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| Why do Orrin Hatch and other grumpy old men hate birth control so much?? |
On August 1st Kathleen Sebellius, Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, accepted the recommendations by scientists at the Institute of Medicine to mandate that all insurance companies cover the full cost of birth control without co-pay. This recommendation was based off the scientists' findings that increased access of FDA-approved birth control to all women would greatly improve women’s health, reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions, and cut down on health care costs associated with multiple pregnancies and complications. The IOM recommended that all health insurance carriers cover the cost of birth control with no co-pay in order to make prescription contraception easier to access by low-income women. This new regulation will not only cover the costs of contraception, but will also cover the costs for breast pumps for nursing mothers, STD-testing and treatment, and counseling for breastfeeding, STD's, and domestic violence. Basically, these new regulations will require that insurance companies cover more of the costs for preventative care, which will in turn keep people healthier and keep the health care and Welfare costs down. I had no doubt that Sebellius would affirm these recommendations, because making sure women have good access to preventative care (and yes, birth control IS preventative care since it treats a myriad of female disorders and prevents unwanted pregnancy) will improve their health and in turn cut down on health care costs. It costs FAR less for insurance companies to cover the costs of month birth control than it does to pay for pre-natal care, delivery, and health care for the children once they are born. The cost of birth control can range from $50 - $100 per month. The cost of raising ONE child from birth to age 18 is about $150,000 or more. You do the math. With the way our current economy is in complete shambles and millions of people are suddenly finding themselves without a job and a means to provide for their children, you’d think EVERYONE would be on board with doing whatever it takes to help women stay healthy and limit their family size.
But alas, this is not the case. As soon as the GOP caught wind of these recommendations and heard the words "women", "health care", and "access to birth control", their emergency alarms went off just as I expected they would. And oh boy did the sh*t hit the fan!!! Literally every misogynistic anti-woman politician has now come out of the woodwork to voice their backwards opinions on women and women’s health. Their ranting against women is so insane and comical that I’ve been sitting back and treating it like entertainment! You can’t turn on Fox News anymore without hearing nonstop, venomous nonsense about “irresponsible, promiscuous sluts” and how cheaper birth control will suddenly turn ALL women in the US into raging whores. It’s as infuriating as it is hilarious. Repeating their statements myself just doesn’t do enough justice, so I’ll just let you listen to their incoherent ranting and raving against women yourselves…
Bill O’Reilly says that “Women who have sex are always blasted out of their minds and won’t remember to take their birth control anyway, so what’s the point?” I guess he doesn't understand that birth control is something a woman takes every day, not just right before she has sex.
Sean “Insannity” Hannity snorts that birth control “has nothing to do with women’s health and is just an excuse to screw around” while vehemently defending Viagra and other male enhancement drugs as “valid medication to treat a real medical problem”. Please.
Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King laments that birth control will completely wipe out the American population...and boo-hoo's over the fact that the average American woman only has 2 children on average. Guess we ladies better start doing our patriotic duty and start pumping out half a dozen kids or more!!
Listen real good there, Ladies! Do you hear that?? THIS is what YOUR government thinks of you, Ladies. Your elected government officials think you are nothing more than worthless, promiscuous sluts who can’t be trusted to take control of your own health and fertility….even if you are married and monogamous. To the millions of women out there who use prescription birth control to treat all kinds of female disorders or who are MARRIED and are trying to plan your family the way you want, are you going to take this garbage or are you going to speak out and fight back against such hateful lies and nonsense? Let’s look at the facts here: 98% of American women already use some form of birth control. Just think about that for a second….98%. That is an overwhelming majority. There is not a single TV show that 98% of Americans watch or a sports team that can claim 98% of Americans as its fans. In a political era as polarized as the one we’re in now, it seems that birth control is the ONLY thing that virtually everyone is in agreement on!! If you don’t feel insulted by these men insinuating that you are an immoral, promiscuous slut for using birth control, you should be. These pigs have no right to make such gross assumptions about the entire female population. Having access to more affordable birth control is not going to suddenly make every married (or single) woman start opening her legs for every man she sees. Grow up.
What exactly is going on here?? Where is all of this anti-birth control nonsense coming from? In this modern day and age, with the high costs of raising children and other living necessities, why do so many male politicians seem to be in favor of making women give birth to litters of children?? To answer this question, we have to look deeper beneath the surface of these men to understand what’s really going on. This anti-women’s health and anti-birth control stance has nothing to do with religion, morals, or common sense and has everything to do with an extreme patriarchal sense of male entitlement. These men are on an obscene power trip of astronomical proportions and, to be quite frank, these are the type of men who deep down think that everyone on earth--especially women--should bow down and worship their Almighty Penises. To these men, women are nothing more than chattel whose bodies are to be “owned and operated” by men. This explains exactly why men like Sean Insannity vehemently defend easy insurance-covered access to Viagra so that ‘Little Hannity” can be ready for action at any minute, yet begrudge women any kind of health care that might prevent them from becoming impregnated and giving birth to all products of conception created by their Almighty Penises. To these guys, their penises are sacred and every pregnancy and child women bear as a result of these men’s sexual conquests are a living trophy of their “manliness”. It’s why you sometimes might hear a guy brag about how many times he got his wife or girlfriend pregnant or brag about how many children he has (even if he doesn't provide any support for them); it’s just a way for him to show off his male virility. Of course, a REAL man with a modicum of maturity understands that children are expensive and thus works with his wife/girlfriend to plan pregnancies accordingly. But obviously, we’re not talking about maturity when discussing men like O’Reilly and Hannity. These are nothing more than man-children with bloated egos who want total control over women’s bodies and could care less if our physical health is dependent upon taking hormonal contraceptives to treat debilitating female disorders.
I for one am very excited and pleased to hear about the new birth-control coverage regulations. We all know from my pageant platform “Our Bodies, Our Futures” that I am dedicated to preventing unwanted pregnancies and abortions, and making contraception more accessible to those who need it is THE #1 way to do this!!! The misogynistic Right-Wing blowhards can scream and howl about it all they want. I could care less about what they think of me or other women; their opinion of us is sh*t. I just hope that their incessant temper tantrums won’t do anything to cause the powers-that-be who approved this ruling to bow under pressure and change their minds, because we’ve got a good thing going here with this.
And to lighten the mood here, I now give you a bit by the awesome Steven Colbert that perfectly and beautifully sums up the ridiculous rhetoric spouted off in the above-mentioned videos. Enjoy!! :)
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Women's Health-Nazi Plan | ||||
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