Unsafe Practices Quotes
Religious Fundamentalists had made the sale, use and/or information about contraception illegal in many states until 1963 when the Supreme Court found that a state could not jail a pharmacist for filling a prescription for a woman who would die if she became pregnant again. The contraception issue seemed settled in America but the culture wars of the late 20th century and early 21st century brought it to the forefront again. Many fundamentalists who oppose both contraception and abortion chose to concentrate only on the abortion issue as so many American women used contraception. But many of the anti abortion groups also oppose legal contraception and see it as enabling sexual promiscuity—the position that Santorum held as is illustrated by this quotation.
Fracturing underground shale—fracking—releases natural gas which the US has in an energy equivalent of two Saudi Arabias. However this is done by injecting water and chemicals into the underground shale. The shale is generally below the water table but the concrete shaft that carries the fluid and the gas at high pressure through the water table. There have been serious accidents where drinking water has been polluted. The George W. Bush administration, led by VP Cheney whose company was in the fracking business had a law passed which gave the gas fracking industry the right to endanger or pollute drinking water without the inspection of meeting the standards of the Clean Water Act and other state and federal protection laws. They are also exempt from having to disclose what poisons or carcinogens are in the fracking fluid or how much they are injecting into a community’s land and water. So the best potential option for American Energy independence got caught up with disputes over proper safety and disclosure procedures and the exemptions that were granted by Congress.
A Woman’s Concern like many other anti-abortion groups was also morally opposed to birth control of all kinds except celibacy or the “rhythm method” which is not particularly effective. He was a strong opponent of teaching about birth control by means other than pre-marital celibacy, which has been shown not to work for the majority of teens, He was appointed by the George W. Bush administration after vigorous lobbying by some of the extreme right wing religious groups who wanted birth control such as pills, IUDs or condoms to be made illegal. These proposals did not get much public support as the vast majority of Americans including a majority of Catholics use birth control methods that this man would criminalize. His claims about the negative effects of birth control had no scientific bases whatsoever. As a physician, he himself had been warned by the Medical Association for the improper practice of medicine. He had to resign his government position.
