COMMENTARY DEVELOPMENT

The state of Florida is attempting to pass legislation to ban abortions, and “establish and protect a human being’s ‘personhood’ from the moment of fertilization” (centralfloridafuture.com). Within this bill, they are hoping add in the prohibition of all types of birth control. This includes pills such as “the morning after” pill, and anything else that will stop the fertilization between the sperm and the egg. While I think it is wrong to abort a baby at any time, I do not agree that the government should be able to regulate how you use your birth control. These other pills are just used as safety nets. When reading the article about the amendment on CentralFloridaFuture.com, I came across a few comments that gave me more insight to the topic. One writer said that if they are banning anything and everything that can prevent the sperm and egg from fertilizing, then the government might as well ban condoms, because they create a barrier disallowing this fertilization to occur. Another concerned reader wrote that if the government is doing this to try and save money, it is going to do just the opposite. The money that would normally be used for the pills and contraceptives would then go to support for raising children. Since it would be the state of Florida’s legislation, it would take effect in all colleges as well. No college pharmacy or drug store would be allowed to sell birth control or condoms to their students. This would increase the amount of students partaking in unsafe sex, and would probably lead to an increase in the number of young parents with unexpected children on the school campuses. I do not believe that Florida should pass this amendment.