Reality Cast

Annual Girl Scout attacks

Colorado teen birth rate

Anti-choicers incensed over teen pregnancy reduction program

Oregon rape case crosses scary new line

Facile Nazi comparisons

Transcript

On this episode of Reality Cast, we’ll look at what this latest Supreme Court maneuver on contraception means. Colorado anti-choicers are in a snit because the teen pregnancy rate has fallen so much and the University of Oregon crosses a scary line in fighting against an alleged rape victim who is suing them.

It’s Girl Scout cookie season! Which means that it’s also time for the Christian right to raise its annual alarm about the supposed evils of the Girl Scouts. Such as Kevin Swanson of “Generations Radio.”

• girl scouts *

Yes, the claim is that if you let your girl join the Girl Scouts, she will turn into a lesbian. As usual with right-wingers, their fears make more sense if you don’t take them too literally. I would argue that the real fear is that the Girl Scouts teaches girls things like the value of education and independence, and that’s the real threat. “Lesbian” is just the hyperbole they use to convey what is fundamentally a fear of female independence, regardless of sexual orientation.

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Last summer, there was a small amount of coverage of this story, which is a shame, because in my mind, it should be called the Colorado miracle.

• Colorado 1 *

So Colorado has instituted a program that makes it free, or nearly free, for teenagers to get contraception, and the IUD has been really popular. Which makes sense. If you’re a teenager, being told that there’s a contraception that you don’t have to fuss with that lasts for years and that no one needs to know about, well, of course you’ll be interested in that. But even so, it’s remarkable how effective this program has been.

• Colorado 2 *

You heard right. The teen birth rate in the state has dropped a whopping 40 percent. That number is so high it really tells you how much the IUD can really make a difference for teens. Teenagers often have busy, chaotic lives and keeping up with a contraception regimen can be hard. Making it so they don’t have to clearly works. On top of the 40 percent drop in teen births, there’s been a 34 percent drop in the teen abortion rate. We all supposedly agree that unintended teen birth and abortion are unfortunate, so this program is something that should continue, right? A lot of lawmakers in Colorado say yes, NPR reports.

• Colorado 3 *

Of course, you’ll notice that he didn’t say if you were, say, someone who actually cares about teen girls or cares about the well-being of children. But, whatever, if saving money is what it takes to get conservatives to care, I’m all for it. And yes, in theory, if you are against abortion, then you should be wanting free IUDs for everyone who wants one. But for some reason, anti-choicers in the state are actually in a full-blown revolt over this program and they want it to go away, like, yesterday.

• Colorado 4 *

Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it. Look, it’s clear what’s going on here is that they want to redefine contraception as “abortion” so that they can ban public funding of contraception. The labored rationales about the supposed deaths of fertilized eggs are laughably easy to punch through. If you do think it’s “abortion” every time a fertilized egg doesn’t implant, then having unprotected sex is much more of an abortion than having an IUD is. That’s because the IUD works primarily by preventing sperm from meeting eggs, which means there are few, if any, fertilized eggs to not implant in the first place. But if you have unprotected sex, which is what these folks want you to be doing, then you fertilize exponentially more eggs. Half of them die on their own. Back-of-the-envelope calculations: In a group of 100 women with an IUD, maybe one or two will have a fertilized egg die in a year. But in a group of women having unprotected sex, approximately 80 will have a fertilized egg die. If you want to stop abortion, you support the IUD. If your concern is fertilized eggs implanting, you still support the IUD.

However, if what gets you mad is teen girls having sex without facing punishment, then you would oppose this program. Which is the real motivation for the opposition here. The only reason anti-choicers are up in arms over this IUD program is that it works, and they don’t want it to work. They just know that going on the record as for teen pregnancy makes you look like a monster, so they concoct this obvious B.S. about the IUD being “abortion.” But don’t be fooled.

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Interview

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Just when you think that you’ve heard every possible story of colleges and universities failing to deal appropriately with the problem of campus rape, here comes another horror story that will completely throw you for a loop. This time the story comes out of the University of Oregon. Right off the bat, this story is upsetting.

• Oregon 1 *

I don’t know all the details here, but there’s plenty of reason to be wary. The alleged rape happened in March, but the students weren’t kicked off the team until May. Sports fans listening to this will recognize the month of March as the one where teams like the University of Oregon Ducks, which the alleged rapists played for, vie to win the NCAA championship in college basketball, known as March Madness. The lawsuit claims that one of the alleged rapists was already known to be a rapist, but was recruited to play basketball anyway. That’s why the basketball coach is one of the people that the plaintiff is suing. So this sucks from tip to toe, is what I’m saying. The only thing that has gone right is that the players were eventually kicked out, but again, you have to imagine what it was like for the alleged victim to try to struggle through the rest of the spring semester with this hanging over her head. Sadly, this is not that remarkable a story. But what happened next is why it’s grabbing national headlines.

• Oregon 2 *

Yes, you heard that right. The school subpoenaed her medical records in an effort to undermine her. Turns out this is completely legal.

• Oregon 3 *

The federal government is alarmed but, because this is legal, their hands are tied. The U.S. Department of Education has released a letter asking schools to not do this and reminding them that if these kinds of actions are being done to retaliate against rape victims, they may face legal consequences. But there lies the rub. A school that does this could very well be sending a signal to students that if they try to seek justice after a rape they will be treated like this, but since it’s justified as legal fact-finding, they can claim it wasn’t retaliation. And it may not be in this case. After all, they did kick the players out and this was only done in a bid to create a defense strategy during this lawsuit. Still, the effects of this are chilling.

• Oregon 4 *

Most of the attention to the Title IX sexual assault and harassment situation has been paid to the issue of the consequences for accused rapists, which is no surprise because we still live in a society that prioritizes the needs and feelings of men over women. But in reality, Title IX’s purpose isn’t primarily to punish rapists, but to keep campus safe for women and ensure their equal access to education. Which sometimes means disciplining rapists, but it also means taking measures like making sure victims are cared for and feel safe. Which means, in theory, providing resources like counseling to help students process their trauma so they don’t fall behind in their studies. But this move dramatically undermines that. It’s not really counseling if you’re too afraid to open up to your counselor for fear that whatever you will be say will be used in court to argue that you weren’t a good enough or worthy enough victim.

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And now for the Wisdom of Wingnuts, more Nazi projections edition. Here’s “Faith and Freedom” radio host Matt Barber praising more attempts at abortion restrictions by, yep, calling pro-choicers Nazis again.

• Barber *

This is actually a black-and-white issue: The Nazis increased restrictions on abortion. As for who is dehumanizing Jews here, I would have to say it’s the people who think that it’s OK to compare living, breathing Jewish people who suffered and died in camps with brainless embryos that can’t feel, breathe, or think. Comparing Jewish people to actual non-people like embryos is literal dehumanization.