, with a separate name. Of course, abortions is where the money is, so bifurcation is probably not in the cards, and this will be an issue that simply will not go away, the way gay marriage will go away over time as an active issue.

Or maybe the "pro-life" alternatives to Planned Parenthood that these states want to get the funding instead should actually provide family planning services. Crisis pregnancy centers are not an acceptable alternative to Planned Parenthood from a public health standpoint. They don't provide birth control or treatment for STDs or women's health issues like breast cancer. All they do is tell pregnant women not to kill their baby and send them on their merry way. They do nothing to lower the likelihood of these women becoming pregnant again or help them in managing their health.

I would have less of a problem with this kind of thing if the pro-lifers were willing to create what was essentially a clone of Planned Parenthood minus the abortion services. But they have no interest in doing that. Because they really don't care about public health. They see STDs and unplanned pregnancies as God's punishment for fornication.

Yeah, they are so convinced that new mothers are under God's punishment that they offer free services such prenatal care, childcare supplies, emotional and relational counseling, parenting classes, various referrals for social support and yes, in some cases, comprehensive sex ed.   They do all this relying on donations and volunteers rather than government funding and proceeds from abortion.  But they don't spend their meager resources on providing birth control because they just hate women that much.

The notion of "They see STDs and unplanned pregnancies as God's punishment for fornication" is ignorant and bigoted.

[Ban my account ffs!]

To play devils advocate for the moment, Planned Parenthood, and its involvement with providing abortion services, is a tangled web indeed. This may have been more about animus to that organization for its abortion enmeshment, and less about Sex Ed and disease prevention. Planned Parenthood should really spin off its abortion activities into a separate organization, with a separate name. Of course, abortions is where the money is, so bifurcation is probably not in the cards, and this will be an issue that simply will not go away, the way gay marriage will go away over time as an active issue.

Or maybe the "pro-life" alternatives to Planned Parenthood that these states want to get the funding instead should actually provide family planning services. Crisis pregnancy centers are not an acceptable alternative to Planned Parenthood from a public health standpoint. They don't provide birth control or treatment for STDs or women's health issues like breast cancer. All they do is tell pregnant women not to kill their baby and send them on their merry way. They do nothing to lower the likelihood of these women becoming pregnant again or help them in managing their health.

I would have less of a problem with this kind of thing if the pro-lifers were willing to create what was essentially a clone of Planned Parenthood minus the abortion services. But they have no interest in doing that. Because they really don't care about public health. They see STDs and unplanned pregnancies as God's punishment for fornication.

Yeah, they are so convinced that new mothers are under God's punishment that they offer free services such prenatal care, childcare supplies, emotional and relational counseling, parenting classes, various referrals for social support and yes, in some cases, comprehensive sex ed.   They do all this relying on donations and volunteers rather than government funding and proceeds from abortion.  But they don't spend their meager resources on providing birth control because they just hate women that much.

The notion of "They see STDs and unplanned pregnancies as God's punishment for fornication" is ignorant and bigoted.

If you really believe that, then you are ignorant.. and delusional.

[Indy Texas]

To play devils advocate for the moment, Planned Parenthood, and its involvement with providing abortion services, is a tangled web indeed. This may have been more about animus to that organization for its abortion enmeshment, and less about Sex Ed and disease prevention. Planned Parenthood should really spin off its abortion activities into a separate organization, with a separate name. Of course, abortions is where the money is, so bifurcation is probably not in the cards, and this will be an issue that simply will not go away, the way gay marriage will go away over time as an active issue.

Or maybe the "pro-life" alternatives to Planned Parenthood that these states want to get the funding instead should actually provide family planning services. Crisis pregnancy centers are not an acceptable alternative to Planned Parenthood from a public health standpoint. They don't provide birth control or treatment for STDs or women's health issues like breast cancer. All they do is tell pregnant women not to kill their baby and send them on their merry way. They do nothing to lower the likelihood of these women becoming pregnant again or help them in managing their health.

I would have less of a problem with this kind of thing if the pro-lifers were willing to create what was essentially a clone of Planned Parenthood minus the abortion services. But they have no interest in doing that. Because they really don't care about public health. They see STDs and unplanned pregnancies as God's punishment for fornication.

Yeah, they are so convinced that new mothers are under God's punishment that they offer free services such prenatal care, childcare supplies, emotional and relational counseling, parenting classes, various referrals for social support and yes, in some cases, comprehensive sex ed.   They do all this relying on donations and volunteers rather than government funding and proceeds from abortion.  But they don't spend their meager resources on providing birth control because they just hate women that much.

Why haven't they figured out that if they spent more of their meager resources on birth control, they wouldn't have to spend as much on the things you mentioned - all of which are only necessary after someone has already become pregnant?

It infuriates these people that there are people who think of sex as anything but a means for baby-making. Even married people who choose not to have children are suspect to them. They know that they can't stop people from having sex, but by making it harder to access birth control, they can take as much of the "fun" out of it as possible.

[DC Al Fine]

To play devils advocate for the moment, Planned Parenthood, and its involvement with providing abortion services, is a tangled web indeed. This may have been more about animus to that organization for its abortion enmeshment, and less about Sex Ed and disease prevention. Planned Parenthood should really spin off its abortion activities into a separate organization, with a separate name. Of course, abortions is where the money is, so bifurcation is probably not in the cards, and this will be an issue that simply will not go away, the way gay marriage will go away over time as an active issue.

Or maybe the "pro-life" alternatives to Planned Parenthood that these states want to get the funding instead should actually provide family planning services. Crisis pregnancy centers are not an acceptable alternative to Planned Parenthood from a public health standpoint. They don't provide birth control or treatment for STDs or women's health issues like breast cancer. All they do is tell pregnant women not to kill their baby and send them on their merry way. They do nothing to lower the likelihood of these women becoming pregnant again or help them in managing their health.

I would have less of a problem with this kind of thing if the pro-lifers were willing to create what was essentially a clone of Planned Parenthood minus the abortion services. But they have no interest in doing that. Because they really don't care about public health. They see STDs and unplanned pregnancies as God's punishment for fornication.

Yeah, they are so convinced that new mothers are under God's punishment that they offer free services such prenatal care, childcare supplies, emotional and relational counseling, parenting classes, various referrals for social support and yes, in some cases, comprehensive sex ed.   They do all this relying on donations and volunteers rather than government funding and proceeds from abortion.  But they don't spend their meager resources on providing birth control because they just hate women that much.

The notion of "They see STDs and unplanned pregnancies as God's punishment for fornication" is ignorant and bigoted.

If you really believe that, then you are ignorant.. and delusional.

No, I've just met socons in real life.

[Landslide Lyndon]

To play devils advocate for the moment, Planned Parenthood, and its involvement with providing abortion services, is a tangled web indeed. This may have been more about animus to that organization for its abortion enmeshment, and less about Sex Ed and disease prevention. Planned Parenthood should really spin off its abortion activities into a separate organization, with a separate name. Of course, abortions is where the money is, so bifurcation is probably not in the cards, and this will be an issue that simply will not go away, the way gay marriage will go away over time as an active issue.

Or maybe the "pro-life" alternatives to Planned Parenthood that these states want to get the funding instead should actually provide family planning services. Crisis pregnancy centers are not an acceptable alternative to Planned Parenthood from a public health standpoint. They don't provide birth control or treatment for STDs or women's health issues like breast cancer. All they do is tell pregnant women not to kill their baby and send them on their merry way. They do nothing to lower the likelihood of these women becoming pregnant again or help them in managing their health.

I would have less of a problem with this kind of thing if the pro-lifers were willing to create what was essentially a clone of Planned Parenthood minus the abortion services. But they have no interest in doing that. Because they really don't care about public health. They see STDs and unplanned pregnancies as God's punishment for fornication.

Yeah, they are so convinced that new mothers are under God's punishment that they offer free services such prenatal care, childcare supplies, emotional and relational counseling, parenting classes, various referrals for social support and yes, in some cases, comprehensive sex ed.   They do all this relying on donations and volunteers rather than government funding and proceeds from abortion.  But they don't spend their meager resources on providing birth control because they just hate women that much.

The notion of "They see STDs and unplanned pregnancies as God's punishment for fornication" is ignorant and bigoted.

If you really believe that, then you are ignorant.. and delusional.

No, I've just met socons in real life.

My condolences.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Why teach about sex when there are so many teens who already know?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Why haven't they figured out that if they spent more of their meager resources on birth control, they wouldn't have to spend as much on the things you mentioned - all of which are only necessary after someone has already become pregnant?

For one thing, some morally object to distributing it, but I don't know of anyone who is trying to  make it harder to get. Condoms are cheap, so availability isn't an issue when it comes to unplanned pregnancies.  Pills require people who are qualified to prescribe and distribute them, which is hard to expect from a volunteer organization with limited funds. So other places can do that, but crisis pregnancy centers have another mission which is very important.   
Some women get pregnant not because they can't get birth control, but because they want a child and think they guy they're with is going to stick around.  But then the only help the man offers is some money to get an abortion.  Who is going to help them, if not crisis pregnancy centers? 

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Why teach about sex when there are so many teens who already know?

Too many teenagers don't know/care about contraceptives or what can result from not using them.  Also, not all high school students have equal access to contraceptives.

[morgieb]

Beebe still has the veto pen. Hoping for the best.

If Governor Herbert of Utah vetoed it (though in a special session after he originally signed it), then I'm sure Beebe will.

Veto's can be overridden with a simple majority in Arkansas though IIRC. Makes the governor's role borderline useless.