Shocker: Contraception makes life better

Cristina Page, author of How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America, has a great piece in Alternet about contraception and how it changed life in the U.S.–for the better.
In Contraception Saves Money and Marriages, Page points out that despite what the anti-birth control nuts say–you know, that birth control causes homosexuality and increases abortion rates–access to contraception is pro-family.

The religious right is right in this: Birth control is the source of seismic change. Family planning has led to a transformation of our society so rapid we’ve only recently had the occasion to take stock. For example, the past century has actually witnessed a steep decline in extramarital affairs as a result, it would seem, of the very changes that drive the pro-lifers wild: The more lengthy and thoughtful trying-out of marriage partners in combination with greater candor about sexual desires within marriage.
…Another truth is that when the birth control revolution got underway, women waited to marry and start a family. In 1970, the average age of a new mother was 21 years old. By 2000, the average age was 28. Harvard researchers recently reported that legalization of contraception is directly linked to the spike in the number of women becoming more highly educated and entering the “career” professions. In 1970, 5 percent of all lawyers and judges were women; today there are six times that. In 1970, one in 10 physicians was female, today it’s one in three. Similar patterns are true for women architects, dentists, veterinarians, economists and women in most of the engineering fields.

Page goes on to highlight other ways that contraception has changed American’s lives for the better, including happier marriages and decreased poverty rates. Take that, assholes.