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That attitude, which has come to dominate federal policy, indicates that the real dispute in America is not so much about abortion or contraception as it is about sex and values. American culture is a strange blend of prurience and prudery that tends to lead to the worst of both worlds: movies and magazines that exploit sex and teach kids that it's glamorous and free of consequences, combined with a skittish denial of the facts of life that makes it hard to teach those kids how not to get pregnant.
"Many American women are grossly misinformed," says U.S.C.'s Grimes. For instance, 31% of American women in a 1985 Gallup poll indicated their belief that birth control pills cause cancer, when in fact the evidence shows that for nonsmokers the Pill actually reduces the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer. Europeans are much better at putting sex -- and birth control -- in its place. Despite their Roman Catholic heritage, the French schools conscientiously provide sex education during which birth control and abortion are frankly discussed.
It would be a mistake, however, to blame the paucity of new contraceptive devices in the U.S. just on puritanical attitudes and conservatism. One group that would have been expected to be contraception's natural constituency, feminists, has been more vocal in pointing out the dangers of various devices than in promoting their use. The positive result was the development of the new low-dose pills. The negative effect was that thousands of women abandoned the Pill altogether.
The National Academy of Sciences last year called for an infusion of federal dollars into contraceptive research, better sex-education programs and protection from liability suits for manufacturers who want to get back into the birth control business. But under the current Administration such actions are unlikely. Meanwhile, sexually active Americans are often left with an inadequate range of options: make the best of the contraceptives they have, choose to be sterilized, or turn to abortion when all else fails. With the last option under increasing legal challenge, the choices at the turn of the century are likely to be narrower than they are today.