Alaska Republican Wants State-Funded Pregnancy Tests In Bars So Women Will 'Act Responsibly'

[ismnotwasm]

Alaska state Sen. Pete Kelly (R) is declaring war on fetal alcohol syndrome, and he's proposing to place state-funded pregnancy tests in bars and restaurants so that women can figure out if they're pregnant before drinking. But he also told the Anchorage Daily News this week that he opposes increased access to contraception, because birth control is only for women "who don't want to act responsibly."

"Literally, you can go into the bathroom at the bar and test," said Kelly in his interview this week, describing his plan. "So if you’re drinking, you’re out at the big birthday celebration and you’re kind of like, ‘Gee, I wonder if I -- ?’ You should be able to go in the bathroom and there’s that plastic, Plexiglas bowl in there."

The interviewer asked if Kelly would also support making free birth control available in bars. Kelly is opposed to abortion access, and providing additional access to contraception could help sexually active women and men avoid unwanted pregnancies in the first place.

Kelly, however, said he opposed such a move.

"The thinking is a little opposite," he replied. "This assumes that if you know, you’ll act responsibly. Birth control is for people who don’t necessarily want to act responsibly."

When the interviewer noted that using birth control could be viewed as "acting responsibly," Kelly said he wasn't sure.

"Maybe, maybe not. That's a level of social engineering that we don't want to get into. All we want to do is make sure that people are informed and they'll make the right decision," he replied.

In a statement sent to reporters, Alaska Democratic Party Executive Director said, "Republicans need to stop their war on Alaska women."

As Dana Liebelson at Mother Jones notes, "Alaska does not accept federal money from the government's Medicaid expansion, which would fund contraception, and state Sen. Fred Dyson (R-Eagle River) recently spoke out against it, declaring that if people can afford lattes, they can afford birth control."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/21/pete-kelly-alaska_n_5009371.html

[newfie11]

1. The words I have would not be good to print

[ismnotwasm]

2. Me too

Wonder what's in the men's bathroom?

[malthaussen]

3. Condom dispenser, of course.

And probably a few phone numbers on the wall.

-- Mal

[ismnotwasm]

4. My thoughts exactly

[malthaussen]

11. Funny how men using condoms are "responsible"

But women who use -- gasp! -- the Pill are not.

Oh, yeah, I forgot. Condoms are "for prevention of disease only."

-- Mal

[Warpy]

5. The sky is blue, the sun rises in the east

and Republican men are the most blinkered, pig ignorant fuckers on the planet.

Fewer than 5% of alcoholic women deliver FAS babies and poverty seems to be the predominate co morbidity. One study cited 8.3 drinks a week as the level below which there are no FAS births.

Politicians need to get their long blue noses out of our crotches. Our civil rights are absolute, including the right to make bad decisions.

[ismnotwasm]

7. Right?

This guy while typical on the Republican scale, just added a twist to the knife they stick in women's backs.

What an asshole.

[JoeyT]

6. So who's going to pay for the tests? The bar?

That will go over well. They'll be refilling that bowl every fifteen minutes. "Wait, go get another one, I want to see if this beer is pregnant!".

[ismnotwasm]

8. LoL

Yup.

[JoeyT]

10. In a sane world this story would be

relegated to weird news because it was a bizarre proposal by some backwoods legislator from a town with three hundred people, all of whom are related. Instead it's of general interest because it's a sustained country-wide trend of deliberate ignorance and bigotry.

[mercuryblues]

9. oh

so he wants the state to fund pregnancy tests in bars, while palin tried to get women to pay for there own rape kits. Just WTF do they put in the moose juice up there?

[Feral Child]

12. K&R for this sick fucker.

He thinks he's being clever but his misogynistic agenda is obvious .

[2pooped2pop]

13. perhaps some kind of scrotum snipper would also be effective

or a child support payment calculator?

[Thinkingabout]

14. It would seem more reasonable to provide birth control pills rather than pregnancy test. This seems

like the RW men are trying to make sure women stays pregnant and pleasure the men on command. Perhaps before men have sex they should have their sperm tested for flaws, etc.

[boston bean]

15. WTF? how are these ideas given any credence?

This world is fucked up.