HHS moves to define contraception as abortion

This is absolutely outrageous and ridiculous. Also, what about using birth control pills as a form of regulating a woman's cycle, or decreasing the effects of PMS, etc? I know that that's the primary reason I started taking BC pills.

What irritates me about this is the fact that some women must use birth control for medical purposes. I don't think the government should be saying what two consenting adults do in their time also. I am against abortion personally, but I'm not a woman so I sure as hell am not going to say what they can and can't do with their own bodies. Isn't the whole point of a government to protect and help it's people, not criminalize almost half, if not more, of its population? If a government is criminalizing a large percentage of the population, something seriously is wrong. The things that people do that are widespread in this country are there because of how the country was formed and how the society evolved, it's not good to try to trash part of that.

It is not abortion. Most of these drugs stunt the body from releasing the hormones that control the release of the egg. The only loss is maybe one or two eggs in the beginning then only the sperm. Ridiculous to define it as an abortion.

If people actually read the article, they'd know that HSS is defining 40% or more contraceptive methods as abortion by defining the beginning of life at the point of conception, not on implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterine wall.

This definition makes most contraceptive methods abortion, not just the morning-after pill.

The moment of conception is essentially unknowable, so this ruling would "include the 40% of the birth control methods Americans use, such as the pill, the patch, the shot, the ring, the IUD, and emergency contraception, under the classification "abortion."

Again, facist governments and religions all try to control women's reproduction to enforce their police states. They routinely use religious arguments to limit women's control over their own bodies and choice about whether or not to have children. Research what the Nazi Party did in Germany.

if you do the research you'll find that a lot of birth control actually does result in abortion. specifically the morning after pill. people gasping at this fact are just putting on display ignorance.

My hormones are messed up. I have a bunch of really disgusting problems with my cycles, and have to be on birth control to fix them. By this logic, would hysterectomies be abortion, too?

I can't stand how our government spends time on such frivolous issues. The fact that they care if a couple wants to postpone and prevent such a life-altering change as having a baby, shouldn't be up to the government to decide. Besides, I find it even more horrifying for someone to bring a child into the world who can't properly provide for it in the first place.

I can understand why people have negative views on actual abortions, but contraceptives serve a purpose.

I have a relative who, if she were to become pregnant, could have her life at serious risk due to some physical abnormalities with her female parts.

For some people, not getting prego is not just about not wanting babies. For some people, keeping from pregnancy is an act of self preservation. Obviously, there are some married women who this applies to.

Next, they'll be trying to tell us that women who have their tubes tied are commiting mass abortion.

Limiting women's control over their bodies and reproduction is a tried and true method to oppress and control populations eg. the Holy Roman Empire, Catholic Church, Islam, Puritan America.

Remember Margaret Atwood's prophetic THE HANDMAID'S TALE.

It is interesting that while the US has gone around the world sterilizing certain groups of women (even within the US as well), they on the other hand are running around babbling and screaming and forcing pro-life onto people....

As we all know it is all about control.....

It also kind of trips me out that while there is so much heated discussion about abortion it seems to be perfectly fine for other bizarre things to be going on with creating babies, like our young women selling their eggs to pay for their college education and what-not...

Not only that but what is the point in believing in a 'loving God' who in reality just likes to play cruel jokes on everyone by making the most wonderful experience of the coming together of two individuals an evil thing to do unless you are making a baby.

So twisted.

Haha technically the hhs By doing this will increase world population hunger etc. do they really want to help people?

next they will class condoms as an abortion method, which would cause a rise in STDs...

this is worrying, so they're going to brand sensible precautions as 'pre-emptive abortions' now?? oh dear...

they want us to over populate, so then they can kill us off and have an excuse. thats my theory.

That's what you call a parting gift. Bush is pretty bold for a president with the lowest approval ratings ever. Thank God the Founders knew enough not to let the Administrative branch be in charge of creating law.

As a christian i don't agree with this at all. There is no way this is going to pass, its just straight up crazy.

excuse me? i don't think i can find the proper words to describe how absolutely ridiculous this proposal is.

and, shouldn't we all be preoccupied as a society about population control and trying not to overburden school, health, and other state and national systems that are already stretched too thin?

i also love how it is always women that have to deal with this crap - if there were oral contraceptives for men, i bet no one would be trying to classify them as abortion, or the guys as sluts and baby killers. if it were up to these idiots, women would never be allowed to enjoy sex or have the right to choose whether we want to reproduce or not. just because i have a womb doesn't mean i have to have kids - it is not my reproductive fate! lucky for men, they aren't saddled with the physical and emotional burden of bearing children, and that makes it easier for them to ignore the reality of pregnancy and to run away from the responsibilities that come along with it.

I learned in the eighties that the "right to life" groups considered all birth control as abortion. ( I belive I heard it on the Phil Donahue show). these people are CRAZY. Birth control used to be illegal in Ireland also (imagine the TSA confiscating your condoms @ the airport), but I think the laws are changed now.

This interesting as an example of how the US government's language tends more & more closely to that of our old friend Osama bin L & other deranged extremists who quote divine support.

Hitler's Waffen SS had "Gott mit uns" i.e. 'God with us' etched on the inside of their belts... clearly so, & now he's with Dubya & Osama bin Laden too...

Didn't I read something about a new American SS recently? Check their belts.

When will these men learn to leave my uterus out of politics? See you all up north

Uh I thought the whole point of birth control was so that women didn't have to go get an abortion...
and since when did rich old white men have the right to tell me what to do with my ovaries!!!!

Thats it. I'm moving.

This is the most absurd article I have read in a while. So what exactly are they trying to do here?

This is their idea of trying to prevent sex. "If we label contraceptives as abortion, they will stop handing them out and therefore stop sex! HA HA HA!"

Fucken morons. I'm moving to Switzerland

seriously. wtf.

Ok so basically safe sex is abortion... does that mean not having sex is also abortion? I mean come on!!

Birth control is the prevention of pregnancy. Abortion is most commonly defined as the termination of pregnancy. How can one terminate a pregnancy that has not even begun yet? The HHS is going to have one hell of a time trying to redefine "abortion."

And even further than that, a sperm and an egg are *not* the same thing as a fetus. They are simply cells, and the average human body is made up of 10 trillion different cells. Scratching your arm results in the death of hundreds of cells, yet no one calls this murder.

If women cannot legally obtain abortions and/or contraceptives, they will resort to obtaining them illegally, which is dangerous and will result in innumerable deaths. Their blood will be on the government's hands.

DJMatt2..I agree w/ you..I am not surprised ,either. And in case the people that concern themselves w/ everyone's sex lives ...Don't they realize but BIRTH CONTROL has been around a very long time.. Before drugstores !! And hospitals and the HHS.... And abortions aren't new either! But aren't we supposed to have seperation of state and church ? Or am I confusing the u.s. w/ another country?
This is such a waste of time/energy/money.Could we please have the govt. show some common sense ? Let's get to work on the real issues!

This is exactly why I can't stand religion. They try to make everyone conform to what they think people should be. Why can't everyone just let people do what they want as long as they aren't hurting others? I think the world would be a much better place if all these assholes could just relax.

Saving federal money used for birth control information and probably using it to fund current and future wars. The future looks bleak.

WTF mates. I thought abortion was the destruction of a human life. I thought a human life was a . . . . . . . . human. You know, a MAN and a WOMAN do the horizontal mambo and the womens egg is fertilized. . . . do i really have to ramble on with this crap.
Can a womens egg be human and not need a sperm to become a human.
Someone please tell these religious right RETARDS that the Bible is a work of the JEWS and was re re re retardedly interpreted by some doosh who call it the word of god. So religious rights should stop going to the hospitol and all that other crap that pertains to SCIENCE.
i am flabergasted.

wow WOOOOOW!!!

They complain because we're overpopulated, and now they want us to define contraceptives as abortion?! Way to go, America. I anticipate an even larger increase of unplanned births occurring.

you do not control the body of another human being!
aka
ME
leave me and my ovaries the fuck alone!

Well, I guess this falls right in line with my plans to make sure that every time I ejaculate I'm getting someone pregnant. This way I'll be sure not to abort any of my potential sons or daughters...

Has anyone written these people a letter kindly informing them that their heads actually don't belong up their asses? If not, it needs to happen...

Does this mean that every time I have my period, I'm aborting a baby? Because, you know, it COULD have been a child, afterall, maybe we should give my eggs more legal rights that I have?

what's next? . . . control of ovulation?

They want to force all women to stay home and have babies. We're obviously getting too uppity again.

This is seriously disturbing…

Is this some wingnut conservatives attempt to FORCE abstinence? This “proposal” is offensive, outrageous and ridiculous! We already have a generation of parentless children and half-a** parental guidance as it is. Imagine what the world would look like if every nimwitt that had sex produced a baby!

SERIOUSLY!

Government involvement in personally issues is really getting too deep! Back up outta my bedroom…

PLEASE!

-Jaye ;-/

I just hope that if the religious right take over completely, either a) California declares independence, or b) The liberals of America rise up!

dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumbbbbbbbb.......................Does Canada even issue Green Cards to Americans? I'm sure Mexico would.

This is the next phase in the religious right's attack on our lives.

It's not about abortion.

They want ALL contraceptives banned, for EVERYONE.

This administration needs to leave the office immediately. The earth is already overpopulated. I would rather we have access to birth control then taking some drugs from the dude in the alley or getting an abortion from some crazy doctor in her kitchen.

i don't think there are words to describe my utter and complete outrage at this shit.In all seriousness, It seems to me that the world is really going to hell in a hand basket. And women are going to be the first casualties. Ladies don't be fooled, our rights have been and always will be temporary. The moment the shit hits the fan we will become chattel once more. Enjoy your freedoms while they last.

Heads need to roll for this one. This is completely unacceptable.

This is a really bad idea. If women weren't allowed to use birth control and this lead to more women having unwanted pregnancies, then could one assume more women would be having abortions AFTER conception anyways?

there is a big difference between abortion and prevention.

goddamn

Everytime we take a small step forward we take a giant leap backwards.

If this goes through, I will be soon enough standing at the Canadian side of the US border, watching with a tear in my eye as America is hijacked by the religious right.

What kind of sense does this make? There are enough unplanned pregnancies as it is. Women will be forced to have real abortions if they can't control when they want to have children. PRO-CHOICE all the way. Wonder what the folks at Planned Parenthood agencies think about this.

Ok, so if you consider birth control abortion, and make it hard or impossible for most women to obtain, all that is going to do is increase the amount of actual abortions. It sure as hell isn't going to make people stop having sex. All I can see coming out of this is an increase in unwanted pregnancies, ie an increase in actual abortions. Way to shoot yourselves in the foot, idiots.

Stop bitching. If you get knocked up just say your getting fat have the thing at home and make sure you have a good garbage disposal and your good to go.

Sing with me now, "Every sperm is sacred."

Ok what?! Since people have the freedom to do whatever they want in this country, this should never pass. No laws trying to stop Abortion or birth control should ever be passed because it violates a woman's given right to choose whether she wants a kid or not. Our world is over-populated anyway!

Arent their cases of babies suffocating in the night for no reason. I predict if this passes the number of these cases will explode.

I'd better get in all the hot sweaty safe sex i can before this starts really taking effect

Yet, this is the government we've chosen to follow.

that's like saying everyone who wears condoms expose themselves to AIDS. I feel like all these reactionary groups are going to get theirs when they realize they've completely misjudged the mood of the youth. Soon we'll take over all their jobs and stick them in nursing homes. I just have to be patient.

I forgot to mention how much this will help with our overpopulation issue as well.

It's funny how the people who are against birth control and/or abortion rights are usually in the same group of people who are against welfare programs.

They want to you to have a lot of children but if you're having problems raising them they don't want to help you.

Classify contraception as abortion, increase the unwanted pregnancy rate, flood the already flooded child-welfare system, and then get pissed when a case of abuse flies under the radar.
I can see nothing wrong with this idea.

They must not know how the pill works or the definition of abortion... this is an absolute outrage. Taking away birth control is just as bad as taking away condoms. Not to mention birth control for most women is free. You have to pay money for condoms. It'd be like urging young teenagers to have unprotected sex.

Besides, birth control is used for many different health issues outside of sex. Do they not know that?

If it passes, there will be a fight. One that is promised.

This is a serious result of the once-feminist divides between the Obama and Hillary Clinton supporters. What happens when you are divided over candidates over trivial matters? The foes against the most important issues you have IN COMMON sneak in to try to take them away. IT IS TIME FOR UNITY AMONG PRO-REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS PEOPLE!! The frightening Margaret Atwood book "The Handmaid's Tale" is inching closer to reality every day ...

will these call condoms abortion too? Or will they hypocritically keep telling us to use them? While, I'm sure they will keep pumping men with Viagra. OY!

I wonder if this stems from the fact that Viagra is covered under health insurance and Birth Control is not. Are they trying to get out of insuring birth control by making it sacrilege?

Agggghhhh! I'd say this was unbelievable, but with this government, sadly, nothing is.

If only our founding fathers had wanted to keep a wall of separation between religion and government perhaps we wouldn't be in this predicament.

That is absolutely ridiculous. Are condoms abortion too then?

They need more little soldiers on the ground to fight their wars for the rich.

Until all the old white men running the government grow vaginas, they need to stop making decisions about mine.

As mad as this makes me, I have a feeling the drug companies are calling Bush right now. They stand to lose billions of dollars if they can't sell birth control pills.

Okay then, let's label the food and drug administration as a government run genocide institution.... and I'm not just talking about birth control! Jeeps... It appears that many of our agencies for public health and safety need to be totally restructured and gutted of its biased corporate appointed/supported employees. Corruption is EVERYWHERE in them! Our liberties are endangered!