Wading Into Irrational Thoughts

I read Daily Kos almost everyday, although most of what I read there is so illogical I don't feel the need to comment. But this post needs to be addressed. The post is a reaction by planned parenthood to a story about a pharmacy in Great Falls, MT that has decided not to fill prescriptions for birth control. The owners, who are Catholic, made the decision and ran an ad in the local paper to inform their customers of their decision.

Of course, I expect planned parenthood to disagree with this move, but the lengths to which they distort simple facts have to be pointed out.

Here is the first quote that got my attention:

"the maternal death rate has fallen more than 60 percent since 1965, when the Supreme Court constitutionally protected the use of birth control in the United States. And if that isn't enough, the infant death rate has declined by more than 70 percent. Birth control is basic health care for women. Not only does it save lives, it helps women and their families prevent poverty and plan their futures. It is mind-boggling to me that women in this country are still denied the right to choose when and whether to have a child."

Pop quiz.

The number of rapes committed and ice cream cones sold go up in a city during the months of June, July, and August. How should the city go about solving it's crime problem?

If planned parenthood were in charge, they would outlaw ice cream, since it's obviously causing the increase in rape. They make the common statistical error of assuming correlation proves causation. The fact that maternal and infant death rates have fallen since 1965 is not proof that birth control saves lives, and they make no mention of the pill's effects on cancer rates, STD contraction, and birth defects (of course babies with birth defects can be aborted).

But that's not all, the post continues:

"In the town of Great Falls, Montana, it would leave me with fewer choices and greater barriers to deciding when and whether I want to have children."

Newsflash! As Natural Family Planning teaches, there are only three one hundred percent effective ways of avoiding pregnancy. Male castration, removal of the ovaries, and abstinence. The choice is always ours as to whether or not we have children, but sex comes with the responsibility of raising any children that God blesses us with.

Finally the post engages the standard planned parenthood practice of extrapolating an extreme medical case to rationalize the pill for everyone, by telling the story of an infertile woman taking the pill for medical reasons not being able to get her prescription filled at this particular pharmacy. Let's forget the fact that this is a free country and she can take her prescription across the street to another pharmacy, or order it online, there are very few medical conditions that absolutely require the use of the pill as treatment.