We are entering a startling new era in the politics of birth control, with President Donald Trump launching the most serious effort in decades to curb contraception.
The Department of Health and Human Services recently released new guidance that outlines a major overhaul of federal family planning programs — prioritizing childbirth over contraception, and privileging “natural family planning,” like period-tracking apps, over far more effective methods, like the birth control pill. The Trump administration is also poised to establish new regulations that would end further funding for Planned Parenthood chapters.
Millions of Americans who receive federally-backed family planning services are likely to feel the impact of such a policy shift. And there is real political risk as well. Birth control remains overwhelmingly popular in the United States: Only 8 percent of Americans say using contraception is morally wrong, according to Pew Research Center polling. (More Americans object to drinking alcohol, getting a divorce or being extremely rich).
Given widespread support for birth control, it’s no surprise that politicians have long been reluctant to zero in on it. So, what’s changed?
The unwieldy political coalition that sent Trump back to the White House in 2024 is clamoring for action. For different reasons, an alliance of MAHA adherents, social conservatives and pronatalists are eager to go after birth control. With Trump sinking in the polls and his coalition fracturing, he may want to deliver for his core supporters. But regardless of whether he succeeds, the administration’s move signals a major transformation in America’s culture war: Contraception has gone from being politically untouchable to a real target on the right.
This has Catholicism written all over it. It’s all well and good going after Trump but there are entities in the background that are as insidious but have been around for much longer. We should be fighting them with the same venom we have for Trump.
In what way? The Catholic church has been fine with contraception for decades. Which makes this feel like an excuse to just attack the church for unrelated issues. I’m an atheist, so let’s skip the “Catholic apologist” defense.
What the Catholic Church says to people in the western world is in stark contradiction to a what a number of Catholic bodies say to their members in private, where they put their money and what they do in the rest of the world.
Even if the Catholic Church at the top has changed its tune (publicly), you don’t get to hide behind ‘god’ to feed people bullshit for half a century, cause untold human suffering and then change your mind and expect the rest of your mindless herd to change with you.
This is the bullshit they’re telling themselves behind closed doors:
This is who/what you’re really up against, not Trump. Trump is an amoral grifter, he will say anything for a shekel. Unlike him these idiots really believe the bullshit that they spew:
>Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, often described as the architect of Project 2025, has ties to the far-right and secretive Roman Catholic group Opus Dei. “Roberts acknowledged in a speech last September that — for years — he has visited the Catholic Information Center, a K Street institution headed by an Opus Dei priest and incorporated by the archdiocese of Washington, on a weekly basis for mass and ‘formation,’ or religious guidance,” The Guardian reports. “Opus Dei also organizes monthly retreats at the CIC.” https://www.advocate.com/news/kevin-roberts-project-2025
Birth control pills usually come with a ton of risks. If you ever actually read the box, there are so many things that can go wrong with it, some of which I’ve seen firsthand. That’s not to say those things will happen though, and like all medications, the obvious solution is to just stop taking it if you experience those side effects.
Using that to say contraceptives are bad is stupid, though. It’s only one of many types of contraceptives. Also, birth control pills serve an important role for many people. Even ignoring their importance as contraceptives for the huge population of women who do not experience those negative side effects, they’re also given to stop periods to help with stuff like endometriosis, where having a period could result in internal scarring.
All this to say their bullshit is small truths mixed with larger lies. For example, what they’re saying about cancer is bullshit, but blood clots might be a real risk.
I got snipped after seeing my post-divorce ex-girlfriend having all manner of side effects from the pill. My ex-wife had a full hysterectomy after dealing with non-birth-control-related endometriosis, so I’d sort of forgot about the complications.
This said, I’ve known women who use the pill specifically to regulate their menstrual cycles, with contraception being a happy side effect.