World News Korner

Come on Alaska can't we do better than this?

Courtesy of Salon:

An Alaska Republican is pushing to put free pregnancy tests in bars in order to discourage pregnant people from drinking, but thinks that providing no-cost birth control in the same manner is “social engineering.”

In an interview with the Anchorage Daily News, state Sen. Pete Kelly explained his dream of putting pregnancy tests in public restrooms thusly: “So if you’re drinking — if you’re out at the big birthday celebration and you’re kind of like, ‘Gee, I wonder if I …,’ You can just go in the bathroom and there should be a plastic, Plexiglas bowl in there [filled with free pregnancy tests.]”

While I’m not entirely convinced that clubgoers will feel inclined to piss on a stick in the middle of a “big birthday celebration,” I’m definitely in favor of making pregnancy tests free and widely available in places like public restrooms. (A savvy Alaskan would be well served to stash a few of the free tests to have on hand at more convenient, less public moments.)

But when asked about another sensible reproductive health proposal — making birth control free and widely available — Kelly balked.

“No, because the thinking is a little opposite. This assumes that if you know, you’ll act responsibly. Birth control is for people who don’t necessarily want to act responsibly,” he explained. “That’s — I’m not going to tell them what to do, or help them do it, that’s their business. But if we have a pregnancy test, because someone just doesn’t know. That’s probably a way we can help them.”

When the person interviewing Kelly suggested that using birth control may also be responsible, Kelly replied, “Maybe, maybe not. That’s a level of social engineering that we don’t want to get into. All we want to do is make sure that people are informed and they’ll make the right decision.”

So it IS responsible to pee on a stick before drinking in a bar to determine whether or not you are pregnant first, but NOT responsible to use birth control to keep that from happening in the first place?

Okay that's going to kill some brain cells.

Sometimes there is so much stupid up here that I am afraid to leave my house

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