Contraception's "dirty secrets" courtesy of Pharma, Medics and Religion

[intaglio]

This item is X-posted from Women's World Group http://www.democraticunderground.com/118411

I found a fascinating article on "Ex-Christian Net" about contraception. Despite the source of the article and its title "15 things boys like Rick Santorum don't want you to know about your body and contraception," the bulk of the article is about modern contraception. It tells how much ignorance, profiteering and religious pressure keeps women from making an informed decision about their health.

The article is here http://new.exchristian.net/2012/01/15-things-old-boys-like-rick-santorum.html

I will post 3 extracts (Skinner, please bring back the quote or blockquote as well as the link functionality).

Regarding religious sourced misconceptions (pun not intended)

Quote
Contraception works better than prayer for reducing abortion and saving lives. Chile is a devoutly Catholic country, and consequently abortion is illegal there without exception. For women of reproductive age, the Chilean abortion rate is 45 abortions per 1000 women each year. The U.S., most devout of all developed countries, has less restrictive laws, and better access to contraception and an abortion rate of 21/1000. The secular Netherlands, with universal healthcare and some of the least restrictive abortion laws in the world have a rate of 7/1000. Chilean women pay for the Church’s anti-contraception stance with their lives. Between 2000 and 2004, back-alley abortion was Chile’s third leading cause of maternal death.

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Big Phartma (misprint intended)

Quote
Prices don’t correspond to costs. They correspond to what the market will bear. In contrast to Europe and Canada where competition and single-payer systems keep prices affordable, women in the U.S. have to pay monopoly prices for LARCs. Only one copper IUD, one hormonal IUD, and one implant currently are approved for the U.S. market. The Mirena, which retails in the U.S. for over $800 (that’s without insertion) and is slated for an increase, costs around $350 in Canada, prompting some women to cross the border for their contraceptive care.

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Medical Professionals

Quote
General practice doctors don’t routinely stay up to date on contraception. They would be embarrassed if you knew how out-of-date their information actually is. Research both in Canada and in the U.S. shows that family practice doctors frequently endorse misinformation about contraceptive options. For example, many think hormonal IUDs increase your risk of pelvic infection, when the opposite looks to be true. Most are unaware that today’s easily reversed LARCs are as effective as sterilization, and can be used safely by teens and young women who haven’t yet had babies.

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Note "LARC" refers to long acting reversible contraceptives.

Hope this proves useful

[Voice for Peace]

1. thanks!

[Ron Obvious]

2. in debates with anti-abortionists...

I have pointed out that the secular social democracies of Europe have an abortion rate that is a fraction of ours. If you're wanting to reduce the abortion rate, why not do what they do? Freely available birth control, age appropriate real sex education (and not this abstinence-only nonsense), more widely available information and medical care. Who could be against that?

Not once, not ever, have I spoken with a "pro-lifer" (sic) who agreed with that approach despite the proven success rate. So very telling...

[Quantess]

3. Yes, very telling... that fetuses themselves are not the most important thing to them.

Have sex, pay the consequences, is what they believe in. Having sex and using contraceptives is like cheating the system. Women are supposed to pay the consequences of a pregnancy or disease. They don't care about the resulting baby, they don't care about the young family. They just want to make sure that if you play, you pay ( for women especially).

[intaglio]

4. Thanks for the votes

It is hugely important that good information gets out their