The GOP Is Obsessed With Sex To Avoid The Real Issues

The following article is from Robert Reich:

The Republican Party, once a proud proponent of limited government, has become a font of government intrusion into the most intimate aspects of personal and family life. 

Last Friday, a judge who previously worked for a conservative Republican legal organization and was then nominated to the bench by Trump and pushed through the Senate by Mitch McConnell, invalidated the FDA’s approval of a 23-year-old abortion pill (mifepristone) used in over half of pregnancy terminations in the United States.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the Dobbs case (in which Republican appointees on the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade), Republican states are criminalizing abortion. Some are criminalizing the act of helping women obtain an abortion in another state. Texas gives private citizens the right to sue anyone who helps someone get an abortion. Idaho just passed an “abortion trafficking” law that would make helping a minor leave Idaho to get an abortion without parental consent punishable by five years in prison. Tennessee Republicans have made it illegal to mail medical abortion pills. In the last Congress, 167 House Republicans co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act, conferring full personhood rights on fertilized eggs. 

At the same time, Republican lawmakers want to make it more difficult for couples to buy contraceptives. Sixteen Republican-dominated state legislatures already bar abortion clinics from receiving public contraception funds. 

So far, at least 11 Republican states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors, even if parents approve. Texas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, has ordered state child welfare officials to launch child abuse investigations into reports of transgender kids receiving such care. Republican lawmakers are also pushing teachers to refer to students by their gender assigned at birth. Many are restricting which bathrooms trans students can use.

Republican states are also limiting discussions of gender and sexuality in classrooms. Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, signed a bill banning public school teachers in kindergarten through third grade from talking about sexual orientation or gender identity, calling it an “anti-grooming bill” and accusing opponents of wanting to groom young children for sexual exploitation. 

Republican lawmakers are also putting obstacles in the way of same-sex marriage and are considering appeals to the Supreme Court to reverse its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodgesruling. Texas’s Republican attorney general says he’d “feel comfortable defending a law that once again outlawed sodomy” in the wake of Dobbs. 

Oh, and Republicans now routinely accuse political opponents of favoring child pornography. In her confirmation hearings, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was barraged with questions from Republican senators about her alleged lenient treatment of child pornographers. (In four days of hearings, the phrase “child porn” or “pornography” or “pornographer” was mentioned 165 times, along with 142 mentions of “sex” or related terms like “sexual abuse” or “sex crimes.”)

Why are Republican lawmakers obsessing about sex? Three reasons. 

First, by focusing on sex, Republicans can court both the evangelical right and the right-wing extreme QAnon vote (with its loony “Pizzagate” conspiracy claim that Democrats are pedophiles).

Second, by focusing on sex, Republican lawmakers don’t have to talk nonstop about Trump. They don’t have to discuss his indictment or other pending cases against him. They don’t have to say whether they agree with his vitriolic diatribes against other Republicans (DeSantis, McConnell, and any other Republican who criticizes him). They don’t have to defend his bonkers positions (on Ukraine, NATO, George Soros, immigrants, and all else).

Finally, creating a culture war over sex allows Republicans to sound faux populist without having to address the practical problems faced by most Americans — lack of paid sick leave, unaffordable child care and elder care, stagnant wages, and inadequate housing. And by focusing on sex, they believe they can ignore the sources of populist anger — corporate profiteering and price gouging, monopolization, union busting, soaring CEO pay, and billionaires who pay a lower tax rate than the average worker (courtesy, in part, of the 2017 Republican tax cut for the wealthy).

But the Republican obsession about sex is backfiring on them, as we saw in the 2022 midterms and again in last week’s elections in Wisconsin and Chicago. It’s drawing a contrast between the two parties that pits the GOP against the vast majority of voters. 

It’s becoming increasingly apparent to Americans that while Democrats want to make life easier for average working people and end corporate abuses of economic power, Republicans want government to intrude on the most intimate aspects of peoples’ lives.

Republicans Are Waging A War Against Women Having Sex

 Mara Gay exposes the GOP's war on women having sex in this op-ed in The New York Times:

One day I hope to become a mother. But for now I have sex just because I like it. Sex is fun.

For the puritanical tyrants seeking to control our bodies, that’s a problem. This radical minority, including the right-wing faction on the Supreme Court, probably won’t stop at banning abortion. If we take Justice Clarence Thomas at his word — and there’s no reason not to — the right to contraception could be the next to fall. Why? Because many in this movement are animated by an insatiable desire to punish women who have sex on our own terms and enjoy it.

State laws restricting or banning abortion are an attack on American women who decide whether, when and how to have children. They are part of a movement intended to curb the hard-won freedom to pursue careers and joys outside the confines of wifehood and motherhood. Some Republicans have said just this, and it’s important that we believe them.

Take J.D. Vance, the G.O.P. nominee for Senate in Ohio, who apparently thinks women like me belong at home, not writing opinions in national newspapers: “If your worldview tells you that it’s bad for women to become mothers but liberating for them to work 90 hours a week in a cubicle at The New York Times or Goldman Sachs, you’ve been had,” Mr. Vance wrote recently on Twitter.

Charlie Shepherd, an Idaho state representative, said he voted against using federal funds to increase early childhood education because “any bill that makes it easier or more convenient for mothers to come out of the home and let others raise their child, I don’t think that’s a good direction for us to be going.”

One tweeter said the quiet part out loud: “If you’re scared for your daughter’s future, maybe focus on raising her to not be a slut.”

A radical minority of Americans wants to make an example of women who have sex outside marriage, women who compete with men in the workplace, women who are independent and who cannot be controlled. That’s part of why birth control is likely their next target. That’s why the same movement that claims to care about babies is so uninterested in the health and lives of the people who bring them into this world, and so hostile to the policies that would support those children and their families after they are born.

In the America where I came of age, I was told my life was worth more than my ability to have babies. And my sexuality was nothing to be ashamed of.

I read Audre Lorde, who years earlier had explored the power of the erotic, a resource that, she wrote, “lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane” within each of us as women. I learned about the Black feminists who proclaimed that “choice is the essence of freedom” and saw reproductive rights as essential to the fight against white supremacy and its insidious attempts to control the lives and bodies of Black people. “Oh yes, we have known how painful it is to be without choice in this land,” a 1989 declaration signed by a group of prominent Black women in support of abortion rights read. “We who have been oppressed should not be swayed in our opposition to tyranny, of any kind.”

At the large and diverse public suburban New York City schools I attended in the early 2000s, we weren’t shamed or taught that abstinence was the only righteous path. The focus was on how to practice sex safely and responsibly, and with consent. We were taught that our sexuality was part of our humanity, and that it belonged to us alone.

Later, when I was a student at the University of Michigan, the movement for sex positivity was thrilling and liberating. We learned that pleasurable sexual experiences between consenting adults of all genders and orientations were to be celebrated. Every year the school held a safe-sex fair, handing out condoms and prescriptions for Plan B. One year the students erected a giant replica of a vulva, tall enough to walk through, complete with a working bell at the top where the clitoris would be. That used to be a fun memory for me. Now what I think about is how I had more rights then, over a decade ago, than I have today.

One reason I practice safe sex is thanks to that comprehensive, humane sex education. Another is the basic self-respect that comes from growing up in an America that, while imperfect, has come to view women as equal citizens and human beings.

It’s clear that a radical minority in the United States — from the right-wing zealots on the Supreme Court to a group of sexually illiterate politicians who clearly weren’t paying attention in health class — sees us differently.

Just one example is Yesli Vega, a Republican congressional candidate in Virginia who dismissed concerns about women being forced to carry pregnancies that result from rape, saying in audio recordings leaked recently that it wouldn’t surprise her if it were harder to become pregnant from rape because “it’s not something that’s happening organically” and rapists do it “quickly.”

This movement has relegated the women of this country to second-class citizenship, stripped us of autonomy over our own bodies and denied us essential health care. Now the people behind it are betting that our sense of hopelessness will paralyze us, allowing them to carry out their repressed vision of America without resistance.

But there are more of us than there are of them. That’s especially true if American men recognize that their way of life is also under attack. Men also have sex for pleasure. This is not just a women’s issue.

In the days after Roe fell, I have been wondering if the men I’ve dated are reflecting on how they too have benefited from the rights I and other American women enjoyed for the past half-century. What might their lives be like if I hadn’t had access to emergency contraception or birth control? Would they have the jobs, the marriages, the children, the freedom they do today?

They’re good men, and I’m happy for them. I’d also like to ask: Will I see you at the next protest? Join us.

Why Are Republican Politicians Obsessing About Sex?

 

Republican officials can no longer justify their economic policies that favor the rich and harm other Americans. But instead of pursuing a better economic policy, they have just decided to focus on sex, and wage a culture war.

Here's part of how Robert Reich describes this:

The Republican Party, once a proud proponent of limited government, has turned itself into a font of sexual innuendo and legal intrusion into the most intimate aspects of personal life. Protecting children from predators is a worthy aim, to be sure, but the GOP is obsessing about all aspects of sex. Why?

First, it’s part of their culture war, and culture wars sell with voters (and the media) eager for conflict and titillation. A culture war over sex sells even better. It lets Republicans imply that Democrats are somehow on the side of sexual “deviants” who endanger the “natural order.” 

Also, by focusing on sex, Republicans can court both the evangelical right and the rightwing extreme QAnon vote (with its the loony “Pizzagate” conspiracy claim that Hillary Clinton was a pedophile).

Most importantly, a culture war over sex allows Republicans to sound faux populist without having to talk about the real sources of populist anger — corporate-induced inflation at a time of record corporate profits, profiteering and price gouging, monopolization, stagnant wages, union busting, soaring CEO pay, billionaires who have amassed $1.7 trillion during the pandemic but who pay a lower tax rate than the working class, and the flow of big money into the political campaigns of lawmakers who oblige by lowering taxes on the wealthy and big corporations and doling out corporate welfare. 

Oh, and by focusing on pedophilia, gender identity, gay people, and abortion, Republicans don’t have to talk about Trump and January 6. 

Democratic politicians, wake up! You have a critical opportunity between now and the midterm elections to reframe the national conversation as it should be framed -- around abuses of economic power by corporations and the super rich. Those abuses are worsening. They affect the everyday lives of all Americans. 

If you fail to do this, Americans will continue to be inundated with Republican “culture war” messages intended to deflect the public’s attention from how badly big corporations and the super wealthy are shafting them. Americans won’t understand how these economic abuses all relate to record amounts of income and wealth at the top, and what must be done to reverse this imbalance (break up monopolies, enact a windfall profits tax, raise taxes on large corporations and the super wealthy, strengthen labor unions, reform campaign finance, stop corporate welfare, and so on). And some of you will lose your jobs in the midterm elections — allowing Republicans to take over the House and Senate.

New Polls Show Trump Is Deeply Unpopular

The Public Policy Polling survey was done between March 23rd and 25th of a random national sample of 846 registered voters, with a 3.4 point margin of error.

The CNN / SSRS Poll was done between March 22nd and 25th of a random national sample of 1,014 adults, with a 3.7 point margin of error.

Both polls show Trump still remains deeply unpopular, as the public continues to believe he is not doing a good job. The PPP survey shows him with a 15 deficit on job approval, and the CNN poll has that deficit at 12 points.

The PPP survey asked a rather humorous question that showed the depth of anti-Trump feeling. They asked if he ran against Stephanie Clifford in 2020, who would you vote for? Ms. Clifford won 42% to 41%. Then they used Clifford's stage name (Stormy Daniels), and her vote dropped to 32% -- but Trump's remained at 41%. It seems that a lot of people dislike Trump enough to vote for someone they don't even know, and after finding out she was a porn star, 32% would still vote for her over Trump.

The CNN poll also asked an interesting question. They asked about respondent's opinion of the cabinet in the Trump administration. It seems that the public has as low an opinion of Trump's cabinet members as they do of Trump himself.

The public is also not buying Trump's claims of innocence about his sexual liaisons outside of his marriage. By a 42 point gap, the public believes the women instead of Trump.

Call Out Trump On Real Issues (Not A Sordid Affair)

 (These caricatures of Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump are by the inimitable DonkeyHotey.)

I must admit that I have enjoyed watching Donald Trump squirm and explode on Twitter about media coverage of his affair with porn star Stormy Daniels. And it has been equally amusing to see the evangelicals jump through numerous hoops trying to explain how their support of Trump doesn't violate their claim of "Family values". But enough is enough.

In the final analysis, this is not something of importance to this country. It is nothing more than a sordid and immoral affair between two consenting adults. An affair in which both parties were wrong. Daniels was wrong to engage in an affair with a married man. And Trump was wrong to engage in an affair while married. But this is not the first time one of our presidents has done this (and some of the offenders were even Democrats). Supporting Stormy Daniels does nothing for women's right, and supporting Donald Trump does nothing for moral values.

It's time to move on to issues that matter -- issues that affect the citizens of this country (and the world). Donald Trump has damaged this country, and he has made the world a more dangerous place -- and those are the issues we should be concerned with.

Donald Trump has been a terrible president, and we need to call him out. We need to be discussing his:

* Assaultive treatment of women who did NOT invite his advances, and his obvious misogyny in the treatment of women in general.

* Incessant lying. He has told over 2500 lies, and hasn't even been in office for a year and a half yet.

* Failure to support a living wage for hard-working Americans, while giving massive tax breaks to the rich and corporations -- increasing the already too large gap in wealth and income between the rich and the rest of us.

* Withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Accords, making it much less likely that a global climate calamity can be avoided.

* Coddling of Russia and failure to punish them for their attacks on this country's electoral system, power grid, and other systems.

* Failure to take any substantive action to curb the gun violence epidemic in this country.

* Hiring of John Bolton as national security advisor -- a man who will push for war with North Korea and/or Iran.

* Attacks on the FBI, our intelligence agencies, and the press -- attacks that make the nation less secure and less democratic.

* Making money off his visits to businesses that he owns -- and encouraging other politicians and delegations from other countries to use those businesses.

* Making our air and water dirtier by reversing Obama-era moves to keep those resources clean.

* Giving away our national lands to oil and mining companies.

* Cutting financial aid for college -- making college more expensive and less accessible for many students.

* Making foreign policy blunders that destroy the faith of our allies in U.S. leadership.

Those are a few of the things that we should be talking about -- things Trump has done that make this country more divided and unfair, and make the world a more dangerous place. Worrying about his sordid little affair is just taking our eyes off of the things that matter.

What Is Trump Afraid Stormy Daniels Will Say ?

(This  caricature of Stormy Daniels is by DonkeyHotey.)

The media is full of the story about the affair Donald Trump had with porn star Stormy Daniels. I'm not sure it matters much, since the right-wing evangelicals have already said they don't care -- that it doesn't offend their "Family values". But I am starting to wonder just what Trump is trying to keep hidden.

Trump originally tried to claim that the affair didn't happen. That was ridiculous, but his first response to any accusation is to lie. No one actually believes the affair didn't happen now.

* Daniels told friends about the affair as it was happening.
* Daniels took a lie detector test, and passed it, back in 2011.
* Trump's attorney paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about the affair right before the 2016 election.

And now, Trump and his lawyer have moved Daniels' lawsuit from state to federal court (where it could be handled in secret) -- a move that amounts to an admission by Trump that the affair happened. Which brings up the question -- why is he still fighting so hard to keep details about the affair secret? If Americans know the affair happened (and they do), then why the secrecy?

Is he afraid Daniels will tell the world that he's a bad lover? Is he afraid that she will say he is sexually inadequate (or has "tiny hands")? Is it something worse -- some kind of perverse sexual behavior such as having prostitutes pee on him (remember the infamous Russian tape)? Whatever it is must be something that Trump would be embarrassed about, or he wouldn't waste time fighting it when he has far worse problems to worry about (Mueller investigation, possible criminal charges, impeachment, etc.).

When the Daniels story first appeared, I thought it was a bunch of nothing, and not worth the media hype about it. I'm starting to change my mind. If Trump is trying to hide some dirty secret, I'd like to know what it is.

Teen Pregnancy Rate Drops (But Not Due To Abstinence)

The chart above is from a report in The Journal of Adolescent Health. It shows that since 2007 the rate of both teen pregnancies and teen births have been dropping. That's a good thing, but what's is causing the drop?

Were the "abstinence only" folks right? Is their message finally starting to sink in with teens? NO. The study also found that the percentage of teens having sex has remained constant. The percentage of teens having sex is the same as it was in 2007.

Is the drop in teen births due to more use of abortion? Again NO. It seems that the abortion rate has also been falling.

So, what is causing the drop in teen pregnancies and births? It's exactly what public health officials have been saying for years. It's a wider availability of effective contraceptive methods. If you provide effective contraceptive and teach teens how to use them, the rate of teen pregnancies and teen births will go down.

We shouldn't have needed a study to show us that, since common sense will say the same thing. But for those hard-headed people among us, we now have a scientific study to prove it.

NOTE -- And in a back-handed way the study also shoots down the notion that the wider availability of contraceptive methods will cause more teens to have sex. As reported above, the percentage of teens having sex has remained constant.

Who Votes In American Elections ?

The 2016 election will depend a lot on who shows up to vote, so I thought this was interesting. It is from the Pew Research Center. They looked at demographic groups -- both is the percentage of the population (determined by the U.S. Census) and the percentage of 2014 voters (according to 2014 national exit poll).

As expected, some groups failed to vote up to their percentage of the population -- which means their voice was diluted in the election. Other groups voted in a greater percentage than their percentage of the population -- which means their voice was increased beyond what it should have been.

I was a bit surprised to see that women and men voted exactly as their proportion of the population in 2014 (52% to 48%). That's a change, since several past elections have seen women voting beyond their percentage of the population and men voting below theirs. Women still have a larger voice, but only because they outnumber men in this country.

When it comes to race, Whites both beyond the population percentage, Blacks vote about equal to theirs, and Hispanics vote significantly less than their population percentage.

There are real differences among age groups also. While those under 40 make up 38% of the population, they were only 24% of 2014 voters. Those 40-49 voted equal to their population percentage. Those over 50 voted in a much larger percentage than their population percentage. They compromise 45% of the population, but made up 59% of voters.

As the charts show, there are also differences according to education (with voter participation going up as education level rises) and income (where those making the least vote significantly less than do those at least middle class).

Will these participation levels hold in the 2016 election? It is a presidential election, so there will undoubtably be a bigger turnout overall -- but that doesn't necessarily mean the participation percentages will change. It will be interesting to see what happens though.

Americans May Not Be As Prudish As Many People Think

Are most Americans prudes, or are ideas toward sex and nudity becoming more liberal. At first glance, the top chart seems to suggest that most Americans remain prudish. But that is the opinion of a majority (53%), and that suggests a majority in this country have more liberal views toward sex and nudity.

And the charts below would seem to back that up. Note that only 26% (or about a quarter of the population thinks nudity should be discouraged, while 66% think it should be encouraged (12%) or should neither be discouraged or encouraged (54%). That's a pretty liberal attitude.

And the next three charts show that liberal attitude extends to sex. The survey asked what respondents thought should be the punishment for nudity or sex in public. A whopping 80% of Americans said a woman exposing her breasts should be given only a ticket (34%) or not be punished at all (46%). About 52% said a man exposing his genitals should be given only a ticket (43%) or not punished (9%). And a 55% majority said those having sex in a public place should only receive a ticket (43%) or not be punished at all (14%). Only very tiny percentages said those things should be punished by probation or prison.

But perhaps the most surprising part of this survey is revealed in the bottom chart. People were asked if they had ever had sex in a public place, and 36% (more than a third) said they had done so. One group (the Baby Boomers) even had more people saying yes than said no. That might be due to the "free love" era of the 1960s and 1970s.

I was pleasantly surprised by this survey. While many Americans remain prudes (frightened by sex and nudity), many more are not. Our society certainly is not as prudish as it once was (just a few decades ago).

All of these charts were made from a recent YouGov Poll -- done between May 5th and 7th of a random national sample of 1,000 adults, with a 3.9 point margin of error.

Is The United States Still A "Puritanical" Country ?

There is no doubt that prior to the late 1960's, the United States was a "puritanical" country. Nudity and sex were topics that could not be discussed openly, and were almost non-existent in our TV programs and movies. The counter-culture movement of the late 1960's and 1970's changed that somewhat with their "free love" movement (spurred on by widespread access to modern birth control methods, primarily the "pill").

Our society has loosened somewhat, with nudity, sex, and dirty words now appearing more on television and in the movies -- but that has been limited to cable television, with broadcast television still struggling to catch up. And even the movies still have a rating system to please the anti-nudity and anti-sex fundamentalists.

Recently, a novel has swept the country that examines the BDSM scene (bondage, dominance, sadism, masochism) -- 50 Shades of Grey. The book became a huge best-seller, and has now been made into a movie (that is breaking box office records). And perhaps most surprising, the book is extremely popular among the christian community (even the fundamentalist christians) -- the community most responsible for our past puritanism.

This brings up an interesting question -- Are we no longer a puritanical country? A new YouGov Poll tried to answer that question. They queried a random national sample of 1,000 adults on February 10th and 11th (and their survey has a margin of error of 4.4 points). The charts in this post were made from information in that survey.

If you just look at the two charts above, you would certainly get the impression that the United States is still a very puritanical country. Overwhelming majorities say they have never participated in any BDSM sexual encounters. And only a slightly larger minority say they would like to do so in the future.

But before you jump to that conclusion look at the chart below. When these same people were asked whether our society should discourage sexual practices like BDSM, huge majorities said they should NOT be discouraged! And that feeling spanned both sexes, all ages, and all races (and although I didn't put include them in the chart, it also included all income levels and political persuasions, including 58% of Republicans).

It turns out that while most won't admit to engaging in BDSM sexual encounters (or wanting to do that), they aren't opposed to those sexual encounters. I don't think that would have been the opinion of the majority even a quarter of a century ago.

Are we still a puritanical nation? I would have to say yes, but not nearly as puritanical as we used to be -- and it is changing fast. That's a good thing. Society (i.e., government) needs to stay out of our bedrooms, and anything should be permissible -- as long as it is consensual and no one gets hurt.

America Is Losing It's Prudishness

For much of this country's history, the American public has been very prudish. Nudity was shocking to most, and sex was considered to be something dirty that could not be talked about (especially in a school health class). Most of Europe and much of Asia have been much more open-minded about nudity and sex -- probably because they don't let religion rule their society as much as we do in America.

But that seems to be changing. This YouGov Poll shows that most people in the U.S. think Americans are too easily offended by sex and nudity. This includes Democrats and Independents. Only the Republicans disagree (and think Americans should be prudish when it comes to sex and nudity) -- but that's understandable since that party has most of the nation's right-wing fundamentalists. And it turns out that both genders, all races, and most age groups also think Americans are too prudish -- with only those 65 and older not agreeing (they are split on the question).

I don't know about you, but I think this is a very good thing. It's about time that Americans grew up, and realized that sex (as long as it is consensual) is a natural thing, and so is nudity. I'm not saying we should all go around nude (I doubt many would want me to do that), but it's not the end of the world (or some kind of sin) to see someone nude.

The charts were made from a survey taken on August 2nd and 3rd of a random national sample of 1,000 American adults, with a margin of error of about 4 points.

Opposing Abortion Or Sex ?

Sexual Harassment

The cartoon above is by Jim C. Hines at jimchines.com. It sums up the dilemma that women face when they are sexually harassed better than anything I've seen. They are vilified if they report it, made fun of if they try to deal with it without going public, and ignored if they don't report it. We need to get past this ridiculous patriarchy to which too many men in this country still cling. Why can't we all treat each other decently, and deal with each other on an equal basis? Is that really so hard?

Kids And Sex/Guns

This is the kind of reasoning the right-wing fundamentalists do (if it can be called reasoning at all). They are terrified that teaching high school students the truth about sex (and contraceptives) will make them want to run out and have sex. It's like they think sex is some kind of great secret that kids won't know about until they turn 18 or maybe 21 -- when I guess they magically will know about it then. They don't seem to realize that most kids know all about sex in junior high (although most wait before engaging in it).

But when it comes to guns, a much more dangerous thing (which can end their lives instead of just messing with their future), they have no problem with teach even elementary school kids how to shoot. Of course, this whole concept is illogical. If teaching a kid about safe sex will make him/her want to engage in sex, then why doesn't teaching a kid about guns make them want to go out and shoot someone. Could it be that kids are much smarter than fundies give them credit for -- maybe even smarter than the fundies who want to keep secrets from them?

Teen Pregnancy

There are 365,000 births to teen mothers (age 15 to 19) each year in this country -- and nearly 67,000 of them are second, third, or fourth births to the same teen mother. That tells me we are doing something wrong -- we are failing the children of this country. Note on the second chart that the states with the worst teen birth rates are generally states where fundamentalist Republicans rule. They think the answer is just to tell children not to have sex, and then refuse to teach them any sex education. They are wrong, and it is the children who suffer because of it.

Religion or teaching abstinence does not prevent teen pregnancies. Studies have shown that. What does prevent teen pregnancies is good sex education and easy access to contraceptives. Fundamentalists believe that teaching the truth about sex will make children have sex. That's silly. The children who want to have sex will do so whether they know the truth or have access to contraceptives or not, and the ones who don't want to will not be bolstered by preaching at them.

I don't think teens having sex is a very good idea, but I don't think it's a sin either. And I would rather my child be taught the truth and have access to contraceptives, than to make life a lot harder by having a teen pregnancy. But then I think my children are more important than any religion. And I think we could go a long way toward solving the problem of teen pregnancy in this country if all parents thought that way. If a loving god did exist, wouldn't he/she agree?

GOP Tries Another Faux Issue & Fails

The issue that will probably determine the upcoming election will most likely be the economy (and jobs), but the Republicans can't compete on that. They still support the same old trickle-down economics that cost this nation millions of jobs, created a vast gap of wealth and income, and threw the country into recession. And they are far too invested in party ideology to alter those views.

That's why they are doing their best to change the electoral narrative to take the public's mind off of the economy and on to social issues, like same-sex marriage. Their latest effort has been to dredge up an old, but lasting issue -- abortion. They know they can't outright ban abortion (thanks to the Supreme Court in Roe vs. Wade), so they are once again trying to chip away at the edges of current abortion law.

This time it was a bill introduced by Rep. Trent Franks (R-Arizona), pictured above. Franks bill would have outlawed a woman having an abortion because of the sex of the fetus. The bill got 246 votes, but failed because it was brought to the House floor under an expedited process -- which limited debate on the issue, but required a two-thirds majority for passage.

I'm sure the Republicans will now try to sell the idea that Democrats are in favor of allowing abortions solely because of the sex of the fetus. Of course that is ridiculous. Most Democrats simply believe a woman should have control over her own body. It's a fake issue anyway, for a couple of reasons.

The idea was that women would abort a female fetus because boys are favored. That may be true in some other countries (like China, where there is a limit on the amount of children a woman can have), but there is no evidence of selective abortion in this country. In fact, the evidence shows just the opposite of that. Back in 1983 there were 1,053 boys born for every 1,000 girls. In 2009, that had shrunk to 1,048 boys for every 1,000 girls. The ratio of boys to girls has gone down instead of climbing (as it would have if selective abortion was a problem).

In addition, at least 92% of all abortions are performed before the sex of the fetus can even be determined.  Obviously this was a bill with little meaning or purpose, other than to try and change the electoral debate -- and increase the Republican's war on women.

U.S. Sex Education Is A Miserable Failure

We are failing our younger generation by refusing to teach them the truth about human sexuality and contraception. It's not that we don't have the knowledge, or don't know how to teach it. It's just that far too many school systems would rather teach religion instead of scientific fact, resulting in the preaching of "abstinence only" instead of the teaching of sex education.

In many of these "abstinence only" programs there is no teaching about contraception at all, and in many others the students are taught lies about contraception -- like condoms are subject to a breakage rate of 31%, that the pill will cause women to contract cancer or to gain weight, that the pill is not as effective as advertised, and that pregnancy can result from the touching of genital areas among other lies. This is doing nothing but producing a generation of young people who are not equipped with the knowledge to prevent unnecessary pregnancies or prevent the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases.

This is verified by a new survey done by the Guttmacher Institute. They surveyed a random sample of young people between the ages of 18 and 29, and their findings were rather discouraging. More than half of all young men and more than a quarter of all young women received a "D" or an "F" on the test -- they flunked it! Even more depressing was that 60% of all the youth underestimated the effectiveness of the birth control pill (which is effective for 999 out of 1,000 women).

But worst of all, 40% of those surveyed said that birth control really doesn't matter because "when it is your time to get pregnant it will happen". With a belief like that, that 40% are very unlikely to use any kind of contraceptive when having sex -- putting themselves at risk for both unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted disease.

I have no problem with any religion teaching their beliefs in their church, temple, or mosque -- but this does not remove the need for real fact-based sex education in our schools. Failing to teach fact-based sex education simply sets too many young people up for a life-altering failure. The religionists seem to think that teaching youngsters about safe sex will make them want to run out and have irresponsible sex (which is odd, since most of these same people don't believe teaching gun safety will make youngsters want to go out and misuse firearms).

We have already failed one generation. How many more will we fail before we wake up and teach the truth?

New Test To Determine Fetal Sex Not Used In U.S.

There was a time when it was impossible to know the sex of a baby until it was born. The ultra-sound machine changed that a few weeks ago. The ultra-sound can sometimes determine the sex of a fetus at about 12 weeks, although it usually takes a little longer than that. Now there is a fairly simple test that can determine sex very accurately at 7 weeks.

The test is called a Cell-Free Fetal DNA Test, and it is already being used in European hospitals. They draw a bit of the mother's blood and then look for tiny bits of the male sex chromosome. The test is 98.8% effective in predicting boys and is 94.8% effective in predicting girls -- some pretty good numbers.

It is being used in Europe because knowing the sex of a baby early can eliminate the need for more invasive tests to try and pick up some possible genetic defects -- tests that can sometimes result in a miscarriage. These genetic defects are much more likely to strike boys, so if the simple blood test shows the baby will be a girl the mother could elect not to have the more invasive (and more dangerous) tests.

Sounds great doesn't it -- a simple test that can avoid women having to experience a miscarriage. But the test is not being performed in the United States. Why? Because the anti-abortion crowd are afraid that if a mother finds out the sex of a fetus before 12 weeks are passed, then might get an abortion because it is not the sex the mother (or her mate) wants.

This is ridiculous in my opinion. Any test that is that effective, and can be used to possibly prevent more invasive procedures and miscarriages should be used. And personally, I believe the mother has a right to know the sex of the fetus she is carrying. Aren't we supposed to be a free country? Why then do we deny a woman the right to know this. Can't we just trust women to do what is best for themselves and their family? Must we continually treat women as second-class citizens who only have the right to know what others elect to tell them?

What do you think? Should this test be available to any woman who wants it in this country?