Former U.S. Secretary of State — and 2016 candidate for President — Hillary Clinton marked what advocates are calling ‘Thanks Birth Control Day’ with a 2-point, 22 word argument in favor of a woman’s right to choose. Clinton, whose tenure leading the State Department emphasized global human rights protections, places reproductive freedom in that category.
First, Clinton writes: “Reproductive freedom is a human right.” Second, she proclaims, “The decision to use birth control should stay between a person and their health care provider.”
[In a speech Clinton gave in 2011 marking International Human Rights Day, the Secretary said that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, “made clear that rights are not conferred by government; they are the birthright of all people. It does not matter what country we live in, who our leaders are, or even who we are. Because we are human, we therefore have rights. And because we have rights, governments are bound to protect them.”]
Two things I'd like to say this #ThxBirthControl Day:
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 15, 2023
1. Reproductive freedom is a human right.
2. The decision to use birth control should stay between a person and their health care provider.
Period.
Clinton emphasizes what she sees as the thoroughness of her concise 2-point argument about reproductive rights by writing, in closing: “Period.” It’s another way of saying ’nuff said.
The day commemorating birth control and Clinton’s support of its theme come at a challenging time for reproductive rights — with both abortion and birth control pills being targeted by powerful conservative groups in the U.S.
Despite numerous states rejecting legislation that would make abortion illegal after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the conservative groups that brought the rejected legislation — and that lobbied for the SCOTUS Justices that tossed Roe — remain empowered and resilient.
A recent New Yorker article revealed that one such group, the Alliance Defending Freedom, “a conservative Christian litigation group with a string of Supreme Court wins and a $104 million dollar budget in 2022″ hopes to outlaw birth control pills as well as abortion.
