Just shortly after writing a post about one of the most essential things we all need — clean, safe drinking water — another SOS has come across my inbox tonight. Sex. And, like water, sex is better when it is safe.

Challenges made to sound sex ed practices is nothing new to me; if you are a regular reader here at lb.com, you will know I studied gender and sexuality at the University of Chicago and wrote my BA Thesis on the topic of sex ed (“Rethinking, Reframing and Revolutionizing the Sex Education Debate“).

Challenges made to sex ed and contraceptive funding has been a topic I think we have all encountered throughout our lives; for me, it when I was going to middle school and the Oregon Citizen’s Alliance tried masking sex ed policy in “pedophile” rhetoric; and high school, the Planned Parenthood in Eugene, Oregon was a medical out-post that provided contraceptives to sexually active teens for FREE under state funding; this provided a safe option for teens who were already having sex.

While my previous posts have focused more broadly on tolerance, rights and respect for non-heterosexual couples and non-heteronormative sex practices, I want this one to be about the need for affordable, accessible, safe birth control. For some, this is a non-issue at this point: of course people should have the choice and the access to these things. For others, they still think that making a “promise” and “abstaining” from one of life’s most natural and wonderful experiences is practical.

Tonight, a good friend of mine passed on a great resource: Birth Control Watch. It is a website who serves to (1) keep people apprised of legislation and groups for and against birth control and (2) highlight/monitor the activities of those trying to chip away at the rights of Americans to have access to safe, affordable birth control methods.

bcwatch.jpg

I applaud the effort of the site’s founders, Women Donors Network (WDN) and the Communications Consortium Media Center (CCMC).

PS: The description of WDN gives me goosebumps (and makes me want to say: HELL YEA!):

“WDN, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is a philanthropic community for those who refuse to accept the status quo. From supporting voter registration efforts, to funding international programs assisting women’s quests for economic independence, WDN unites powerful, visionary women who are committed to effecting lasting fundamental change. “

When it comes to resources, this site is already showing that it is a go-to spot. They have a few dozen YouTube videos from both sides, which I would embed here if the numbers weren’t so voluminous (and, while I am all for equal air-time and respecting their right to voice their opinions under the First Amendment, I don’t want to give the opponents any support by embedding their videos, sorry).

I also enjoyed reading Birth Control Watch’s blog, which has a few posts up so far. One that caught my eye in particular was from Friday, October 10th, entitled: “Frothing and Crazy Americans Leading Bush’s Foreign Policy.”

Leaning on a column by Nicholas Kristoff in the New York Times (“Can This Be Pro-Life?”), BCW points out notes:

“[The article] focused on USAID’s defunding of the reproductive health NGO Maria Stopes International. Under the banner of ‘pro-life’, Kristoff explains, this action will lead to the deaths of countless mothers and children in Africa, where pregnancy is already the leading killer of women between fifteen and forty-five years old. “

To which BCW adds their own analysis:

“Birth control is the only proven factor in reducing abortion. Yet somehow, not a single anti-abortion group in the U.S. supports contraception. The shockingly high rates of teen pregnancy in America—on par with Third World countries and four times as high as the European Union—are direct consequences of the pro-life movement’s strength in our country, as are disproportionately high rates of AIDS contraction in regions where contraception is not taught in schools.”

Perhaps the most compelling part of all of this comes at the end of the post, in which BCW writes:

“Now our domestic anti-choice groups are exporting their dangerous efforts beyond our borders, which, coupled with lack of healthcare and extreme poverty, will result in even more dire consequences. One such group, Human Life International, boasts on their website about bringing about the destruction of 10 million condoms in Tanzania, where almost 9 percent of the population, roughly 1,600,000 people, have AIDS.”

Final thought from me and from BCW:

“These extremists ignore all scientific and statistical data in order to pursue an agenda that is anti-health, anti-women, and anti-life.”

Check out Birth Control Watch, spread the word… and even more importantly, don’t let these organizations get away with (1) denying access to birth control and (2) creating situations that in fact inhibit health and wellness domestically and abroad. I will follow this post with one specifically outlining the organizations and initiatives that are threatening safe, equal access.