This Thanksgiving we here at Birth Control Watch have much to be thankful for. Some of our sweetest gifts have come from the most unlikely of places. For example, two recent actions by Christian organizations offer encouraging signs that a more moderate and reasonable Christian (and truly pro-life) movement is afoot. The first sign is from Catholics United which has launched a campaign to out anti-child members of Congress who are masquerading as "pro-life" (more on that below). The second sign is from the magazine The Christian Century. This month the editors offer up a staggeringly logical idea in their editorial entitled "Preventing Abortion." So staggering, I've included it here in its entirety. They write,

"People who have knowledge of and access to contraceptives tend to have fewer unwanted pregnancies and therefore fewer abortions. It's no accident that the world's lowest abortion rates are found in Belgium and the Netherlands, where contraception is widely available, or that the highest rates are in Cuba and Vietnam, where access is limited. If you really want to reduce the number of abortions, a logical place to begin is with the expansion of family planning programs.

That logic has been mostly ignored in the United States. A "Prevention First" bill, which would expand family planning and teen-pregnancy prevention programs, has been stalled for years in Congress. On teen pregnancy, the U.S. has for a decade focused on abstinence-only programs that encourage sexual abstinence and don't refer to contraceptive methods except to indicate their relative failure rates. From the start, health experts have doubted the effectiveness of these programs. This month the nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy reported that there is no evidence that abstinence-only programs "delay the initiation of sex, hasten the return to abstinence or reduce the number of sexual partners" among teens. Meanwhile, the report said, programs that educate teens about contraception while encouraging abstinence have been shown to have a positive effect on behavior.

Given this recent history, it is especially good news that Congress has put an extra $615 million in an appropriations bill to expand family planning and teen- pregnancy prevention programs as well as to improve access to health care for women and children and to fund child care. The measure, dubbed the "Reducing the Need for Abortion Initiative," is modest in financial terms. But if it does make it into law, it will represent a major step toward creating a "third way" on abortion—a way that offers practical help to women in preventing unplanned pregnancies and carrying their babies to term.

In describing the funding package to reporters, Representative Tim Ryan (D., Ohio), one of the sponsors, acknowledged that birth control has become the "fault line" in the search for a third way on abortion. But Ryan, himself a Catholic, said that "we can't run from the fact that if we do not provide birth control for women we're going to have an increasing number of abortions." He added that he doesn't think contraception is a radical idea. "This is mainstream stuff. Ninety-eight percent of women [in the U.S.] have used birth control."

Ryan is right: birth control is not controversial for the vast majority of Catholic or Protestant women. Providing education and consistent access to birth control is one of the best strategies for helping families and reducing the number of abortions. It's about time politicians recognized it."

Another way to prevent abortion is to make caring for a child easier. Enter, Catholics United, a group formed to "promote the message of justice and the common good found at the heart of the Catholic Social Tradition." The group recently launched an ad campaign to out the 13 so-called "pro-life" members of Congress who voted against the SCHIP bill. SCHIP would provide high-quality health coverage to more than six million children whose families would otherwise be unable to afford insurance. James Salt, Catholics United organizing director, explained, "Apparently, some members of Congress think their responsibility to protect life ends at birth. To build a true culture of life, our nation must be willing to stand with women and children. Passing this legislation is one clear way we can do this."

The following radio ads will air on local radio stations in the 13 Congressmember's districts.

Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, Florida
Rep. Joseph Knollenberg, Michigan
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, Michigan
Rep. Tim Walberg, Michigan
Rep. Steve Chabot, Ohio
Rep. Michele Bachmann, Minnesota
Rep. Sam Graves, Missouri
Rep. Thelma Drake, Virginia
Rep. John Peterson, Pennsylvania
Rep. Jim Marshall, Georgia
Rep. Virgil Goode, Virginia
Rep. Todd Tiahrt, Kansas
Rep. Kenny Hulshof, Missouri

Seems like the real pro-lifers may finally be surfacing and taking charge. For this we give thanks.