At the heart of the fuss over the departure of two members of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' blogging team is a science story, specifically the controversy surrounding the "Plan B" birth control pill. This has been overlooked in favor of the larger political fallout and bears re-examining.
Of the two former Edwards bloggers, Melissa McEwan's writings were the less sensational. Her reference to President Bush's "wingnut Christofascist base" and use of profanity suggests she needs to learn to be a little more careful, but it wasn't her personal blog posts that really made the religious right angry. Amanda Marcotte wins that award. It really all came down to one long post on how some Catholics are spreading blatant falsehoods about the Plan B pill, which offers a relatively reliable post-intercourse contraceptive option.
The most quoted line from that post, which is essentially a more passionate version of a scientific but easy-to-follow explanation PZ Myers wrote a few months back (and to which Marcotte refers), is the very first few words, set in Socratic form:
Q: What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?
A: You'd have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology
I can see why that will upset a few people, but there is little, if anything, in her post that doesn't fall under the rubric of fair comment. The real reason so many people got their shorts in a knot about Edwards hiring someone like Marcotte was her discussion of Plan B reveals just how mendacious, or at the very least misled, a large number of powerful members of the Catholic Church really are when it comes to the subject of birth control.
As both Myers and Marcotte point out, the chances that Plan B pill will prevent a fertilized human egg from implanting in the womb are close to negligible. What the pill does do is prevent fertilization.
The distinction is moot for those with no ethical objection to abortion at the embryonic stage, but it is essential for loyal Catholics and others who believe in the creation of a human soul at conception/fertlization. So it is easy to understand why church leaders would be sorely tempted to twist the science of pharmaceutically induced contraception. It doesn't make it right, just easy to understand.
Incidentally, Myer's post includes a feminist interpretation of the politics behind the opposition to Plan B, one that Marcotte could have written, if she was little more careful:
The claim that this argument is about the life of a baby is null and void, and the opposition to Plan B makes it glaringly, brilliantly clear that this isn't about the sanctity of life at all: it's all about controlling a woman's ovaries. She will not be allowed to tamper with the timing of ovulation.
Myer's argument rests partly on the fact that nature routinely prevents implantation of fertilized eggs. There is a logical induction to be made from a religious point of view: God is responsible for countless billions of "abortions" while Plan B users will be responsible for an immeasurably smaller number verging on zero. In other words, taking Plan B will actually reduce the number of deaths of embryonic humans. If the churches were really interested in the sanctity of life, they'd be encouraging free distribution of the product in every high school.
The religious right argues that it is theoretically possible that Plan B can block implantation, and they are technically correct. But a lot of things are theoretically possible. Marcotte's analogy is indicative of her poignant but politically inappropriate style:
The pill works by sloughing off fertilized eggs in the same way it works by causing you to rethink your sexuality and turn into a lesbian, which is to say that you can't say absolutely that it doesn't do this so you might as well say that it does for sure.
I suggest that if the Catholic Church and other elements of the religious right hadn't spread so much misinformation about contraception, and if the media and our schools did a better job equipping citizens to understand biology, then mayabe people like Marcotte wouldn't get so incensed and maybe she'd still be working for Edwards, and maybe Edwards' political stock among fence-sitting Christians would be just a little higher.
But probably not. Chances are Edwards would still find himself down a couple of intemperate staffers. Marcotte and other young, politically naive bloggers really have to learn to choose their words more carefully if they want a career in the political big leagues. I wish it weren't so, but if wishes were leaves, trees would be falling...
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