21 June 2007

Glenn Grothman: wrong on the ethics of birth control.

Hi folks,

Back after a break and catching up.

Back on May 16th the Wisconsin Radio Network reported that Glenn had voted against some emergency contraception legislation. I'm still astonished by Glenn's vote.

They reported:

No one spoke against the bill, which passed 27-to-6. Juneau Republican Scott Fitzgerald was among the "no" votes. "Ultimately, it's still a question of conception and life," said Fitzgerald. Also voting against the bill were Republican Senators Glenn Grothman, Dan Kapanke, Neal Kedzie, Mary Lazich and Joe Liebham.

Middleton Democrat John Erpenbach chaired a committee which heard testimony on the bill. He noted only one group opposed the it. Pro Life Wisconsin, said Erpenbach, is "against . . . all forms of contraception." Fitzgerald cited the group's stance in explaining his vote. "Pro Life Wisconsin had a little bit different take on it than Right to Life and the Catholic Conference and certainly Planned Parenthood," said Fitzgerald. The bill requires hospitals inform rape victims of emergency contraceptives and make the morning after pill available to them. Prospects are unclear in the Republican controlled state Assembly.

I assume that Glenn agrees with the position of Pro Life Wisconsin, one of his biggest supporters. If I'm wrong about that, let me know!

Here's the problem: Pro Life Wisconsin believes that any kind of birth control -- anything that prevents conception -- is a kind of before-the-fact abortion and cannot be ethically sustained. The principle here is that anything which prevents a human being, even a potential one, from becoming an actual human being, is immoral. This includes abortion, clearly, but also emergency contraception and even condoms. Ironically, if you accept the idea that preventing conception is always wrong, the same logic would hold that even abstinence is immoral since it too prevents the conception and creation of an actual human being.

Maybe this is why people like Leah Vukmir and Glenn keep voting to guarantee the rights of rapists to force their victims to conceive.

When you start getting screwy answers like this, it's time to go back and recheck your original principles for cracks. They're usually the problem.

Your mileage may vary.


hiho
Mpeterson

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It isn't that anti-abortion anti-birth control groups believe "that preventing conception is always wrong," it is that they believe (wrongly so) that IUDs and all hormonal birth control actually cause an abortion. A pregnancy begins at implantation. According to a source anti-abortion people cite often, Dr. Lennart Nilsson "A Child Is Born" it isn't until then that "an intensive chemical exchange of information between the blastocyst and the mother's body begins." In other words not the woman or any Dr. can know she is pregnant until signals of such is sent by the woman's body and that doesn't occur until implantation.

Anti-abortion people have a right to personally believe whatever they want about when life begins but when we are designing public policy only medically scientifically accurate information can be used in that design.

Anti-abortion legislators are doing something wrong and immoral when they use their personal religious beliefs about when life begins to deny women rape victims access to emergency contraception or for that matter when they deny any woman or teen access. They can preach and teach what they believe but they are doing something wrong and immoral when they try to legislate there personal religious beliefs upon others and when they use it as a substitute for medically and scientifically proven facts. Such an immoral and unethical act harms born women but since when has anti-abortion groups ever cared about the born? They use their so-called concern for born women who have abortions as a propaganda prop for their political agenda.

I wouldn't believe anything they said to the contrary because their actions speak much louder than their words.

Peggy Loonan, founder and executive director, Life and Liberty for Women - an abortion rights group
www.lifeandlibertyforwomen.org
peggy@lifeandlibertyforwomen.org

Mpeterson said...

Thank you Ms Loonan for your comment.

You're quite right, of course -- and "pregnancy" is, nowadays, continually being redefined by the Mullahs in groups like ProLife Wisconsin to satisfy their fearful, personal, moralities.

hiho
Mpeterson

Anonymous said...

I don't think you have to worry about Grothman because he supported and campaigned for Ziegler after her ethics violation were made known.

Grothman is an unprincipaled man if he can support a Judge that has no problem with violating peoples constitutional rights.

Grothman must go!

Mrs. McDonell said...

Wow! This blog is awesome. I found it while googling for some quotes by the equally ridiculous Sheryl Albers, and I have to say that I have been here in good ol' Madison, hating Glenn Grothman for more than a decade! Keep up the good work!