Attendees At Conference Say Contraception Promotes Promiscuity, Harms Relationships, Devalues Children

About 250 people last weekend attended a two-day conference titled "Contraception Is Not The Answer" in Rosemont, Ill., hosted by the Pro-Life Action League, the Chicago Tribune reports. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 98% of 15- to 44-year-old girls and women who have had sex said they have used at least one method of contraception, and more than 40 million women in the U.S. in the age group currently use a form of birth control. In addition, about 91% of likely U.S. voters say couples should "have access to birth control options," according to a July Harris Interactive poll of 1,001 likely voters. Some attendees at the conference planned to say that contraception promotes "sexual promiscuity," leads to a decrease in birth rates, damages relationships between men and women and "devalues children," according to the Tribune. Some experts say that opponents of contraception likely will attempt to restrict access to its use by calling for cuts to federal family planning programs and allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions to which they have a "conscience" objection, the Tribune reports. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, at the conference called for funding to be "tak[en] away" from Planned Parenthood Federation of America for contraception and sex education services, adding that he believes contraception "doesn't prevent abortions, it causes abortion." Steve Trombley, president of Planned Parenthood Chicago Area, said he does not think contraception opponents' argument that women and men should have sex "only within marriage and only for the purpose of procreation" is "sellable in any corner of America." Some antiabortion advocates disagree with "making contraception an ideological or political target," according to the Tribune. "I'm here to stop abortions, ... and we're coming close to winning on this issue," John Willke, head of the International Right to Life Federation, said, adding, "If we take up an anti-contraception agenda, we won't win the abortion fight in the foreseeable future." However, Libby Gray Macke -- director of Project Reality, an Illinois-based abstinence program -- said advocacy against contraception use is "not just a side issue from pro-life, it's the core issue" (Graham, Chicago Tribune, 9/24).

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