This video of John McCain is truly incredible. The questioner asked whether insurers, who cover Viagra, should also cover birth control pills.
The simple answer should have been that insurance companies should, indeed, cover birth control pills. Any organization that covers Viagra and Prozac (and vasectomies, much less surgery for tennis elbow) should cover the pills and medical care necessary for people to control if and when they will get pregnant. But McCain was incoherent. Here’s the Straight-Talk Express at work:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX2pPQfYGfQ&eurl=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/16/planned-parenthood-uses-m_n_113017.html[/youtube]
This is not the first time McCain has shown profound ignorance on birth control and sexuality [1]. And see here for much more. [2] The problem is that he is trying to hold onto the radical right [3], which wants to outlaw all effective birth control [4]. See also, here, regarding the political positions on birth control pushed by those bastions of misinformation, “Pregnancy Resource Centers,” [5] which dot the land, often well-funded by tax dollars. [6] The Republicans are controlled by those who believe that they should control when and how you feel sexual pleasure. [7] And here’s more proof [8]. And check out the special proms for prepubescent girls [9]. For more proof of this Republican ignorance, check out the statistics demonstrating that abstinence-only education (also well funded by the federal government) is a joke. [10] I should clarify. I think that abstinence can be a substantial part of sex education for adolescents, but not the only part. The phrase “Just say no” doesn’t, on its own, stop kids from unintentionally getting pregnant.
Also check out McCain’s ignorance on the relationship between condom use and HIV. [11]
As you can see, then, even when you set aside the issue of abortion, Republicans are further determined to tell you if, when and how to get pregnant. How can they not see that this should be a decision left to individuals? The answer is that Republicans are pandering to the radical “religious” Right’s wacko view that use of birth control pills constitute a method of causing an “abortion.”
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