Birth Control for Preteens - Not College Students

Friday, June 17, 2005

No birth control for you:

The Wisconsin Assembly approved a ban on the so-called morning-after pill on state college campuses, a restriction that would be the first in the nation if approved.

The vote in the lower chamber late Thursday sends the bill to the state Senate; both are controlled by Republicans. Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle said he will veto the measure if it reaches his desk.

The legislation would prohibit University of Wisconsin System health centers from advertising, prescribing or dispensing emergency contraception — drugs that can block a pregnancy in the days after sex. The state university system has 161,000 students on 26 campuses.
The absurdity of this law is that if it passes, middle schoolers and preteens around the country will be able to get birth control in their very classrooms while adults attending college in Wisconsin won't.

If this were high school I would support the bill wholeheartedly; we don't need to be giving kids in an overly sexualized society more encouragement to make wrong decisions, but college students are adults and are mature enough to handle the consequences of their actions.

On this issue I break with my pro-life colleagues, but only because the morning-after pill is the best way to avoid the vile procedure we call abortion - as it prevents conception. According to the Green Bay Press-Gazette there were 9,943 abortions performed last year alone in the state of Wisconsin. If adult college students are denied the morning-after pill I can only imagine that number skyrocketing.

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