Mr. Wieczorek, won't you please help pay for my condom party? (Image via Amazon.)
“I am opposed to providing condoms to someone. If you want to have a party, have a party, but don’t ask me to pay for it.”
That’s New Hampshire executive councilor Raymond Wieczorek explaining why he wouldn’t support funding Planned Parenthood to offer contraception to low-income women.
After losing the $1.8 million state contract last week, six Planned Parenthood clinics in the state have been forced to stop providing contraception. One center has, so far, turned away 20-30 women seeking low-cost birth control each day. The clinic’s manager said some of the women say they will stop taking birth control altogether because they don’t have private insurance and can’t afford the higher price at pharmacies.
The fact that anti-choice advocates can get away with supporting anti-contraception policies that have the direct effect of increasing unintended pregnancies–and therefore abortions–is absurd. Even more outrageous is that, as Wieczorek’s comment illustrates, many of them have even stopped trying to pretend that this isn’t all about controlling female sexuality.
It’s hard to overstate how extreme Wieczorek’s comment is. Either he believes that not subsidizing contraception will actually result in less non-procreative sex, or he believes that women who have non-procreative sex deserve to be punished with unintended pregnancies.
Naive or cruel? Or perhaps just full of shit?
I don’t know. But I do know that the so-called “party” happens, and will continue to happen, whether or not the state of New Hampshire pays to help make it safer. Folks like Wieczorek can claim: “I am opposed to abortion. I am opposed to providing condoms to someone.” But, as a matter of policy, if you don’t support the latter, you’ll inevitably get more of the former. And if you refuse to pay for either, you’ll just end up paying for the babies.
Here’s where you can contact Mr. Wieczorek to ask him to help pay for that condom party.
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