CNN: Unexpected Pregnancies Caused by Smaller Government

Change font size:  A |  A

Kiss federally subsidized collegiate promiscuity goodbye.

Prices for birth control are going to increase a lot for college students. That has CNN deeply concerned. Higher prices for birth control? Oh, the humanity.

That’s because deficit reduction legislation has changed how much the federal government pays to underwrite contraceptives. Costs for the pill and patch have gone up enough, apparently, for college students to consider anything except abstinence.

Video (27): Real (759KB) or Windows (895KB) or MP3 (209KB)

“[Stephanie] Davidson [a Columbia University student] worries that these students will have to choose between food, books, and birth control,” said CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen on the August 22 “American Morning.”

The report was part of the morning show’s “College Week” celebration. But, the CNN story didn’t offer anyone who would regard a birth control subsidy as excessive government spending nor did they report on the moral elements involved with birth control financially supported by their government on college campuses.

Cohen also gave us a peek into her college days – “When I was a student here at Columbia, birth control was cheap and plentiful,” said a giddy Cohen. “Well, not anymore. When students hit this campus next week, they are in for some sticker shock.”

One liberal congresswoman forecasted this would cause a serious college dropout epidemic: “It will mean that more college women will become pregnant in an unwanted pregnancy during their college student years,” claimed Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) to CNN. “It will mean that many will have to drop out of school or face an abortion. It is a difficult situation to put college women in.”

UPDATE Also see this Newsbusters story about the Sun-Times story on same subject by Warner Todd Huston.