At last! A judge ordered the FDA to allow the morning after pill, Plan B, to be available over the counter!
Hurrah!
Plan B is not my favorite pill to take, because it can be crampy and make you cranky, but seriously, the drug is as safe as anything and it’s important to have access to it.
Yay for sensibility taking over. No need to have be legislating sexual morality.
Happy V-Day once again! Time flies. Per the usual, I’d recommend a viewing of the Vagina Monologues – find one in your area and go if you’ve never been!
For the 15th anniversary of V-Day, check out the One Billion Rising campaign to end violence against women.
Exciting new development on the Plan B front! It seems that New York City is going to pioneer this badass new program in which girls as young as 14 will have access to over the counter emergency contraception from school nurses.
They have so far been sneaky about revealing plans and testing out the pilot program, but if it goes well I think it’s going to be an amazing start to a future where the kids who really need it get access to the birth control they really need! (Birth control in the non-emergency form will be/has also been made available).
All ye non-believers out there: I have argued again and again that kids are having sex anyway – the availability isn’t going to make them have more sex. It’s just going to make it easier to do it safely. Hurrah!
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.”
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!
I was glad to see this video this morning – a happy little PSA about not abusing the ladies in your life.
Of course it’s sad we need to be reminded, but it’s also important that politics tackles these matters on every level. The sad truth is that we need these PSA’s. Silence about abuse is the worst weapon.
I just finished reading Sister of Silence, a brutal memoir about a young girl who marries her rapist when she gets pregnant at a young age. The thing that really struck me about the book is how she didn’t even realize she was in an abusive situation until she heard someone else tell her story and think to herself “that’s just what happened to me.”
Speaking up, telling your story, Take Back the Night, PSA’s about violence against women – these can be the moments when women realize that their situation is not okay and try to get out of it.
But it’s even extra awesome that this little video is all men and they are talking to men. I am so fucking done telling women not to get abused. Time to tell men not to abuse them.
Too much even going on in the media today for me to absorb it all. But, people. Please.
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.
I need a republican to get in my vagina.
It is seriously one of those things that you just can’t reconcile.
Alas, there are moments of hilarity.