(Goddamn I am long winded.)
Today, I am going to do something that I don't usually do. I'm going to rant. Generally when I set out to have a discussion with someone, in person or online, I intend for it to be just that; a discussion. What I am doing today is making a statement, and I really don't care what you have to say to the contrary. This is how I feel, this is what I think, and there is no revelation that you could possibly provide that can change how I feel in this instance. Consider this your disclaimer. What follows is my opinion. You can agree with it, or you can't.
I'll start out on a personal note. I have a condition called dysmenorrhea. The medical description of this condition is 'abnormal pain during menstruation'. For me personally, this definition is woefully inadequate. For me, this means that during the first one to three days of my menstrual cycle I have uterine contractions so powerful that they can be seen through my abdominal wall, high grade fevers that have me drenched in sweat within minutes, vomiting and diarrhea to the point of severe dehydration, and occasionally fainting.
During one of my first episodes with this condition, I fainted at the top of a flight of stairs. Luckily I was already hunched over from the pain and I fell forward instead of backwards.
This condition also means that I have a low likelihood of being able to carry a pregnancy to term, since the powerful contractions that I experience, along with the ovarian cysts, have caused scarring that severely limit the chances of carrying a pregnancy through the second trimester. This in itself is not the point of me writing today. The point is that although this condition is very painful and has affected the possible outcomes of my future, it is easily treated with hormonal birth control.
That, ladies and gentleman, is one of my problems. For the past 2+ years, I have been unable to treat my DIAGNOSED MEDICAL CONDITION because I cannot afford the $60 to $100 dollar monthly cost of the medication used to treat it. Before you even dare think it, I am not uninsured. The medication simply isn't covered by any of the paid medical insurance programs that I have had since I was 15. This is not because it is not a valid treatment, but because this particular treatments primary use is as contraception. Of course, Viagra, which has no alternative use besides as a sexual aid is covered by all major insurance plans. For fuck's sake, the Post-T-Vac penis pump is covered by Medicaid. What health condition does that stupid thing treat? Not getting laid?
Suffice it to say, I was ecstatic when I heard about the Affordable Care Act. Finally it was recognized that birth control was an essential part of reproductive health, with reasons aside from the obvious use as pregnancy prevention. The guidelines in this act were drafted by the Institute of Medicine, based on what they consider to be absolutely necessary for women's health. Surely nobody would turn this into a war that admonishes us for daring to take control of an epidemic of blatant disregard for women's health issues, all the while complaining about the downward spiral of our society as it becomes infested with plague ridden whores.
As you can tell, I am deeply disappointed in my species.
I've read the Affordable Care Act, the legal jargon version and the 'For Dummies'. There is nothing in there that I feel is worthy of criticism. It has long been accepted that women, simply because of being women, are prone to different medical complications. Men get prostate exams, women get mammograms etc. There's nothing sexist or wrong about saying that having a uterus brings with it a whole host of problems which require entirely different forms of care. Because I am a woman, I am less likely to suffer from a heart attack, but I am at a higher risk of breast cancer. ( Yes, men have mammary tissue and are also at risk for breast cancer, it is simply a MUCH LOWER RISK.)
For those of you arguing (for some batshit crazy reason) that this is just an attempt by the government to make us all sterile, there are also reforms in this legislation that focus on the importance of pre and post natal care, like screenings for gestational diabetes and counseling on breast feeding. That is the essence of this bill. It says that women have different needs when it comes to health care, it recognizes that the health insurance industry has been lax in providing us that care up to date, and it seeks to rectify it.
If you are against this bill, I don't care what reason you hide behind, I am ashamed of you.
Yes, YOU.
I don't care if it's because of your religious beliefs, or your trepidation at a government run health care option, or even your deep seated fear that it is part of a secret agenda to give women more power to overthrow the world via the mutant powers of their baby proof vaginas.
(Just so you know, in my mind, the second that anyone uses the word 'agenda' or 'conspiracy' in a discussion THIS IS WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE SAYING. Please keep that in mind if you decide to respond.)
I recognize that we all come from different places and have different experiences, and that every interaction that you have with the world will be colored by these experiences. If you were raised in a religious household that doesn't believe in birth control, of course the very words 'birth control' will upset you when it comes to federal legislation. If you're worried about the interference of government in personal matters, it's going to be the words 'federal legislation' that make you shake in your boots. I respect that. Really, I do.
And I still don't care.
It is perfectly possible for me to understand that you have different thoughts and opinions, and respect your fundamental right to have those thoughts and opinions without it becoming MY responsibility to keep you coddled. This isn't about your feelings. If you don't believe in birth control, then don't use it. It's that simple. Intention does not magically absolve you of the consequences of your actions. Your personal beliefs are not more important than my physical health, I don't give a fuck who you are.
There is already an exemption written into the Affordable Care Act for religiously sponsored health insurance groups. Regardless of what the Catholic Church is crying about, they are NOT being forced to provide birth control against their religious beliefs.(Even though, according to a survey, 98% of Catholic women already use birth control.)
Their trepidation in regards to this issue have already been taken care of. Not that they deserve it anyway, because as a FEDERALLY FUNDED INSTITUTION they have absolutely no right to deny any sort of healthcare to their employees, religiously opposed or not. If the government is paying your salary, then you do what the government mandates, period. If it really hurts your feelings so much to know that somewhere out there, a woman employed by the church is using that sinful contraception (even if they are actually employed through a third party organization, or said woman is PAYING for that insurance coverage, as is usually the case.), then give back your federal funding and tax exempt status and go do whatever the hell you want.
Trust me, if trying to limit other peoples treatment options in healthcare is your way of making sure the human race has a good relationship with God, then we don't need you. You've obviously only been skimming when looking through the Bible.
This isn't what I'm really angry about, though. I know that there's no way to reason with the people who claim that condoms help spread AIDS. It's not a battle that I'm going to win, regardless of my intentions. After that particular revelation about the Catholic Church, I don't expect sanity from the Papacy. It's hard to be truly upset with someone when you suspect that the cause of their wrong doing is stark raving lunacy. I'm disappointed and frustrated with the Catholic Church, and there is no way to excuse some of the harm that they have done, but right now I am furious with the common man.
Before you take a step back from the computer lest the feminazi cooties contaminate you via osmosis, understand that I use the word man to mean 'mankind', not everyone out there with a Y chromosome. Ladies, I'm looking at you too.
We are all failing to recognize a huge threat to our civil liberties; the threat to family planning. I know I mentioned my happiness with the Affordable Care Act being related to a medical condition that I personally suffer from, but it would take an idiot to enter this type of debate without looking at the other aspects of contraception. Birth control is first and foremost for preventing pregnancy, and that is also ESSENTIAL to women's healthcare, and also to any man who will ever have a relationship with a woman.
The biggest mistake anyone can make is to assume that this is a 'war on women' (Although, to be honest, it's mostly aimed at women.). If a woman gets pregnant, I can say with at least 99.5% certainty that there was a man in the room when the pregnancy occurred, and they also have a right to decide when they are ready to start a family. While this is an issue concerning women, it is a war on anybody who believes that they have a say in when and how they conceive, and it is being fought not with guns and ammunition, but with defamation of character and sweeping generalizations.
Of course, I can't mention defamation of character without also mentioning Rush Limbaugh. Besides his failure to grasp just how birth control actually works (seriously Rush, you take one pill a day. Are you retarded?) the man launched a vicious personal attack on a woman who was testifying about her friend losing an ovary, and very likely her ability to EVER conceive, because of the current situation for women in health care.
Let me reiterate in case some part of that escaped you, a woman lost an ovary and possibly her ability to ever carry children, and the woman who spoke out to defend her civil rights was called a SLUT and a WHORE on public radio and television because of it.
I don't understand how this man-child still has a job, and I REALLY don't understand all these people who claim that this misogynist prick is 'just telling it like it is'. How fucking dare you.
First off, that works on the assumption that the only reason to use birth control is because you don't want to get pregnant, which I know from firsthand experience is wrong. There is a long list of conditions that are most effectively treated by hormonal birth control regimens, including dysmenorrhea, polycystic ovarian syndrome, hirsuties, pelvic inflammatory syndrome, and many more.
The other broad generalization I see that makes me give up on humanity all together is that the only reason you could possibly want birth control to actually prevent pregnancy is because you are having so much sex with so many different people that you wouldn't be able to guess who the father is if you did get pregnant. That is not just untrue, it is so insulting to every woman who has ever taken birth control at any time that I don't understand why a single woman is still listening to his foul mouth.
Really, Rush? You've never come into contact with a married couple who couldn't afford to have a child? You've never met a single woman who SHOUDN'T get pregnant because it would be dangerous to her health? You know what, it really doesn't matter if you have. Somehow, things exist without you experiencing them personally.
There's another glaring misconception here that I don't understand, and that's that somehow Rush Limbaugh himself is opening his wallet to provide this birth control, which is ridiculous.
The truth is, this bill SAVES money, for the common man and for insurance companies. Not only on the cost of unwanted children, (50% of all pregnancies were reported as accidental. That's a lot of new children that are now eligible for tax run programs like medicaid and welfare, isn't it?) but also on the cost of alternative treatments to uterine conditions. Do you know how much a hysterectomy or ovarian drilling (which is another proposed treatment for polycystic ovary syndrome) costs? A hell of a lot more than the monthly round of birth control that treats the same problems without invasive surgery. There is a reason that it is not the insurance companies that are fighting this legislation, and that is because, despite the upfront costs, the widespread availability of birth control and the other services offered (remember, there are others) is cheaper.
And even if it wasn't a cheaper alternative to what we've already been doing, the fact of the matter is that even when a woman gets her insurance through her company or her school, she is still generally paying a monthly premium on that service. I have never been employed at any company or gone to any institution that offered insurance coverage that did not require an out of pocket payment. If I am paying money each month to an insurance provider, regardless of whether or not I may get a slightly better rate by going through the company that I work for, I am still paying for my own insurance.
So, in the mind of Rush Limbaugh and the people that are defending him, it's all just us dirty ladies too busy getting trains ran on us to hold down a job and pay for our own shameful slut pills.
How is there even one person out there who is not infuriated? Why is a man guilty of slander still running his own radio and television show? We may not be able to stone him to death, but damn it we really shouldn't be REWARDING him by allowing him to keep his show.
But that's just one man, and the worst that he can do is gravely insult millions of women. The worst harm is being done by those who refuse to recognize their own involvement in this problem.
Whether you are religiously opposed to birth control or morally opposed to the public health option, this is not you on the front lines of a righteous war. This is not you defending your right to worship. This is you saying that what YOU believe, what YOU think, is more important than the choices and well-being of others. That is most definitely not in the constitution, and I know damn well that it is not what Jesus taught.
Everybody is getting too fucking confused by all the shouting and too clouded up by their own hang ups to recognize the point. This isn't an attack, it's a wake up call. Right at this moment, there is a woman who requires treatment, possibly for a life threatening condition, and her insurance company can deny her that treatment. It happens all the time. One woman lost an ovary because of it, and I would bet all the money that I've ever made or will make that her story isn't unique. There are women with sexually transmitted infections and diseases who don't know it because they don't have the money to pay for the tests. There are new mothers that don't know how to breastfeed and couldn't afford the pumps even if they learned. Someone recognized how wrong that is, so now they're trying to fix it.
What on earth is wrong with that?
