Birth control use drops; libs go into apoplexy

A recent study showed a tiny drop in the prevalence of artifical birth control, and liberals use the news to promote more government, but fewer people:

Buried in the government's latest in-depth analysis of contraceptive use was the finding that the number of women who had sex in the previous three months but did not use birth control rose from 5.2 percent in 1995 to 7.4 percent in 2002. That means that as many as 11 percent of all women are at risk of unintended pregnancy at some point during their childbearing years (ages 15 to 44).

Now we get this loaded sentence:

Although unintended pregnancies can be welcome surprises, the danger from a public health and societal standpoint is that many of the women are financially or psychologically unprepared for parenthood at that point in their lives.

At what point in their lives? From 15 to 44?

It is possible, said Paul Blumenthal, that many more women are trying to conceive and thus have stopped using contraception. But the Johns Hopkins University professor said it is more likely that more women have found the cost of birth control burdensome.

Really? Why is that more likely? Could it be that it fits in with Paul Blumenthal's agenda? You see, he's on the board of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, which was created to promote the RU486 abortion pill. Now, it pushes earlier abortions (before fetuses are cute) and fewer warnings on birth control.

Then, Dr. Jeffrey Jensen, who prefers to call abortion "uterine evacuation," says government funding of birth control is really just about sound money management:

Family planning is a "fiscally conservative policy," countered Jensen of the Women's Health Research Unit. For every $1 spent on contraceptive services, he said, $3 is saved in other government programs such as Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, welfare and education.

Got that, folks? All we have to do is stop those dirty poor people from breeding poor kids, and the budget deficit will reverse itself! Hey, let's take it one step further, and execute people for petty crimes. After all, for every $1 we spend on Judge Dredd-style summary executions, we save hundreds on prisons, courts, and all that due process hassle.