In this week’s edition of Reproductive Writes, Casey Olesko tackles the birth control debate and why Bayer aspirin just doesn’t cut it these days.
To echo a personal hero, Ms. Amy Poehler: “Really?!?!”
A few weeks back, a ruling that would require employers to provide insurance coverage for contraception without co-pays under the new health care reform laws was debated in the House of Representatives. As these discussions have gone on, we have seen once and for all what our leaders think of women.
Several months ago, the Obama administration declared contraception to be preventative health care, which led to a mandate that required all employers to pay for birth control in health insurance plans under the new health care reform laws. This would make birth control free to women who chose to use it. This mandate included an exemption to religious houses of worship. However, religiously-affiliated institutions such as universities and hospitals took offense to this decision, saying that by forcing the institutions to pay for birth control, the mandate was violating the institutions’ religious freedoms. The administration took these claims into account, and came up with a compromise: rather than having the religiously-affiliated employers pay for contraception coverage, it would be paid for by the insurance providers. This way, no religious money would go towards contraception.
This, apparently, wasn’t good enough, even though the compromise directly addressed the issue that religious institutions had with the mandate. So, last Thursday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as led by Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) held hearings on the issue in the House of Representatives. Representative Issa organized a panel which consisted of eight anti-choice, anti-contraception male religious leaders. Witnesses all spoke about their opposition to the mandate.
But then, a shocking thing happened. A woman was invited to testify by the Democrats. This woman, a law student at Georgetown, intended to testify in support of birth control. Representative Issa refused to allow her to testify – saying she wasn’t “appropriate or qualified” to testify.
As a woman who uses birth control, how could she not have been qualified to testify?
I think it’s high time to get outraged. How can the leaders of our country think that women aren’t “qualified” to discuss matters of their own health? How can a discussion about a female-specific health care issue be relegated to only men’s opinions? How is it that we women are so marginalized?
On top of all this, that very same day, billionaire Foster Friess made a comment about contraception. Friess, a major backer for Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign, said the following: “Back in my day, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.”
So, in conclusion, women are both too out of control to keep their legs closed, and that’s probably the only reason they want birth control. But at the same time they are not as educated about matters of the female body and lifestyle as men and therefore shouldn’t be responsible for making their own decisions.
Really?
Photo Credit 1
Photo Credit 2: Planned Parenthood