Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Maureen Dowd: Fight really about controlling women, not birth
The Contra Costa Times / The New York Times ^ | May 28, 2012 | Maureen Dowd

Posted on 05/28/2012 5:02:13 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Your parents spill a few secrets as they get older.

One night at dinner with my mom, I ventured that the rhythm method had worked well for her, given that there were six years between my sister Peggy and my brother Kevin, and six more between Kevin and me. She arched an eyebrow.

"Well, sometimes your father used something," she said.

My parents were the most devout Catholics I've ever known. But my dad came from a family of 16 in County Clare in Ireland, and my mom's mother came from a family of 13 in County Mayo. So they balanced their faith with a dose of practicality.

After their first three kids, they sagely decided family planning was not soul-staining. So I wasn't surprised to see the Gallup poll last week showing that 82 percent of U.S. Catholics say birth control is morally acceptable. (Eighty-nine percent of all Americans and 90 percent of non-Catholics agreed.) Gallup tested the morality of 18 issues, and birth control came out on top as the most acceptable, beating divorce, which garnered 67 percent approval, and "buying and wearing clothing made of animal fur," which got a 60 percent thumbs-up (more from Republicans, naturally, than Democrats).

Polygamy, cloning humans and having an affair took the most morally offensive spots on the list. "Gay or lesbian relations" tied "having a baby outside of marriage," with 54 percent approving. That's in the middle of the list, above a 38 percent score for abortion and below a 59 percent score for "sex between an unmarried man and woman."

The poll appeared on the same day as headlines about Catholic Church leaders fighting President Barack Obama's attempt to get insurance coverage for contraception for women who work or go to college at Catholic institutions....

(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Moral Issues; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: 57states; abortion; catholics; contraception; deathpanels; gaymarriage; homosexualagenda; kenyanbornmuzzie; maureendowd; mediawingofthednc; mymuslimfaith; obama; obamacare; partisanmediashills; swrdswllwngsdshw; zerocare
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-59 last
To: Salvation; All

Thanx for your links.

Just want to add this:

No, the rhythm method is not very effective, but Natural Family Planning is as effective as the pill.

“Natural Family Planning (NFP) is a safe, natural and effective way to postpone, avoid or achieve pregnancy.
It is 99% effective and 100% natural.
snip
Billings Ovulation Method: www.boma-usa.org: This basic ovulation method has wide appeal among diverse cultures. Used in more than 120 countries, with 3.6 million couples in China. Also offered in Spanish.”

http://www.flrl.org/NaturalFamilyPlanning.htm

Plus, women don’t get blood clots, and can use the same knowledge, if they WANT to get pregnant. Even some secular women use NFP, because it’s natural and safe.

The pill can cause early pregnancies, as many of us know, but even some pro-life women don’t realize this, and can have a miscarriage before they know they are pregnant.


41 posted on 05/28/2012 6:23:29 PM PDT by Sun (Pray that God sends us good leaders. Please say a prayer now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
"Really, it's about birth control and women's lower caste in the church."

No, Mo, it's really not. Women are considered equal to men in terms of attaining salvation. The fact that women are not allowed to be priests doesn't mean they are considered 'lower caste', except in the fevered imaginations of radical feminists.

The Bishops are fighting for the basic right of Religious Liberty; not having to be forced to do something against her teachings by the government with the force of law. THAT is against the Constitution, and one of the basic rights for which our Founding Fathers fought.

42 posted on 05/28/2012 6:24:52 PM PDT by SuziQ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sun

Great additional information!


43 posted on 05/28/2012 6:31:04 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Sun
And for the people who even want MORE information"

Young Catholic Women Try To Give Church’s Position On Birth Control New Sheen
Essays for Lent: Natural Family Planning
Divorce Rate Comparisons Between Couples Using NFP & Artificial Birth Control

'Amazing Grace for Those Who Suffer'
Natural and Unnatural (father of 5 shocks mother of 1)
NFP — It Ain’t Your Momma’s Rhythm
Responsible Parenthood in a Birth Control Culture, Part Two [Open]
Responsible Parenthood in a Birth Control Culture, Part One [Open]
Contraception v. Natural Family Planning — Part 5 of 6 [Open]
Journey to the Truth (Natural Family Planning) [Open]
Enslaving Women One Pill at a Time (Birth Control Pills and Natural Family Planning)
New Study Shows Natural Family Planning Technique More “Effective” Than Contraception
Fargo) Diocese set to require pre-marriage course in natural family planning

Making Babies: A Very Different Look at Natural Family Planning
Clerical Contraception (Important Read! By Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer)
(Fargo) Diocese set to require pre-marriage course in natural family planning
Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, July 25, 2004
IS NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING A 'HERESY'? (Trads, please take note)
Thanks Doc: More (and Younger) Doctors Support Natural Family Planning
Couple say Natural Family Planning strengthens marriage
Reflections: Natural family planning vs sexism
British Medical Journal: Natural Family Planning= Effective Birth Control Supported by Catholic Chrch
Natural Family Planning

44 posted on 05/28/2012 6:31:45 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
That is the narrative.

Funny thing is contraception has allowed more women to be exploited.

45 posted on 05/28/2012 6:32:12 PM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: susannah59

“.......I also have a really hard time with people who have spent a lifetime screeching about keeping Government out of their bedrooms, or off their bodies, now think it’s OK for the Government to intrude in the church.”

Well said. And as one pro-life activist put it (paraphrasing), the liberals accuse us of being in their bedrooms, but then they want us to pick up the tab for what happens in their bedrooms.

btw, if you are pro-life, you might want to read my last post including this part of it:

“The pill can cause early pregnancies, as many of us know, but even some pro-life women don’t realize this, and can have a miscarriage before they know they are pregnant.”


46 posted on 05/28/2012 6:34:27 PM PDT by Sun (Pray that God sends us good leaders. Please say a prayer now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
47 posted on 05/28/2012 6:46:51 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Popman

It is impossible to answer your question in an FR sound byte.

The closest I can come is “it violates the natural law.”

if you are truly serious in your question, start here:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html

I will also point out that until the Lambeth Conference of 1930, ALL protestant denominations shared the Catholic stance on artificial birth control. When the CofE allowed it with this conference, the other protestant denominations were scandalized and reacted harshly.


48 posted on 05/28/2012 6:53:42 PM PDT by jtal (Runnin' a World in Need with White Folks' Greed - since 1492)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Salvation

Thank you!

I’d like to see this one, from your list, get out more:

“NFP — It Ain’t Your Momma’s Rhythm”

Maureen Dowd is behind the times. Doesn’t she realize we are in a new century? :)


49 posted on 05/28/2012 6:56:58 PM PDT by Sun (Pray that God sends us good leaders. Please say a prayer now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Communists ALWAYS implement severe population reduction measures. Starvation, forced marches, war, ethnic cleansing, class execution, whatever means - they see some greater value in killing huge swaths of population.

But today, here, outright overt killing is unpalatable (thank you RKBA) so other means must be used. Free contraception can reach the same ends thru more socially acceptable, if longer, means.

The question is: why does the Obama & friends WANT to reduce population so badly?


50 posted on 05/28/2012 7:03:47 PM PDT by ctdonath2 (Cloud storage? Dropbox rocks! Sign up at http://db.tt/nQqWGd3 for 2GB free (and I get more too).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

She is still alive? Haven’t heard any whining from her in ages ... thought maybe she ran off with some fat queer lady or overdosed.


51 posted on 05/28/2012 7:38:14 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (There's a pill for just about everything ... except stupid!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Maureen is one of those women who acts like a second class citizen. I don’t want to be like her.


52 posted on 05/28/2012 7:43:18 PM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ctdonath2
Communists ALWAYS implement severe population reduction measures. Starvation, forced marches, war, ethnic cleansing, class execution, whatever means - they see some greater value in killing huge swaths of population. The question is: why does the Obama & friends WANT to reduce population so badly?

Since mass murder is a universal aspect of collective totalitarianism, it is not optional - it is required.

I believe this can be explained in a number of ways. One way is to point out the saying "Ordo ab Chao" - "Order Out of Chaos." People with a kind heart believe this means that the goal is to create order out of the chaos of the world.

But there is another way to interpret this saying, and that is to define "order" as "collective totalitarianism." In which case it means that "chaos" - i.e. events surrounding mass murder - is what creates and enables the existence of collective totalitarianism.

And why? Because collective totalitarianism is, by definition, anti-life. Thus it must murder life, and exist within an environment of murder. It's literally why it exists - it's evil.

And the most profound fools in the galaxy are those that believe they can make it "work" for them. That they will escape it's jaws by setting it up as a system and feeding of of it, by reducing themselves to bugs, to energy parasites that feed off of the suffering and death spewed out by their giant death camp machine, like maggots living in sh*t.

THAT is the "victory" they strive for - the "secret meaning of life" they hide, not because of it's genius, but because of it's stark insanity.

Through it, they believe they can somehow escape the Laws of God.

well, to quote Mario Puzo: Fools Die.

53 posted on 05/28/2012 7:56:29 PM PDT by Talisker (He who commands, must obey.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Mr. Dowd was using “something”? I have to think that Maureen happened because, you know, sometimes “something” breaks.


54 posted on 05/28/2012 7:57:10 PM PDT by RichInOC ("And the Oscar goes to...Catherine."--Sir Sean Connery, March 23, 2003.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Popman

This is a difficult question to answer succinctly yet charitably. For a better explanation, I refer you to Casti Connubii (Pope Pius XI, 1930), Humanae Vitae (Pope Paul VI, 1968), and Evangelium Vitae (Pope John Paul II, 1995).

Simply stated, however, the use of the condom (or any other physical or chemical contraceptive) to prevent the pregnancy of the wife intentionally separates the conjugal (baby-making) act from its procreative function. When a husband and wife engage in the conjugal act, they each sacrifice everything to the other because of their love for one another. God may choose to bless this marital love with a child. Of course, a marriage can persist and indeed thrive even if God does not bless it with children; however, why frustrate God’s designs and put you trust not in the Almighty Who can create a child for you but in some piece of plastic to thwart His blessing?

Remember, in a true marriage, marked by love and not by lust, God unites the two partners into one flesh. The condom frustrates this sacred mystery by creating an artificial barrier between the spouses. It also lowers the dignity of the wife (in the eyes of the husband) from that of a loving, nurturing mother of his children yet unborn to a mere object for his self-gratification and perverse perceived pleasures.

Applied to a different organ system, it’s akin to using a physical barrier to separate breathing from absorbing oxygen (despite no medical necessity so to do). Granted, reproduction isn’t as essential to human survival as respiration is, but the barrier compromises the reproductive system and, by extension, the marriage—perhaps imperceptibly to those involved—as surely as a piece of plastic wrap across the face compromises the respiration.

Other contraceptives effectively disable the uterus and create a hostile environment for the conceived child and lead to the premature death of an embryonic human.

But again, the popes explain far more accurately, lovingly, and powerfully than I can. So please read them.


55 posted on 05/28/2012 8:45:21 PM PDT by dufekin (Obama and Pelosi: at war against the Church--and innocent American babies)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Popman

Well, Onan is in Genesis 38, so he predates Levirite law, although he does presage it. He did not use a condom because no one yet had invented them. Instead, he practiced the primitive form of birth control most readily available to him. Rather than declining to contribute as biological father of the children of Tamar altogether, he went halfway, beginning the act but intentionally stopping short of accomplishing its procreative aim. A condom merely provides a more technologically sophisticated method of doing likewise.


56 posted on 05/28/2012 8:53:51 PM PDT by dufekin (Obama and Pelosi: at war against the Church--and innocent American babies)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: ctdonath2

You say, “here, outright overt killing is unpalatable,” but at least 54 million American babies have perished from outright killing. It just occurs in secret, and the innocent victims don’t see it coming and lack the strength and means to stop it. We Americans kill the weak, voiceless, and defenseless, those without anyone to speak for them.

Euthanasia is coming soon. Who will the victims be? The weak, almost voiceless and defenseless, those physically unable to protest, those without support or incapable of galvanizing public opinion. We already dismissed one Florida woman as a potted cactus despite national news coverage. Think it’s not getting more commonplace with each passing year? Think again! (And Obamacare will make the odious practice of offing the weak even more pervasive.)

And the killing won’t start there. It never does.


57 posted on 05/28/2012 9:14:58 PM PDT by dufekin (Obama and Pelosi: at war against the Church--and innocent American babies)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: dufekin

The key: “in secret”. Involving someone never seen by human eyes, done behind the closed door of a “doctor”.

Hence my use of “overt”.


58 posted on 05/29/2012 5:03:24 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (Cloud storage? Dropbox rocks! Sign up at http://db.tt/nQqWGd3 for 2GB free (and I get more too).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

ILLINOIS

Want a baby boy, not a girl? No problem, Medicaid will pay

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois is facing a budget crisis with an exploding Medicaid system. The legislature devised and passed a 456-page plan last week that cuts specified doctor and hospital Medicaid reimbursements, eliminates some senior drug coverage, toughens eligibility requirements as well as other changes in SB 2840.

Despite an array of changes, the nearly-broke Medicaid system will still fund abortions for Illinois’ poor women. Tuesday, Life Action released a video in which a South Austin Texas Planned Parenthood counselor is caught on tape promoting gender selection abortions paid for by Texas’ Medicaid system.

Life Action’s video raises a valid question. Does the same happen in Illinois? There are few state restrictions currently in affect, Illinois’ Medicaid system funds abortions and gender selection abortions are not banned.

http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/


59 posted on 05/29/2012 5:38:40 AM PDT by KeyLargo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-59 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson