No to Birth Control; Yes to Viagra

The War on Women doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.  The last couple of weeks have seen a bill in Virginia requiring a vaginal ultrasound for all women seeking an abortion even though it isn’t medically necessary.  That’s nothing short of a punishment for women who dare to seek abortion services.

Not the government’s business!  It’s a form of rape by government.  The very same people who want no government interference apparently have an exemption for women… since we’re second citizens I guess. 

Amazing how insurance has always covered viagra but not birth control.  It’s ok to have sex if you are a man, but not for women.  Some right wing conservatives have even gone so far as to say that birth control is a form of abortion!  As if preventing the conception of a baby is comparable to aborting a pregnancy.  However, we don’t want men to have any impediments to sexual satisfaction so they need their viagra. 

Even though the Virginia bill was, I believe, changed to a regular ultrasound rather than a uterine one, we also now have a bill introduced in Texas to force women to view a picture of their ultra sound before they can get an abortion.  Again, government is penalizing women over their own health care choices.  I find it very similar to voter suppression.  Intimidation and narrowing access; that’s how its done!  You wouldn’t believe how many pharmacies refuse to dispense the night after pill. So, no help for a women who’s been raped the night before, especially when she doesn’t want to go to the hospital where, incidentally, she’s not guaranteed the pill either.

And Rush Limbaugh’s comments!  I thought women had already won the sexual revolution in the 60’s and 70’s.  Now it is 2012 and women still can’t have sex without being called a whore.  (But men need their viagra.)  I’ve heard several people (many of whom just so happened to be men) on the radio saying they shouldn’t have to pay for women’s birth control. 

You see even with insurance co-pays, each service that is covered, gets added into the computation of insurance premium.  So, they don’t want to pay for women’s birth control (which prevents abortions, unwanted pregnancies, lots of medical and societal costs and so on,) but they want me to pay for them to be able to get it up!  Now that’s what I call unfair!

And that’s not even mentioning that the woman Limbaugh was talking about wasn’t even talking about her own use of contraceptives, nor was she talking about the use of birth control for pregnancy prevention.  But you know, all the people who listen to that show will swallow it all, hook, line and koolaid.

It does help to hear that several (up to 20 at last count) advertisers have dropped Limbaugh, so the entire society hasn’t gone nuts.  But every day I hear some new crazy idea for suppressing women.  Needless to say, I’m stocking up on blood pressure meds!

Defending Contraceptives.... Again??

I never expected to have to re-fight old battles.  You think that once something is decided, that’s it; progress has been made.  Of course Roe v Wade doesn’t fit in that category.  That fight has never really been won.

And, the thing is, I understand both sides of the abortion question.  I really do. I certainly understand a woman’s right to choose; what she decides to do with her body is between her, her doctor and her beliefs.  I also understand that many believe that a life is a life and should be protected, even if it is inconvenient.  Regardless of what my personal opinion may be, the fact is there is a separation between Church and State.  And that shouldn’t be a question.  Given that, my feeling is that the State can’t tell a woman what she can and cannot choose.  But, the battle goes on.

What really throws me is that we actually have to go back in time and fight for our rights to contraception!  I feel like I’m in the twilight zone!  What can possibly be so wrong about contraception?  It prevents pregnancy – a win win…. There’s no choice to make there because there’s no problem in the first place!  But all of a sudden the radical right wants to take away access to birth control.

It starts with the Affordable Care Act, or as is commonly known… Obama Care.  (Like that’s a bad thing!)  The Catholic Church doesn’t want to have to provide health insurance that includes contraceptives because it’s against church policy.  That part is true.  The old joke was that you were supposed to use the “rhythm method” and you could see how well it worked by all the Catholic families with 10 kids!  We could argue about whether the Catholic Church leaves the religious sphere when they own universities and hospitals that many non-Catholics not only use, but also where they work.  But we don’t have to go there because President Obama gave them a pass.  He said they don’t have to include it in their policy, but for those employees who do want it, the insurance company directly must provide it free of cost.  That should be the end of it.

But noooo, that’s not good enough.  Then all the conservative groups jumped on the band wagon.  They don’t want any employer who has a moral objection to be required to provide contraception in any way. 

I don’t know how you can view this in any other way than that they are deliberately trying to take away women’s rights.  I mean consider it… In the time since women first started being able to control their reproductive systems, the following has occurred:

• Decreasing deaths during childbirth
• Decreasing rates of infant mortality
• Decreasing abortion rates… yeah, that’s right, LESS abortions!
• Decreasing rates of other serious medical conditions related to hormone issues (including deaths)
• Decreasing rates of unwanted pregnancies …. And consequently the number of impoverished children that the government must support.
• Increasing literacy rates
• Increasing rates of women attending college
• Increasing rates of women in professional careers
• Increasing rates of women “climbing corporate ladders”
• Increasing rates of stability in potential household incomes

 I could come up with more, but I think you see my point.  Why in the world would you not provide this for free for all women who want it?  Society benefits, women benefit and families benefit!  If a certain religion is against it, let those who follow that religion, not use those services. 

They call it an attack on religious freedom.  I say it is a smoke screen.  In reality, women are just collateral damage.  The conservatives are using this issue to go in the back door and gut the Affordable Care Act by getting it so that no employer has to provide any coverage they have an ethical problem with.  That will result in employers not having to provide health insurance period.  That is bad enough, but I’m not willing to let women’s rights be collateral damage. 

Our female forbearers didn’t work so hard to get these rights just so they could be used as a political pawn.  We shouldn’t even have to be defending this right!  But we will.  We shall not stand for this.  We will fight all over again.  As many times as it takes.