Brief But Important

Maggie Gallagher argued at National Review Online's The Corner that the Pill led to abortion, because it made the idea that we could and should separate sex from reproduction seem sane. My only qualm is that it's not really "reproduction," but birth, which folks were worried about. An "accidental pregnancy" which can be "taken care of," and which doesn't result in a baby you see isn't a problem.

Anyways, Denis Boyles responded:

Maggie Gallagher's question, "If we had truly separated sex from reproduction, why would we need abortion?" begs another.
Many years ago, I was a contributing editor at Playboy, giving it up when my pretty, new, blonde wife insisted on giving me nothing but daughters, and I found I couldn't leave my work laying around the house. I remember chatting one afternoon with an editor who had been at the place for a long time. "We thought we were doing something noble when we helped separate sex from guilt," he said. "But then we realized that we'd helped separate sex from responsibility." Not so noble, of course. I think this may overstate Playboy's influence, but not the Pill's.