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Fun with neocon
June 13, 2006 ( politics )
[Sarcasm follows]
Just read a piece about a policy in Ghana that had unfortunate side-effects of increasing the abortion rate, increasing children born out of wedlock, and complications or deaths during childbirth (to young mothers). Obviously, if the religious right in America is concerned about reducing these effects in America, we only have to take the reverse policy decision that Ghana did. No, it wasn't teaching sex-ed, making contraceptives available, legalizing abortions, or taking religion out of schools, it was making female genital mutilation illegal (often more euphemistically called female circumcision or clitoridectomy).
Looking at the immediate consequences of this policy change, I think leading republicans such as Frist should take up legalization of FGM as a moral issue to reduce abortion rates.
[end sarcasm]
That being said, I think it's an important lesson that changing a culture's values is hard work and will have lots of unintended consequences. FGM is one of those (few) issues that's abhorrent enough to make it worth the fall-out (IMHO).
Of course, as friends have pointed out, this is the group of mouthbreathers that delayed a vaccine for HPV, the cause of over 90% of cervical cancers which kills almost 5000 American women each year, out of fears that it might increase promiscuity. One wonders what will happen to an effective HIV treatment, or if FGM isn't too far.
I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but the neocons just seem to invite them.
Posted by griffjon at June 13, 2006 08:49 AM
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