Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) #fundie

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) #fundie huffingtonpost.com

KING: We have people that are single, we have people that are past reproductive age, we have priests that are celibate. All of them, paying insurance premiums that cover contraceptives so that somebody else doesn't have to pay the full fare of that? And they've called it preventative medicine. Preventative medicine. Well if you applied that preventative medicine universally what you end up with is you've prevented a generation. Preventing babies from being born is not medicine. That's not— that's not constructive to our culture and our civilization. If we let our birth rate get down below replacement rate we're a dying civilization.

77 comments

old comment by Zeus Almighty

To the honorabld Steve King,
You moronic cunt, there are about seven billion people on this planet. Scientists are now linking climate change to declining crop production, with many of the world's croplands suffering ever more frequent drought and desertification.

Fundie-to-English translation for King: "The white, I mean right women aren't pumping out babies like rabbits and the brown hordes are growing. I want to force white women to reproduce, whether it's in the best interest of them or the children they can't afford. And once they're born, if they're poor those babies can just go fuck themselves."

Also, studies have shown that the people who demand the most elaborate and expensive treatment at the end of life are fundies. I find it odd that people who claim to want to meet Jesus do everything they can to cling to this mortal coil for even a few hours. And I have to pay for this waste of resources.

old comment by Vermicious Knid

"Preventing white babies from being born is not medicine. That's not that's not constructive to our white, Republican culture and our white civilization. If we let our white birth rate get down below replacement rate we're a dying ~~civilization~~ majority."

There, fixed it for ya, Steve-o. Now it says what you really mean.

@TheWatcher:

"What is it with you fundies and the population? You're obsessed with overpopulating the planet. It's ridiculous."

Because their book tells them to, and they're too dumb know when to put the brakes on. Nothing short of God coming down and saying "guys? About that 'go forth and multiply thing,' I take it back" will make them stop. That, and a perpetually pregnant woman is easier to control.

old comment by Anon-e-moose

"If we let our birth rate get down below replacement rate we're a dying civilization"

'Dying?!' [/Spartan Laconic Wit]

(emphasis added):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States

'Population:
2010 census 308,745,53'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population

'The world population is the total number of living humans on the planet Earth, currently estimated to be 6.94 billion by the United States Census Bureau'

'Dying civilisation'? PROTIP:

Ancient Sumeria. Ancient Babylon. Ancient Egypt. Ancient Greece. Ancient Rome. Ancient China*. Ottoman Empire. British Empire. Third Reich. USSR. There's a pattern forming here, Stevie-boy; you do the maths.

All great powers fall. No Exceptions.

I love the smell of annihilated arguments in the morning. Smells like... victory.

*- and the new No. 1 in the world: Modern China. They've beaten you at your own capitalistic game - a Communist country, no less. What goes around, comes around indeed. Call it Karma. Suck it, Repubicans. I for one welcome our new Chinese overlords. Better start learning Mandarin. And Atheism, Stevie-boy & co.

Where is your God now?! >:D

old comment by Boadicea

Doesn't this moron realize that birth control pills are often used AS medicine? There are women who have horrible, irregular periods, whose menstrual flow rivals Niagara Falls, or who have literally crippling pain and other symptoms that result in absenteeism, lost production, failed marriages, etc. - ALL of which can be treated/ameliorated by taking birth control pills!

And does he really think single people aren't fucking? By "past reproductive age", he really means post-menopausal women, because men are NEVER past reproductive age. Even erectile dysfunction doesn't mean they've stopped being fertile and able to reproduce - just the delivery system is on the fritz. And with insurance just salivating at the chance to pay for Viagra, even that is frequently taken care of.

I worked in insurance for 13 years. One of the projects I worked on was a book listing all the riders to be attached to the policies. One of them explained that if a woman had two bouts of vaginitis (simple inflammation of the vagina) within the last 3 years, her ENTIRE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM was eliminated from coverage. However, if a man had two bouts of prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate) within the last 3 years, ONLY HIS PROSTATE was eliminated from coverage.

Double standard, anyone?

Eventually, it will sink into the conservative world view that people aren't going to EVER stop fucking, no matter what kind of conditions you set on it or what kind of punishments you come up with for ignoring those conditions. People will fuck. Period. So build a bridge and get over it!

old comment by Angua

@ Skyknight:

Yeah. Given that America's increase in population size is largely do to immigration, and given that immigrant families often come from cultures where women tend to have more children, and given that a lot of these immigrants aren't white . . . I have to say, this only seems to lend credence to Vermicious Knid's interpretation. I think that when King says "civilization" he really means "race." I think that's he's worried because the people who have the most children tend to be poor, non-white immigrants. I think it's all too likely that he wants to make it so that white women can't have access to birth control and are forced to have more children.

old comment by Grogs

1. Yes, I'm sure that paying for contraceptives each month is just a HUUUGE portion of what medical insurance pays out compared to say, multimillion dollar cancer treatments or organ replacement. I'm sure it will amount to an extra 5 cents a month or something on my insurance bill.

2. By your logic, I shouldn't have to pay property taxes since they pay for schools and I don't have kids. For that matter, my federal income taxes fund things like the Department of Education (I'm not in school) and the Department of Defense (I'm not in the military) so I shouldn't have to pay that either. Somehow, I don't think the tax collectors will be very impressed when I use your argument on them.

old comment by Reckoner

All of them, paying insurance premiums that cover contraceptives so that somebody else doesn't have to pay the full fare of that?

I know this is hard for you to understand, but this is the purpose of insurance. The cost of other people's medical bills is spread out over a large number of people. Do try to keep up, Rep. King.

And they've called it preventative medicine. Preventative medicine.

Yes, it is preventative. It prevents an unwanted pregnancy. Do you know what the word "preventative" means?

Well if you applied that preventative medicine universally what you end up with is you've prevented a generation.

Who the hell is talking about applying it universally? No one is going to force women to take birth control.

Preventing babies from being born is not medicine.

You try carrying around a 10 lb bowling ball in your abdomen for 9 months and then tell us how you feel about it.

If we let our birth rate get down below replacement rate we're a dying civilization.

You realize that women can stop taking their birth control at any time, don't you? Goddamn, how did someone this stupid make it to Congress?

old comment by Extraintrovert

1. It is, as always, about politics. The one that outbreeds the opposition wins; it's why the Gnostics no longer exist, and why the Catholic Church - the largest and most powerful political body on the planet - explicitly bans contraception and implores its followers to pop out as many cultists as possible.

2. King's failure at logic has already been well explained, so I won't bother with that.

3. It continues to be amusing/depressing that the people that want a ban on abortion are the same people who want a ban on contraception, considering it is an indisputable fact that the latter decreases the former. Then again, if fundies acknowledged facts we wouldn't have this website.

old comment by Burning Stake

All of them, paying insurance premiums that cover contraceptives so that somebody else doesn't have to pay the full fare of that?

Because we live in a society where these things still cost money, which not everyone has, you entitled twat!

Grr! Angry person who works in the medical field is angry!

And, I swear people who live outside the US, we are not all like this. I think the Republicans like these (who, mind, as representatives of government are hypocrites who already get healthcare coverage for their families, so "F**k off" everyone else) are just trying to cover for their friends in the business world who supply them with metaphorical hookers and blow so they don't have to share them with anyone else.

I don't have healthcare coverage myself, and would love to have some, especially if it covered contraceptives. I don't have any because I still don't have a job, despite recently graduating from a Medical Assistant program, so of course I don't deserve any healthcare myself...

Sorry, I'm ranting angrily. Point is: shut up, you bloviating hyppocrite!

old comment by Swede

I don't know about others, but I'm perfectly fine with a part of my tax-money going to other people having some fun, relaxing sex without having to worry about unwanted pregnancies and STDs (why-ever anyone would want a STD... :-P).

This Earth is dangerously overpopulated, we're close to procreating ourselves into extinction. Which would probably be a good thing for the Earth.
However, we do NOT need to worry about lack of population.

Sure, we do not have eight or twelve kids anymore, as they had before the enlightenment, but most kids born today survive their fifth birthday, which only about half of the kids born during the Dark Ages did. Few people then lived to see their fiftieth birthday. Nowadays, almost all countries have an average length of life longer than fifty.

A bit of googling later:Eight countries have lower average length of life than 50 years.
Zimbabwe, South Africa, Guinea-Bissau, Swaziland, Chad, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Angola.
For those who are uncertain about Geography; all of those, except Afghanistan, are in Africa. Afghanistan has had an ongoing war for the last, oh, 40 years or so, which might explain some of it.
Most of the ones between 50 and 60 years average, are also on the African continent.
The top is not nearly as "monochrome", there are countries from all over the world, mostly Europe and Asia. Canada is on 12th place, Sweden's on 16th place and the US on 50th. The first African country is on 58th place (if I haven't missed any); Libya.
Source: CIA: Life expectancy at birth, 2011

old comment by Professor M

Look, I don't have to worry about unintended pregnancy pretty much by definition: I'm a gay man, and I have an incredible boyfriend who was, like I was, born male and is thus incapable of getting pregnant. (Of course, more relevant is that I was born male, but still, same diff.) And I'm completely in favor of having some of my tax dollars go towards providing birth control for my heterosexual peeps. Because, really -- what better use of public money than letting people create some joy together while letting them wait until they're damn well ready to produce more people? And as for the inevitable pregnancies before people are ready to be parents...well, there's abortion and there's adoption. And as half of a same-sex couple, I'd invite all the heterosexuals to consider those of us who have parental instincts that we'd be more than happy to satisfy as nature's own option for those who don't feel they can raise their own children and who don't find abortion to be an alternative.

So, basically, to Rep. King -- go fuck yourself, this non-biologically-reproductive citizen is more than happy to be part of a system that lets people control their own fertility. And that includes paying taxes like any other citizen with a basic grasp of public ethics.

old comment by Anon

Rep. King fails demography forever. Also:

In the short run, contraception is a net savings to the government.

The cost of contraception works out to ~75 USD per prevented pregnancy (using Jadelle implant costs).

If we assume that each pregnancy puts the woman out of the workforce for 2 months, that works out to ~8000 USD in lost GDP (current mean GDP per capita). Works out to ~1400 USD in lost government tax revenue.

Spend 75 USD rather than losing 1400 USD. That's a very nice return on investment.

Of course, that isn't an argument for women to have no children at all. It is an argument for women having control of whether or not they become pregnant, and to minimize the number of unwanted pregnancies. The demography will take care of itself.

Contraceptive use also minimizes the number of abortions, which is better for the women concerned and also saves money (performing an abortion is 6 or 7 times more expensive than preventing the pregnancy in the first place).

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) #fundie huffingtonpost.com

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