Birth control pills. (photo courtesy starbooze, Flickr Creative Commons)
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Before heading to the ballots we, as sexually active college students, need to take a look at just what it is Ken Buck, the Colorado Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, will do for our sex lives.
According to Buck’s website, the U.S. Senate candidate has a firm position on the respect for human life.
On Buck’s website, Buck states that he is against federal funding for abortion, believing that life begins at conception, and does not want to ban common forms of birth control.
However, 9News has found Buck’s pro-life standpoint to be just a little unclear, and it is obvious why, as Buck is changing his stance.
In a 9News story that aired two weeks ago, an email from Buck was provided stating that he opposes birth control methods that “would keep a fertilized egg from implanting, like hormone-based birth control, some other forms of the pill, IUD’s, RU 486 and what’s known as the morning after pill.”
Don’t think this applies to you? Well, as college students, it does.
Girls, imagine taking your monthly routine trip to Walgreens to pick up your Yaz or Loestrin 24 Fe, both of which contain forms of estrogen, and the pharmacist shutting you down because of Ken Buck’s opposition to any type of birth control that would cease fertilization.
Guys, this impacts you too. Think about all of those drunken nights ahead. Maybe there will be that one time the condom breaks, or you’re just in the heat of the moment with that girl you’ve been crushing on in your EBIO class.
The most sensible thing to do would be for your lady to go to the drug store to pick up the morning-after pill.
But oh wait, Ken Buck isn’t allowing that anymore.
Time to switch from chemistry classes to parenting classes.
We’re college students! We have sex and, often times, we make some pretty poor choices. Having options like hormone-based birth control and next-day alternatives are a great comfort.
There are more than likely a percentage of women on campus who use IUD’s such as Mirena. This particular type of birth control is 99 percent effective at preventing pregnancy. With this type of assurance, we rely on birth control.
By taking away all of these options, Ken Buck is essentially attacking our libidos!
Sure, we’ll have condoms to protect us from pregnancy, but we’ve learned in health class that condoms can’t always be reliable and it is necessary to have a back-up method, like the pill.
So before you enter your vote, think about your college lifestyle. Think about your sex life. Who’s in charge of your sex life: you or Ken Buck?
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Lauren Archuletta at Lauren.archuletta@colorado.edu.
I think you need to clarify some information here.There are 2 kinds of IUD’s available in the United States, ParaGard and Mirena. According to Planned Parenthood, neither of these would prevent a fertilized egg from implanting, in stead they “affect the way sperm move, preventing them from joining with an egg. If sperm cannot join with an egg, pregnancy cannot happen ” (plannedparenthood.org). All forms of the pill are hormone-based (non-hormone based contraception includes barrier methods, ParaGard, spermicides and sponges) and they preve nt pregnancy by ceasing ovulation, if there is no egg for a sperm to unite with, there is no fertilized egg to terminate. RU 486 is an abortifacient and is only available by prescription from certain physicians, so it is not used as a regular birth control
In addition, in the 9News article, Buck’s spokesman Owen Loftus makes it clear that Ken is not against contraception, “Ken believes life begins at conception, and does not favor doing away with common forms of birth control, like the pill.” One of the author’s of the Amendment, Leslie Hanks is the one that is against birth control (“Only those forms of “birth control” that extinguish a life that has already begun will be impacted. Many of the oral “contraceptives” have an action that makes the womb inhospitable to a developing embryo and hence, the new living, growing baby is prevented from residing where his or her Creator intended until birth.”).
Just because Ken Buck is a Pro-Life politician doesn’t mean that he is looking to ban all forms of birth control except for condoms. In fact, he isn’t in favor of banning any common forms of birth control (like the pill) and doesn’t interpret Amendment 62 as doing that. One more thought from the 9News article: “It’s clear that Amendment 62 and personhood are being used interchangeably. This is not the case within the pro-life community–there are many people who favor the concept of personhood, but are opposed to personhood amendments. ” (Loftus)