Blairing the Details

The Catholic wife of the former British prime minister can be faulted for many things but not usually for lack of candor. Reaffirming her support for contraception, Cherie Blair was quoted recently as saying:

I feel if you look at what progress women have made in the world, one of the reasons is because they have been able to control their fertility. I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, and indeed without that (ability) to control I wouldn’t have been able to achieve the things that I’ve been able to do. Personally, I would prefer it if the Catholic Church took a more positive attitude towards contraception because I think there’s a lot of difference between preventing a life coming about and actually extinguishing a life when it has come about.

This story has a background, broadcast by Mrs. Blair herself, that her first child was conceived when she forgot to bring her contraceptives to her nuptials. Perhaps one should not infer that the child feels like a mistake, and she does make a gesture toward opposition to abortion.

Still, this latest bit of candor does invite the question of exactly how contraception allowed her to achieve all the things she’s achieved, as the wife of a former prime minister.