The Medicaid Family Planning State Option was dropped from the stimulus package after a public outcry from House Minority Leader, John Boehner (pronounced “BAY-ner”).


This would have either: a) provided health care coverage for 2.3 million women while generating savings for states and the federal government or b) funded the pro-abortion business. That’s depending on whether you side with Planned Parenthood or John Boehner.


My thinking is that contraceptives and condoms are secretly viewed as abortions by many lawmakers. As a sex educator, I support the Medicaid Family Planning State Option as part of the stimulus package, because I do think that unwanted pregnancies (which are usually followed by unwanted marriages, unwanted families, unwanted in-laws and unloved children) are quite costly on so many levels. And I don’t think income level should dictate whether someone has the right to have access to the pill. Guys like Boehner feel differently.


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Now, I know what it’s like to live with HIV, it hasn’t always been easy and yes, it’s probably shaped the way I feel about about promoting condom usage. I imagine Boehner had a rough adolescence, too. Can you imagine being a boy, and being called “boner” by your friends in the presence of girls as you went through puberty?*


That would suck.


Former Miss America Judge (2006) and current Hardball host, Chris Matthews, got in on the act, too, applauding President Obama for removing Family Planning from the package, claiming that the United States is not like China and shouldn’t dictate how we procreate. Comparing this to China’s two-child mandate was buffoonery of the highest order.


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I know the abortion issue is touchy. But my thought on the matter is that, if abortion is the ultimate evil, then support of contraceptives and family planning to prevent the likelihood of an abortion ever taking place is an obvious conclusion... am I wrong here?


If you think Family Planning should be part of the stimulus package, call the White House at (202) 456-1111, or email them here.


Positively Yours,

Shawn




*NOTE:Shawn Decker has no proof that John Boehner was, is or has ever been referred to as “boner” by his friends or colleagues in the House and Senate. If that is not the case, and Decker is wrong, he apologizes for the error and thinks Boehner’s friends are nimrods for missing such an obvious way to ridicule their buddy.