On Sunday two newspapers from large U.S. cities commented editorially on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's recent remarks on finding common ground in the abortion debate. One, the New York Times [sub requ'd](saw the Senator's true message through all the media hype about her lone phrase describing abortion as a sometimes "tragic choice" and wrote supporting the ideas of sex and health educational information to prevent pregnancy, availability of emergency contraception and insurance coverage for contraception. The other large city newspaper, the Dallas Morning News,[sub. requ'd] not so much.

Instead of looking at Sen. Clinton's larger message, can't we all just get along to stop unwanted pregnancies, the DMN took the Democratic party to task for not supporting parental-notification and consent laws. They expose their ignorance of the nature of the work done in family planning clinics by saying "Let's see them promote legitimate crisis pregnancy centers, which provide material and emotional comfort to needy women who choose birth control over abortion." Do they really believe that Planned Parenthood or other family planning clinics, supported by most Democrats march pregnant
women who choose parenthood to the door when they decide against abortion?

Not only does the DMN show their ignorance about the work of family planning clinics, they missed the whole point of the Senator's speech. LET'S WORK TO AVOID UNWANTED PREGNANCY. IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND??

Finally, why don't they take the Republican Party to task for constantly blocking every "common sense" approach to preventing unwanted pregnancy. Insurance companies do not have to provide coverage for contraception: Thank you Republican Party. Dispense birth control, but have the temerity to mention abortion?: no money for you! Thank you Republican Party.

This administration's policy on sex education as a complete failure was also detailed in a recent Texas A&M study, which found:

...the abstinence only sex education that the Bush Administration funds doesn't work. In fact, teen sexual activity increased after an abstinence only education course.

The study doesn't believe that abstinence only education programs promoted sexual activity, just that it did not stop normal teenage sexual patterns.

Remember,

To be funded as abstinence education, programs cannot provide instruction in birth control, outside "factual information about contraceptive methods, such as the failure rates that are associated with the different methods," according to documents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

That's the current administration's policy on sex education. The brilliance eminating from those in the administration smells a lot like what we smell on our uncle's ranch out near Odessa...a whole heck of a lot of manure.