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 Friday, April 28, 2006
Final Post/Jennifer Roback Morse
Cristina, many of the people I associate with find it endearing to hear about people running out to care for their kids, in between trying to do their jobs. I wasn't complaining. Honest. More seriously: I don't know how many times I have to say this. No one is trying to take away your contraception. Not everyone agrees with you about its proper place and use. It seems to me a perfectly stable social situation for Catholics and others who have moral objections to contraception, to go along their way, believing what they do, teaching why they believe it, trying to persuade others to join them, but ultimately, just trying to live up to their own beliefs. The Catholic bishops can't even get the Catholics to live up their teachings: they are not about to try and pass laws on the subject. By the way, I shared my I Have a Dream post with several friends, including some who are highly placed in pro-life circles. None of them objected to my statement that I have no interest in regulating contraception. Not one accused me of being "soft on contraception." The fact that many, though not all, pro-life people have moral objections to contraception, does not mean they want to take it away from you, or that they would be able to, even if they wanted to. I proposed this debate because I think it is a serious question as to how society should view all the changes that widespread contraception has wrought. Some, such as increasing education and labor force participation of women, are good things. Others are more troubling. I listed quite a few troubling issues earlier this week: the increasing sexualization of younger people, the increasing coarseness of our sexual culture, the high levels of illegimatacy. I raised the question of whether you thought there was a difference between married and unmarried sexual activity and contraceptive use. You did not respond to these issues. Your solution seems to be more contraception, more sex education. One of the more striking things I learned this week was from the data Maggie very kindly posted. The Effectiveness of Contraception depends on the life situation of the person using it. Failure rates are higher for cohabiting and other unmarried people. This suggests that simply instructing people on the mechanics of contraceptive use will not, by itself, be enough to guarantee successful use. I believe delaying the age of first intercourse would be good for individuals and for society. I believe promoting marriage as the appropriate context for sex would be constructive as well. Reducing the time between the age at first intercourse and the age at first marriage, would also be a good thing, for us as individuals and as a society. These are obviously not things that can be legislated. They require cultural and educational efforts, not governmental ones. These were some of the things I had hoped to discuss. Perhaps, another time. Maggie, I appreciate your hospitality, and the thoughtfulness of your readers. I hope to see all of you again in cyber-space, if not in person. Sincerely, Jennifer Roback Morse posted by Dr J Roback Morse at 6:52 PM | link 
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No one is trying to take away your contraception.
Right, so stock up.
I just found another fact that can be laid at the doorstep of the feminist, all contraception all the time world view: women underestimate how rapidly their fertility declines with age. When the American Society of Reproductive Medicine launched a campaign to educate women about that, NOW objected. See the very bottom of the Carrie Lukas interview http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=M2MzYmU0N2JlY2VhYzg1NWVkNzQwOTE1ZTY0MzRkNDA=
over at NRO.
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