“Plan B, for emergencies, works best when we know what a real emergency is. And anyone who wants to give us a plan for emergencies owes us the best plan of all … a plan for avoiding them. Plan A. Abstinence until marriage.”
— Jane Jimenez, columnist at AgapePress, on why “morning after” contraception is a bad idea

Jane Jimenez is at it again, though she cannot possibly top her last essay I posted about, “Pelvic thrusts are the devil’s work.” This time she’s only slightly unhinged, opining in a roundabout way that emergency contraception will lead to more casual sex in teens.

It used to be called emergency contraception for a good reason. It implied that thoughtful, careful people were going about their lives, following prudent actions, taking care to avoid emergencies … when all of a sudden, an emergency happened … totally out of the blue … unexpected … unanticipated … and outside of our control.

Emergency contraception? Where is the emergency?

The campaign to provide emergency contraception over the counter to all women, and the girls who would one day be women, belies the very essence of its name. The Morning After … in the light of day, with both feet on the ground, when it comes to mind that we had an emergency last night … there’s a better remedy for this type of emergency than taking a little pill.

The remedy for the morning after is engaging the brain on the night before. Yet, the biggest fans of emergency contraception are those who oppose abstinence education, who reject the idea that children should learn sex is best inside marriage.

Now there’s nothing inherently wrong with this stance; it’s common sense. It’s good parenting to tell young women to be aware of their bodies and sexuality, and to hold sex within marriage up as an ideal. However, that parenting doesn’t always happen. And we already know that abstinence only education doesn’t work. We also know that wingers don’t want to teach kids about how to prevent STDs and pregancies or have access to contraception before the sex act occurs, so in essence, the Right has created the need for the “emergency” on a larger scale.

Repackaging “the morning-after pill” as emergency contraception is a public relations game of the first order. Sheila, the director of a pregnancy clinic, attests to this. As the media blitz first put emergency contraception on the front page, calls to her clinic skyrocketed … calls from men. Over three-fourths of the questions for Sheila about using the “emergency” pill came from men. [This is funny — you know that all these men calling cannot be evil, deviant liberals calling.]

Like professional hucksters, proponents for over-the-counter access to emergency contraception point to the married woman whose birth control failed. They point to rape victims. Yet for these emergencies, we can create effective access to emergency contraception. It doesn’t require putting this pill in easy reach of teen girls.

If the girl is reaching for the pills, then she clearly needs them. The sex is happening, Jane. Maybe you should sit down with her and tell her about respect for her body and the pros and cons of being sexually active so she can think clearly and make the “right decision” for herself. I don’t think that conversation is occurring in most Christian households.