The Unintended Pregnancy Prevention Act

Last month Steven Waldman, editor-in-chief of Beliefnet, posted several entries to his blog about the "Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act" jointly proposed by pro-lifer Ohio Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan and pro-choicer Connecticut Democratic Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro.Here are a few excerpts from his posts:

• For starters, last time Planned Parenthood would not sign on to this bill. This time they did. So the legislation pretty much has the full support of the pro-choice world.
• No major pro-life groups endorsed the bill, and Doug Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee calls it "a scam" and especially criticizes portions of the bill that will end up funding groups like Planned Parenthood which, in addition to doing the family planning work they'll get money for, also performs abortions. As of now, I don't even see endorsements from Democrats for Life or Feminists for Life.
• The pro-lifers who signed tend to be on the progressive side but the group does include a few who are moderates or even cultural conservatives, such as Rev. Joel Hunter of Lakewood Church, Rich Cizik, the former vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals and Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

Steven lists supporters (including Brian McLaren, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Sojourners and others) of the legislation here. He also posts an email correspondence with pro-life champion Jill Stanek here. In this correspondence Jill speaks to why some pro-lifers oppose the family planning aspects of this new legislation. Here are a few points she makes:

• I would only support abstinence training with perhaps an explanation of the harm of contraceptives - the failure rate, that the pill is composed of artificial female steroids, etc.(Hormonal contraceptives are bad for women. They're simply artificial female steroids. If we understand the harm of male steroids, why not the harm of female steroids?)
• Contraceptives are the root of abortion. "Contraceptive" means anti-conception. Contraceptives establish a mindset of hostility toward the blessing of children.
• Sex outside of marriage is a sin. ... We need to teach that sex outside of marriage is categorically harmful.
• Steve, for one thing, the idea of authorizing "lesser sins" to decrease "greater sins" is not Scriptural. In fact, Scripture teaches the opposite phenomenon occurs: Little sins lead to bigger sins.

I found Steven's posts on the new legislation to be thought provoking and I think that Jill presents an interesting view of why pro-life organizations are not supporting this legislation.

As I pondered the specifics of this new bill I was struck with the thought that this bill really will do little to reduce the need for abortions.. most of it proposes grants for family planning programs that counsel at risk teens and provide contraception planning for low-income families. I don't think that these types of programs have not worked in the past.. I may be wrong.. so I don't see how this legislation will have any impact on the need for abortions.

To me this issue seems to be more of an issue of why people have irresponsible sex.. it seems to be a much deeper issue than any government can deal with. What do you think? Do you feel that the issue is education about contraception or abstinence? Or is the issue about something else?