GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy co-sponsored "Abstinence Only" Legislation announced his unwed, teen daughter is pregnant.
We all know that teen pregnancy is an economic issue, not a moral issue.
A few days ago Rep. Bill Cassidy decided to announce his unwed teen daughter is pregnant. I reported about it on in this diary: GOP "Abstinence Only" Rep Cassidy's unwed teen daughter is pregnant. Can he work AND be good father?
In that diary I wrote that Rep. Cassidy (R) co-sponsored "abstinence only" legislation in the US Congress titled: "Abstinence Education Reallocation Act of 2013." I also wrote that in light of his announcing his 17 year old unwed daughter is pregnant as she enters her senior year of high school, that he, Cassidy, should come out against teaching abstinence only and join the reality that teens need to be taught about different types of contraception so as to reduce unwanted teen pregnancy.
We all know that there are plenty of un-wanted pregnancies that could be avoided if young girls/boys were educated on contraception alternatives that reduce un-wanted pregnancies and given access to low and/or no-cost contraception ... both of which Rep. Bill Cassidy opposes.
Sadly, since that time, Rep. Cassidy (R) has been deleting facebook questions that ask him, directly, whether or not he still supports teaching "Abstinence Only" as a means to reduce teen pregnancy. Not only has Rep. Cassidy (R) been deleting those questions, he has also been banning people from his facebook page if they dare to ask him that question.
The only reason I can come with for his deleting those questions is that Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) does not want to take a stand on ways that actually reduce unwanted teen pregnancy because he is running for US Senate of Louisiana against two other Republicans and one Democrat.
Three scenarios come to mind:
1) Perhaps Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) thinks he will lose conservative votes if he finally admits "abstinence only" does not actually reduce unwanted teen pregnancy?
2) Perhaps Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) thinks conservative voters will vote for one of the other two republicans running if he, Cassidy, admits that teaching different methods of contraception is the best way to help reduce unwanted teen pregnancy.
3) Perhaps Rep. Bill Cassidy will be blasted as a hypocrite if he continues to co-sponsor the "abstinence only" legislation in the US Congress titled: "Abstinence Education Reallocation Act of 2013" and ignores the reality that abstinence only does not, and never will, reduce unwanted teen pregnancy.
As I said, un-wanted & unwed teen pregnancy is an economic issue, not a moral issue. Therefore, the People have an absolute right to know whether Rep. Bill Cassidy (R), candidate for US Senate, supports writing laws to teach different methods of contraception as a means to reduce unwanted teen pregnancy -
or - if Rep. Bill Cassidy will continue to co-sponsor teaching "abstinence only" even though he knows first hand that teaching "abstinence only" does not reduce unwanted teen pregnancy.
DKos member "Heart of the Rockies" posted a comment stating that:
a Colorado Program making "Availability of low or no cost birth control has reduced teen pregnancies 40% in 5 years, according to a recent article in the Denver Post."
~Heart of the Rockies on Dailykos
The Denver Post reported:
The decline in births among girls 15 to 19 years old served by the program accounted for three-quarters of the overall decline in the Colorado teen birth rate, the state said in a news release.
~Denver Post July 3, 2014
Many people think that Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) made the announcement just before the weekend as a way to keep this story out of the spot-light. I don't relish in the idea that any teenager becomes pregnant and that's why I advocate for reducing teen pregnancy. So, the only part of this story I care about is has Rep. Cassidy's (R) position on teaching "abstinence only" changed since he now knows, first hand, that abstinence only is merely a slogan ... a political slogan that does not actually reduce teen pregnancy.
Rightwinged Louisiana blogger at, The Hayride, may give some insight into why Rep. Bill Cassidy exposed his unwed teenage daughter's pregnancy and at the same time is deleting questions asking if he finally supports teaching different contraception methods to reduce unwanted teen pregnancy.
Excerpt from The Hayride blog:
Before I left Baton Rouge to head down to RSG [RedState Gathering], I got my head bitten off by my friend Joel DiGrado, who is the campaign manager for Bill Cassidy – the “hand-picked establishment favorite” Republican in that Senate race. Joel got irritated by my suggestion that if Maness gave a hum-dinger of a speech at the RedState event it had the potential to siphon conservative votes Cassidy is going to need if he’s going to unseat Mary Landrieu, and that Cassidy needs to veer to the right if he wants to win. He let me have it for saying so in don’t-tell-me-how-to-do-my-job style.
I may have deserved that, though I absolutely think Cassidy’s path to victory is on the Right. What I didn’t recognize is that Joel has bigger headaches than Rob Maness right now and that Maness is the last thing he’s worried about.
It needs to be understood that next year’s election isn’t going to work like a typical Senate election. We’re not going to have a party primary; instead, we’ll have a jungle primary on Nov. 4, and then barely more than a month later on Dec. 6 we’ll have a runoff.
You almost literally can’t have a better setup to re-elect an incumbent than this. Typically you’d have party primaries in the spring or early summer of an election year and then the Nov. 4 general election, and in such a situation there is virtually no downside to as chaotic and crowded a primary as you like in a race like the one to re-elect or defeat Landrieu – because whoever wins the GOP primary will have four or five months as the party’s Senate nominee to raise money and push a message in advance of November. Whatever blood gets spilled in the primary has dried up and blown away long before the runup to the general election gets rolling in October.
And so what Joel is terrified of is the constant rumors of more Republican candidates making the race.
(emphasis mine)
Hayride went on to say:
Over the weekend down at RedState, the gathering’s event host Erick Erickson, who I’m generally a big fan of, was presenting Cassidy as a classic RINO Establishment type. And Erickson was assailing him as another Suzie Terrell or John Kennedy – someone Mary Landrieu can get to the right of. Erickson actually said that he’d rejected Cassidy when the latter asked to speak, refunded Cassidy’s registration fee when he attempted to attend and turned Cassidy down when the congressman wanted to buy a table at the event. And Erickson attacked the state GOP for continuing to run RINO’s against Landrieu before introducing Maness as a speaker on Saturday.
(emphasis mine)
Ok, so there you have it, Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) is being rejected by the far rightwinged voters who think the same way as nutjobs like Erick Erickson. And, since Louisiana does not have a GOP Primary for US Senate, Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) will be on the ballot with two other Republicans and one Democrat so maybe that's why he is deleting questions and banning people from his facebook page?
Since Rep. Bill Cassidy(R) does not answer questions on his facebook page, and instead deletes those questions, we need pin him and/or his campaign down on exactly what legislation he, as US Representative and/or as a future US Senator, will support regarding ways to reduce unwanted teenage pregnancy.
While there are a host of extremely important issues/questions that all candidates should be compelled to answer, addressing unwanted teen pregnancy is also an important economic question and thus, all candidates should be compelled to answer questions swirling around unwanted teen pregnancy.
ACTION:
Contact media covering the Louisiana election:
Remind journalists that unwed teen pregnancy is an economic issue and therefore they should demand that Rep. Bill Cassidy answer if he now will support and/or co-sponsor laws that teach different methods of contraception as a way to reduce unwanted teen pregnancy -or- if Rep. Bill Cassidy will continue to co-sponsor teaching "abstinence only" which is a provenly failed means to reduce unwanted teen pregnancy.
... Jim Varney LA Reporter: jvarney@nola.com
... Bruce Alpert LA Reporter: balpert@nola.com
... Ginger Gibson Politico: ggibson@politico.com
... James Hohmann Politico: jhohmann@politico.com
... Sam Stein Huffingtonpost: stein@huffingtonpost.com
Contact Rep. Bill Cassidy's Senate Campaign Office:
... Phone: 225-302-7482
... Campaign Mngr (former communications director for David Vitter)
Joel DiGrado (via twitter) @jmdigrad
... Campaign staffer
email: Courtney@billcassidy.com
... Rep. Bill Cassidy (R)
via twitter: @Bill Cassidy
Contact Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) US House Office:
... DC Phone: 202-225-3901
... DC Fax: 202-225-7313
... James Quinn: Chief of Staff
... Cristin Lofgren: Scheduler
... Chris Gillot: Legislative Director
... Jillian Rogers: Press Secretary
Baton Rouge office:
225-929-7711
FAX: 225-929-7688
Livingston LA office
225-686-4413
FAX: 225-929-7688
Thibodaux LA office
985-447-1662
FAX: Not Currently Available
Reducing teen pregnancy is important to me for many reasons, primarily because it is an economic issue. So, if and when you contact the media or Rep Bill Cassidy (R) campaign or office do not let them sucker you into pretending you're "bashing" an unwed pregnant teen ... that is not at all what this call to action is about. Also, don't let them sucker you into pretending you are "using a child" of a politician to advance a political debate ... that is not at all what this call to action is about.
This call to action is all about GOP "abstinence only" Rep. Bill Cassidy, learning first hand, from his own daughter, that teaching abstinence only does not work and, as an economic issue, will he, Cassidy, finally support and/or co-sponsor laws to teach contraception as a way to reduce teen pregnancy?
Thank you.
Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) Cosponsored "Abstinence Only" legislation later, sadly, announced his unwed teen daughter is pregnant.