Susan J. Demas: Republicans shouldn't shut the government down over birth control

Birth control is backed by almost 90 percent of Americans. Why do Republicans want to shut the government down over something so popular? (File photo)

Nearly 90 percent of Americans support birth control, but Republicans are willing to shut the federal government over it, anyway.

Finding that much consensus in polling is a rarity. I'm not sure than 90 percent of people would say they like puppies, Mom and apple pie.

But sure enough, 89 percent told Gallup during last year's political flare-up over contraception that they consider it to be morally acceptable, including a whopping 82 percent of Catholics. 

Support for birth control in the poll beat out divorce (67 percent), gambling (64 percent), pornography (31 percent) and suicide (14 percent).

The reason for this really couldn't be clearer if you look around you. How many families have seven or 10 kids anymore

Not many. The reproductively gifted Duggar clan of Learning Channel fame is quite the exception -- and that's why it tends to fascinate. But the average American woman has only two kids.

And that's largely because of birth control. Thanks to science, there are more options and they are more effective than in any time in our history. 

So it's not really surprising that even politicians who are proud members of the religious right, like former President George W. Bush, have small or average-size families. 

That's a choice he's made and I believe it's fundamentally a private matter. But when Republicans make birth control a public matter, it's only fair to question people on their own choices.

I don't have anything to hide, and Republicans shouldn't either. I used contraception in my marriage. My daughter was very planned, born seven years after I was married. My husband and I first finished school and secured good jobs before procreating (i.e. we avoided "government dependency," as the GOP says).

That's what we used to call personal responsibility. That's social conservatism in action. 

One of the biggest problems we have in society is unwanted and unplanned pregnancies. This is linked to higher rates of child abuse, poor health and lower rates of education for kids. 

That's scary stuff.

That's why contraception is important. It can make the painful abortion debate largely irrelevant. And that's why it was one of the focal points at a conference I spoke at this weekend, "Beyond the 'A' Word," at the Midland Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship.

So why are politicians even talking about something as uncontroversial as birth control in 2013? 

The issue was slipped into a short-term spending bill the GOP-led U.S. House passed this weekend that delays Obamacare. 

Since Congress and the president didn't agree to a spending bill by today, the government has shut down. 

President Obama said he wouldn't sign the House bill -- especially since the GOP plopped a poison pill like contraception into it.

One part of the Affordable Care Act requires employers to cover birth control. It's a fairness issue. Most employers don't think twice about covering erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra (which, it should be noted, are marketed to older men who usually aren't using the drug as a means to conceive children).

Americans generally aren't fond of mandates. But when it comes to the contraception mandate, it has consistent support of more than 60 percent of voters in surveys, including those by Bloomberg and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Americans have already voted for contraception in their private lives. If Republicans continue to take such an unpopular stance against it, they should expect voters to turn against them at the polls.
