to think that contraception should be free in America?

[autumnlights12]

a Facebook friend (I use the term loosely) is ranting on her Facebook status about contraception, complaining that her tax dollars shouldn't be funding contraception, that women should 'close their legs' if they can't afford contraception and anyway sex outside of wedlock is 'immoral' don't ya know. I am seething. I know it's only Facebook, but when I'm faced with such blatant stupidity, I have to say something. She's a Christian Republican Bible Belter, and has had plenty of people agreeing with her, people who I know would be financially much better off with some sort of Obamacare. It defies belief. I cannot understand this attitude.
I commented.. was very very calm and diplomatic, and two people agreed with me, the rest are asking questions such as 'who won the war for you, we wont bother next time?' and other really irrelevant moronic statements like that.
So, anyone got any comments or experience about American healthcare and the contraception issue that I can pass on, or should I step away from the keyboard?!

The reason it is free in this country is that it saves the country £billions. Ever £1 spent on contraception saves the NHS £14. And that's jus the NHS, it saves the tax payer loads, loads more.

It's not the case that it is free in this country as it is ethically right to have free access, it is free of charge as the country struggles to afford the number of unplanned pregnancies we have as it is.

Between now and the November election it'll get worse so you may as well hide her from your feed or de-friend.
I hate election years, it's all that your hear about or see on TV and in the papers. It gets downright nasty.

Nursebernard - Sorry, you said America's ten pregnancy rate was the highest "in the world". It's not; it's the highest "in the developed world", which is a rather different thing. It's late and i couldn't be bothered doing research beyond wikipedia, but here are some interesting details on the changing trend:

"The teenage birth rate in the United States is the highest in the developed world, and the teenage abortion rate is also high.[2] The U.S. teenage pregnancy rate was at a high in the 1950s and has decreased since then, although there has been an increase in births out of wedlock.[13] The teenage pregnancy rate decreased significantly in the 1990s; this decline manifested across all racial groups, although teenagers of African-American and Hispanic descent retain a higher rate, in comparison to that of European-Americans and Asian-Americans. The Guttmacher Institute attributed about 25% of the decline to abstinence and 75% to the effective use of contraceptives.[14] While in 2006 the U.S. teen birth rate rose for the first time in fourteen years,[15] it reached a historic low in 2010: 34.3 births per 1,000 women aged 15?19.[16]"

I'm not at all saying that I agree with the Americans who take a fairly fundamentalist attitude against contraception, far from it. But I don't like seeing supposed facts go unchallenged (and apologies to anyone else who's pointed this out beyond p2.

Sorry, my bad - you're absolutely right; I did leave out a rather crucial word.

There is a significant difference in how teen pregnancy is perceived in developed and developing countries, from wiki...

In developed countries, teenage pregnancies are associated with many social issues, including lower educational levels, higher rates of poverty, and other poorer life outcomes in children of teenage mothers. Teenage pregnancy in developed countries is usually outside of marriage, and carries a social stigma in many communities and cultures.

Whereas in many developing countries, teen pregnancy is often as a natural consequence after marrying very young (which is another whole issue).

I guess my point was that teen pregnancy in a country like the US is very much frowned upon, but yet the people who do the frowning don't want to address it in a way which works, i.e. via sexuality education and free contraception for those who need it most and might struggle to afford it.

As an aside, UK teen pregnancy rates are at their lowest level since 1969. Not that you'd ever guess if you went by the Daily Mail.

she's staying on my Facebook till the election and then I might have to be exceedingly childish and taunt her slightly if Barack wins

You can get free condoms, poster who said she had to pay (or at least you could 5 years ago before dh had a vasectomy) - depends if you can afford the fuel to get to one of the increasingly rare family planning clinics. I would think that GPs can prescribe them free too, though not so sure about that.

asking questions such as 'who won the war for you, we wont bother next time?'

right.....is she native american? if not then is pretty much one of us. Maybe you should tell her about the pilgrims sailing from the uk to america and taking over from those who originally inhabited the place. It makes me laugh when americans are all "oh england we really love london" types. No more than a few hundred years back thats where they were from.

right.....is she native american? if not then is pretty much one of us. Maybe you should tell her about the pilgrims sailing from the uk to america and taking over from those who originally inhabited the place.
I agree!

Plus, it's pretty easy to swing in and contribute towards winning a world war, when you come in at the last minute and haven't had your war chest utterly depleted - and only because you personally were attacked and not because you have any altruistic desire to rid the world of entities that threatened our free, democratic way of life...

Don't even get me started NurseBernard...One of my real pet peeves that I find so grossly offensive.

I'd be amazed if most of those posting were actually fighting in the war tbh, I know there are a lot of silver surfers out there but are all those posters over 85?

More like 95 Joan...My Pa was enlisted at 18 and if he were alive today he'd be 92!

I was shocked to read in an American textbook for learning Russian 'most people don't know that Russia was also involved in World War Two'...

Clearly none of us were actually fighting, joan - what's your point?

@joan YOu can't get condoms on prescription in this country. Its the only form of contraception you can't be 'prescribed'. Otherwise, surely everyone would have them on repeat!

You used to be able to get free condoms from Family Planning Clinics (or whatever they're called now) - has that changed?

you can get them at family planning clinics. If you have one near you that self-identifies as a family planning clinic

You have to pay for contraception in Germany. It never actually occured to me that this was an issue, particularly as there are so many varying methods, with vastly different price tags. I guess for me it feels more personal, than medical, like tampons. Although I wouldn't complain if it was free, either.

It certainly has had no effect on the birthrate in Germany, teen or otherwise. Much to the governments dissapointment.

my point was that comments about the US contribution to WWII were 'we won't bother next time' as in suggesting a personal contribution... not original or anything but neither are those sorts of comments.

According to the NHS website most GPs will still provide free condoms.

I'm also an American living in the UK, and it does get a bit frustrating to see it listed as a blanket "Americans believe ..." this or that. Not every American is freaking out screaming "socialism" at the mention of Obamacare. I will admit that many are (my sister and a few others I know fairly well for example ) but then those are people that are very much of the "fuck the poor" variety. They believe that if you want anything in life, you must work for it, and if you haven't gotten it (or if something bad happens to you) then that's because you didn't work hard enough and you deserve whatever you get. (although I've noticed they are the first to cry foul when THEY have something bad happen to them... different rules for different people)

Personally, I didn't like Obama, although his Obamacare seems to be a step in the right direction. Mitt Romney ... god, I hope he never gets into the White House. The problem with US politics (and let's be realistic, UK politics as well) is that the only people with enough backing and clout to win an election for presidency are extremely wealthy and therefore out of touch with how the general public lives.

The US is rapidly becoming a scary place IMO.

It never actually occured to me that this was an issue, particularly as there are so many varying methods, with vastly different price tags.

Variable pricing makes it more of an issue in my mind - it would be awful to choose your method of contraception based on what you could afford and not what was actually right for you.