Pro Birth Control

   A lot of people walked away unhappy from General Conference 2016 - but the reason I'm unhappy in particular doesn't seem to be getting much attention - we repealed the Responsible Parenting Resolution, put forth by the United Methodist Women. This resolution, which has been part of who we are as United Methodists from 1976, is essentially our pro birth control stance. But this year. we repealed it because some people reading the resolution equated birth control with abortion, that is to say, some considered abortion to be a form of birth control, hence the entire resolution was shot down.
  I remember when one of my brothers was getting married he asked me what the United Methodist Church's stance was on birth control and I proudly told him we were all about birth control - both as a form of preventing pregnancies but also to protect against STIs.
  I remember at my first church, one of the mission projects we undertook was to raise money for condoms to send to Haiti following the earthquake - because of a rise in rape culture that often follows a natural disaster. A colleague was going to teach sex education classes, and the church gladly pitched in by providing condoms. I was proud.
   Today, I'm not as proud. I posted in a forum following the defeat of this resolution: "why do I hear the word "birth control" and think condoms while others think of it as abortion?"
   I'm hoping that even with the defeat of this resolution that we continue to champion birth control - not just to prevent unexpected pregnancies, but also to protect against STIs. I'm hoping in 4 years we remember why we had this resolution in the first place. I'm still holding out hope.