In her December 9th column "The Dog Whistlers: The One Question the "Pro-life" Presidential Candidates Don't Want You to Ask ", author Christina Page claims contraception is the only way to prevent abortion:
Study after study proves that contraceptive use is the only way to prevent abortion; the places on earth contraception is most available are also where abortion is most rare.
The problem with her statement that "contraceptive use is the only way to prevent abortion" is that it simply isn't true - unless Ms. Page has made a discovery that will turn our understanding of sexual biology on its head.
This statement is so ludicrous that I'm still trying to understand why she wrote it.
Maybe the sources she relied on for this article were flawed. Maybe she hasn't actually read any studies. And maybe, it could be a simple case intentional misrepresentation of the facts.
Maybe Ms. Page is a bit confused about the birds and the bees, so let me help her out - not having sex is the best way to prevent abortion. It doesn't take numerous studies to prove the abstinence from risky sexual activity prevents both pregnancy and abortion.
In fact, consider that abortion clinics aren't full of women who abstained from consensual sexual activity at the time they got pregnant - but they are full of women who didn't.
Someone needs to remind Ms. Page, that outside of the conception of Jesus Christ (at least according to the Christian faith) abstinence from risky sexual activity doesn't result in pregnancy.
When challenged for the names of the studies she refers to in her sweeping statement, she only offered a SEICUS Fact Sheet. The problem is, this fact sheet didn't offer any support for her argument whatsoever. At this moment, I'm still awaiting the multitudes of studies upon which she based her claim - I suspect I'll be waiting quite a long time.
A review of her writings reveals that this isn't the first time that Ms. Page has made broad, sweeping - and inaccurate - statements, or that this is an isolated incident. For example, read Christina Page's Spin on "Pro-choice" Policy - Giving Credit Where Credit Isn't Due and JivinJ Responds To Page's Article on Illegal Abortions
Unfortunately, Ms. Page's writings are widely published and electronically redistributed by entities such as Yahoo News, The Huffington Post blog, and RH Reality Check. Her op-eds are published in newspapers around the country. As a result, millions of people are possibly being misled by her inaccurate statements, and she needs to issue a public retraction.
>>contraceptive use is the only way to prevent abortion
I prevented an abortion by handing a couple a sketch of a frog choking a stork that was trying to swallow it, with a caption reading "Don't EVER give up!"
An actor prevented an abortion hanging around outside an abortion clinic to do research for a movie.
As I recall, showing a woman an ultrasound of her baby prevents 80% of planned abortions.
And -- drum roll -- Planned Parenthood's own statistics show that the states that make contraception most readily avialable also have .... the HIGEST abortion rates.
This woman needs to get her head out of her butt or wherever she's got it lodged.