The War on Fertility: The left's birth-control fixation is about more than sexual freedom.

Wall Street Journal ^ | 3/2/12 | JAMES TARANTO

[rhema]

If there is one word that captures the Orwellian nature of contemporary feminism, it is "choice." It's not just the word's wide use as a euphemism for abortion. You can understand why people on that side of the abortion issue prefer to frame their position in abstract terms, as a defense of liberty, rather than concretely discussing the specific freedom they are defending. Some of them are no doubt sincere in saying that they favor "the right to choose" in general and have no brief for abortion in particular.

But not all. People who claim to favor "reproductive choice" are often quite judgmental about the reproductive choices of others. This column has occasionally noted anecdotal examples, such as the lady at a party last year, a self-described feminist, who angrily described Sarah Palin as a "moron" for having encouraged her pregnant daughter to carry the child to term and "to marry the sperm donor" (feministspeak for the biological father). Another was the man who encouraged pregnant and unmarried Katie Roiphie, a feminist author, to get an abortion and have a "regular baby" later.

Only a bit less harshly, Washington Post columnist Lisa Miller puts such sentiments into writing:

Between them, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have as many children--12--as the tribes of Israel. Ron Paul has five of his own, and in an early debate, perhaps unwilling to be outdone by Michele Bachmann's fostering of dozens, Paul boasted that when he worked as a physician he delivered "4,000 babies."

There's nothing wrong with big families, of course. But the smug fecundity of the Republican field this primary season has me worried.

[Tax-chick]

Female sterilization surgery is already included in the “free” “preventative” “care” mandate.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Good point!