Tag: planned parenthood

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Booty Politics Politics Sex

Birth Control!

Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services Secretary, and I haven’t always been on the best of terms. I was appalled when she overode the FDA recommendations on Emergency Contraception. I’m pretty sure a Health and Human Services secretary had never publicly overruled what the FDA suggested, and this was just bollocks. It’s great that EC is available now in the pharmacy without a prescription (what a hassle it was back when we needed to go to Planned Parenthood to get one. Lord am I glad I will never have to go that again. UGH). But given the fact that EC was found no more harmful than something like acetaminophen, and that can be found right next to the cough drops and bandaids, why can’t the EC be right there next to them!?! Bring on the access!

Anyway, I digress. Today is the day Kathleen Sebelius and I get to be on good terms. She gets to let us all know that something kick ass happened in the world of birth control. No more co-pays for birth control! Thanks, Obama! Of course it’s not all magic and sunshine (only private plans are effected, it may take a while to kick in, it won’t work if you are on medicaid, if you work for a religious organization you are still fucked – not in the good way, etc.) But it still is a great day in terms of moving towards something good. Progress is progress!

But you’ve just gotta love this photo of Kathleen Sebelius with her poster “Simply Being a Woman is No Longer a Preexisting Condition.”

photo taken from npr.org

That’s just the sort of talk that makes me feel okay about the world for a minute.

Because seriously not having babies is a key aspect to being able to enjoy sex to the fullest.

And access to birth control is crucial to not having babies. Didn’t Dan Savage once say the worst STD is an unplanned pregnancy? Did I imagine that?

Anyway, go forth and do it and get all not knocked up. Hurrah!

Categories
Booty Politics Politics

Planned Parenthood endorses Obama

Planned Parenthood rarely endorses a candidate, but they just endorsed Obama today.

With all the nonsense we have been up against in the past few months fighting to support very basic things like birth control, the idea of a Romney presidency is terrifying for sure.

Whether or not you feel jazzed about politics, think Obama has been a let down, or don’t think your vote matters, I personally think it’s important to consider the alternative. These are the moments where it actually matters who the president is. No need to go back into the dark ages on birth control, abortion, and access to basic women’s health care.

Categories
Politics Religion Science

Breast Cancer Doesn’t Care About Your Religion

I have been increasingly frustrated by the right wing “pro-life” religious forces in this country. I understand their imaginary friend wrote a book and that book tells them a bunch of nonsense. I am a firm supporter of their right to think any crazy idea they want. In fact our country was founded on their right to believe that nonsense. Heck, I would even go so far as to fight for their right to believe that foolishness. I think its the American thing to do, fight for everyone’s right to believe anything they want.

However when your imaginary friend tells you to spend your life trying to deny funding to organizations who provide abortions, you are not being American. This country was founded on the freedom FROM religion as much as the freedom of religion. That means you are free to NOT get abortions, you are free NOT to give your money to cancer research, but when you actively work to de-fund these things for others you are imposing your religious views on people who may not share them. Its no different than a Catholic telling you that you are legally prohibited from eating meat on Fridays. It’s not how this country is supposed to work.

Cancer kills roughly half a million men and women every year in this country. There have been roughly 50 million abortions provided legally in this country since 1973, which works out to roughly 1.2 million per year. Roughly 5%-20% of that number were because of risk of health to the fetus or the mother.

Fighting against groups like Planned Parenthood isn’t “pro-life.” If you are really “pro-life” You would also care about the 1 in 2 people who will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and the 500,000+ of them that die from it every year. I would hope that the “promotion of life” doesn’t end once the baby is born. As such pro-lifers have just as much responsibility to fund cancer diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and research as you do fight abortion providers. All of which are done at places like Planned Parenthood.

It’s a pity that people are unable to understand complex and nuanced issues. They think Planned Parenthood = abortion. Their imaginary friend told them abortion is bad, so they hate Planned Parenthood. The reality of the situation is much more complex. Planned Parenthood also provides birth control (can’t have an abortion if you don’t get pregnant), breast cancer screening, STD tests (HPV causes cervical cancer), and a whole host of other treatments that save lives.

I am not sure one bolsters their “pro-life” credentials by keeping much needed and life saving treatments out of the hands of men and women. It boggles my mind that the major political party in this country that is linked to the pro-life movement, is also the one against HPV vaccines, universal health care, public funding of birth control, and sex education.

What further boggles my mind is that the inspiration for this stance is based on the ramblings of bronze age goat herders that was translated over and over again before undergoing 2000 years of politically based revision, translated a couple more times, and finally spoon fed by the powerful to the weak. We are talking about people who think that human beings can rise from the dead and that virgins can give birth, these are not the kind of people who we should be taking advice from!

The “pro-life” religious right should be regulated to the fringe of this discussion, instead they seem to be at its center. We have a group with a tenuous grip on reality, the constitution, and science trying to dictate what women should do with their own bodies. Any way you slice it they don’t appear to be up to the task of making that decision.