Naral Pro-Choice Colorado Executive Director Rebuts Senator's Claim Birth Control Causes Abortion
For Immediate Release Contact: Emilie C. Ailts Friday, March 12, 2010 Office: 303.394.1973, ext. 12 NARAL PRO-CHOICE COLORADO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
REBUTS SENATOR'S CLAIM BIRTH CONTROL CAUSES ABORTION State Senator Kevin Lundberg perpetuates myth birth control causes abortion DENVER (March 12) – During the Colorado Senate debate on March 11 about House Bill 1021 (Frangas and McCann, Foster), state Senator Kevin Lundberg of Berthoud (SD-15) characterized the bill as “morally repugnant” because of language in the bill requiring health insurance plans issued in Colorado’s individual and small-group markets to cover contraception. NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado Executive Director Emilie C. Ailts released the following statement regarding Senator Lundberg’s claims: “Senator Lundberg, an anti-choice politician with a long history of attacking a woman’s right to make personal, private decisions about abortion, showed his true colors this week by voting against legislation that will increase access to birth control and insurance coverage for pregnant women. In opposing this health-pregnancy legislation, Senator Lundberg made false claims that certain birth control methods like IUDs and emergency contraception cause abortions. This is simply not true. Just like other non-barrier, non-surgical forms of contraception – think the Pill, the Patch, NuvaRing, implants like Implanon, and injectibles like Depo-Provera, for instance – both emergency contraception and IUDs prevent pregnancy from occurring. Yet by Senator Lundberg’s convoluted logic, anyone who uses anything other than sterilization, condoms, or other less-effective methods of birth control like diaphragms and the sponge to prevent pregnancy are having an abortion! “The facts are simple: Birth control prevents pregnancy from occurring. It does not cause abortion, contrary to Senator Lundberg’s outrageous claims. Moreover, Senator Lundberg’s characterization of House Bill 1021 as ‘morally repugnant’ is offensive and out-of-touch with his district: Nearly three out of every four voters in Larimer County rejected the 2008 ‘definition of person’ amendment that would have granted constitutional rights from the moment of fertilization. They sent a clear message that that line of thinking simply goes too far. The constituents of Senate District 15 deserve an elected official whose votes represent their values, not someone who abuses his position by passing judgment on people’s personal, private decisions about what type of birth control to use.” NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado (NPCC) is the political leader of Colorado’s pro-choice community. NPCC has more than 30,000 supporters statewide and works to develop and sustain a constituency that uses the political process to guarantee every woman the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive health choices, including preventing unintended pregnancies, bearing healthy children and choosing legal abortion. More information is available at www.ProChoiceColorado.org. ###
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