THIS SEEMS LIKE GOOD ADVICE TO ME:

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s health services division has been publishing newspaper ads encouraging students to have emergency contraception – the so-called morning-after pill – on hand during spring break, a move that is rankling abortion critics in the state.

You’d think that anti-abortion folks would approve, unless they just don’t like the idea of people having sex, which certainly seems to be the issue in the article. My own criticism — not echoed in the article — is that they should be encouraging students to take non-emergency contraceptives with them. I mean, if you’re going to be prepared, why not be properly prepared?

UPDATE: Clayton Cramer emails:

Is that it isn’t a contraceptive. It works by preventing implantation AFTER conception. If you believe that life begins at conception (a position that even the Catholic Church didn’t take until pretty recently–the medieval Church believed that life began 40 days afterwards), then opposing the morning after pill is completely consistent.

That’s true, but there’s nothing along those lines in the article. Instead there’s stuff like this: “”an insult to women. It trivializes the marriage act to begin with, and I think it’s insulting to the self-esteem and dignity of women.”

Could they have left out the part where she says “it’s abortion!” and kept the rest? Maybe, but even for Big Media that seems rather extreme. And, of course, it’s an argument that I find unpersuasive, since I don’t believe that a zygote is a person. Then again, I don’t find the “trivializing the marriage act” bit very persuasive either.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Stephen St. Onge points to this passage:

The pills work in complex ways, including preventing sperm and egg from joining and altering the lining of the uterus, which would keep a fertilized egg from implanting. The latter is what many abortion opponents find objectionable.

Jeez, if that was there before I don’t know how I missed it, as I was looking for just that sort of thing. But I could have, I guess; I’ve been a bit distracted today. My apologies, if so. Meanwhile Kevin Menard emails with a criticism that I agree with:

The other problem, and the part that annoys me with this ad, is it encourages unprotected sex. This is true of many methods but the whole pitch here is act stupidly and then take this and fix it. Okay but what about the rest of the problems? One college clinic I know of spends spring break stocking up for what is unofficially and politically incorrectly called STD week. Following spring break, they see more STDs than in the rest of the semester. A lot of people come home from spring break with more souvenirs than they realized. STDs are a bigger issue than we admit: 30-50% of sexually active young women have one. The military has 10% of female recruits have untreated Chlamydia. Pushing the morning after pill like that is medically irresponsible as it encourages risky behavior. After all some STDs are forever. Getting knocked up is not the only issue.

Use a rubber, folks. You’ll be glad you did.