From the "Well, Duh!" department

I used to have an ongoing arguement with a friend of mine who is a Catholic, which always boiled down to the same sticking point. I say that if you are anti abortion, you should be pro birth control, and that if you are anti abortion and anti birth control, you are basically anti sex. He says that isn't so, that contraceptives cause more problems than they solve, so you can be anti abortion and anti contrception. I say hooey. He says hooey. We agree to disagree. By the way, I'm right, and he's wrong.

From Slate Magazine's Human Nature Column:

A study concludes that the global abortion rate is falling thanks to birth control. Data: 1) The rate fell 17 percent from 1995 to 2003. 2) The biggest drop was in the former Soviet bloc and "did coincide with substantial increases in contraceptive use in the region." 3) Previous studies found that "abortion incidence declines as contraceptive use increases." 4) Abortion bans don't correlate with low abortion rates. 5) Abortion bans do correlate with high rates of unsafe abortion. Authors' conclusion: If you want fewer abortions, don't ban them; provide more birth control and sex education. Liberal reaction: Bush is making things worse by censoring abortion counseling and pushing abstinence instead of condoms. Pro-life rebuttal: 1) The data are unreliable. 2) They're being spun by pro-choice "scientists." Human Nature's view: Reducing abortions through birth control is a no-brainer.

I agree, whole heartedly.
I just can't see the logic of saying "We must do anything we can to prevent abortions. We must murder doctors who give abortions, we must bomb clinics that provide abortions, but heaven forbid that we should allow anyone to use birth control."
I just don't get it.