Poor people shouldn't have sex

The Republicans of the Missouri General Assembly, big fans of the old adage that the rich get richer and the poor get children, will make sure of the latter by withholding contraceptives at county clinics. It's high moralism from the heartland:

An attempt to resume state spending on birth control got shot down Wednesday by House members who argued it would have amounted to an endorsement of promiscuous lifestyles. [...]

The House voted 96-59 to delete the funding for contraception and infertility treatments after Rep. Susan Phillips told lawmakers that anti-abortion groups such as Missouri Right to Life were opposed to the spending.

"If you hand out contraception to single women, we're saying promiscuity is OK as a state, and I am not in support of that," Phillips, R-Kansas City, said in an interview.

Apparently, Missouri Republicans so hate the idea of poor people having sex, and is so anxious to punish them for it, that they don't care about the inevitable consequences:

Others, including some lawmakers who described themselves as "pro-life," said it was illogical for anti-abortion lawmakers to deny money for contraception to low-income people who use public health clinics.

"It's going to have the opposite effect of what the intention is, which will be more unwanted pregnancies and more abortions," said Rep. Kate Meiners, D-Kansas City.

The other alternative is for low-income women to give birth to more children, which is only likely to drive up the state's costs to provide services to them, said Democratic Rep. Melba Curls, also of Kansas City.

Missourians whose thinking is not yet crippled by raging moralism will have to look to the Missouri Senate to apply some reason to this situation.

(Ex cross-post facto...)