It would probably not surprise most of you to discover that I do not make politics a huge priority in my life. I am not married. I have no children. I sadly own nothing of value except my quickly depreciating Chevy Equinox…poor thing doesn’t get the care it deserves. And God knows I am not in the 1%. Because of this, I often naively believe that politics don’t directly impact my life too much. However, the 2012 campaign trail has been loaded with women’s health issues that do directly affect me and my other female homies out there.
As many of you are probably aware, this issue hit the fan when the Susan G. Koman Foundation initially said they were going to withdraw funds from Planned Parenthood (they eventually backed down after having their asses handed to them). Then in February of this year a new firestorm began when five men (three priests, a rabbi, and a doctor…no, this isn’t a bad joke) testified at Capital Hill saying women should be denied insurance coverage for birth control. O no, they didn’t (picture me zig zag snapping)! On an interesting side note, these men, and the Catholic church, had no such concerns about Viagra. Typical. THEN to make matters worse, a Georgetown University student, Sandra Fluke, who planned to speak in favor of contraceptive use got turned down AND proceeded to be called a slut, a prostitute, and said to have had so much sex she couldn’t walk. All of this from good ol’ Rush Limbaugh. Now, I am not entirely positive, but I’m prrrrrretty sure Rush Limbaugh should be the last person to ever use name-calling and be all judgemental up in here.
Many of you probably knew the majority of the brief history spiel I just gave, as I myself did. However, as I was reading an article about this exact topic in Marie Claire I was surprised to learn that 98% of American women use contraception. This means that this topic effects 98% of my American sisters. My immediate thought was ,”Way to be smart, lady friends!”….followed by “I am woman, hear me roar!” sneaking in there somehow.
I wasn’t silly enough to believe that everyone felt this way for I don’t live in a box, people. However, I was shocked to read the reasons some individuals oppose BC use. For starters, some social conservatives have brought this old classic out of hiding: that having sex without wanting to get pregnant is bad for society. Um….jigga what? I once heard this rumor that even married couples liked to have sex without creating another life. Wouldn’t preventing unwanted pregnancies be a positive thing for society? In fact, for every dollar spent on family planning, the public saves almost four dollars.
On that same note, past presidential hopeful Rick Santorum was quoted saying, “Birth control is a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.” I don’t know how things are supposed to be in the sexual realm, but I’m pretty sure birth control does not impact what is supposed to be good sex.
Not surprisingly, many abortion rights opponents have also sounded against contraceptive use claiming that some forms of BC, including the pill, terminate pregnancies. This is in no way true.
Now, I just want to say that I don’t want to use this blog as a forum for making my political opinions known and push them upon other people. Also, this post is not a pro-life or pro-choice debate. It is about an issue that directly affects myself, my body, my health, my partner, and our future. Whatever your stance on the issue, it is clearly not going away anytime soon. This was made evident with Rep. Todd Akin’s recent outrageous comment about “legitimate rape” (don’t even get me started on that one) and President Obama’s reply along the lines that the men in the government should not be making decisions for women’s health. Come November, ladies, it’s time for us to hit the polls and let our opinions on the matter be heard. Whatever they may be.
I just had to end this with this little gem.
Until next time…
The Unrealistic Guide to Perfection 