read the rest of what i wrote... i advocate two forms of contraceptive for a sexually active woman who does not want to get pregnant. that's two female contraceptives, say the pill and diaphragm... and they should still have the man wear a condom... to prevent disease and pregnancy. That's triple layered protection.
besides - personal responsibility does include abstinence, but even abstinent women should consider the pill if their lifestyle involves parties, alcohol, and frequent contact with with men in loosely structured situations. and in the case of rape, we need to figure out a way to get women to feel comfortable about going to a hospital within 72 hours to receive a rape kit, and report the crime.
I believe the only thing that is going to divert this country from the self-destructive, materialistic, libertine path it is now pursuing--a path that includes indulging in sins like the murder of inconvenient babies--is a great moral re-awakening. England did something like this in the 1840s, when English society looked in disgust at the gin addictions, sexual license, and general depravity of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The result of that awakening was the Victorian era, which focused on and glorified family life. Even if not everyone embraced clean living during the Victorian era (not by a very long shot!), society as a whole reformed itself and elevated its perspective. There was no public tolerance for depraved behavior, as we have today.
It's my hope, my increasing belief, that we are beginning to see the glimmerings of the same sort of reformation in this country today. If that is the case then mere public opprobium will discourage the sort of lifestyle in which a girl would have to use birth control pills because she might get drunk at a party. And though abortions will probably never be eliminated altogether, because people do make mistakes and sin, they may no longer be legal.
Am I unrealistic? For the moment, yes, of course--I admit it. This is something I am praying for 25 years down the road. But it's possible; it has happened to people before, and it can happen again. This forum is exactly the sort of place where the reformation begins.