Tuesday, November 6, 2012

You Don’t Own Me

"You Don't Own Me" PSA from You Don't Own Me on Vimeo.

 

Are your birth control rights really endangered?

By Gretchen Voss

You're probably one of the 99 percenters. Meaning, one of the 99 percent of American women who are or have been sexually active and have used some sort of birth control.

Maybe it's daily pills or monthly shots or some other form of pregnancy prevention. Maybe you already have all the kids you want, or you're waiting until you're ready to have a baby, or you've decided you'll never be ready. And perhaps your contraceptive of choice also eases a medical problem—whether it's painful endometriosis or scary ovarian cysts or disabling pelvic cramps—or helps stave off a new one, such as ovarian or uterine cancer. When it comes to controlling your reproductive health and destiny, birth control has always been there for you and always will be, right?

In a word, no. Because today, there's a national discourse raging around access to birth control—40 years after the Supreme Court legalized contraception for all women, irrespective of marital status, and five decades after the birth-control pill's introduction. And while fringy far-right extremists have always blasted away at contraceptive use, they have now infiltrated the mainstream—in the form of Tea Party Republicans and GOP presidential candidates. "It is shocking to see the vehemence of the attacks on contraception that we are facing these days," says Marcia Greenberger, copresident of the National Women's Law Center.

All of this has left young women around the country fretting about what a conservative-crafted future would mean for them. Take Chris Mascaro, a 29-year-old graphic designer in Rockford, Michigan, who earns $35,000 a year working for an employer who doesn't offer health coverage. Rent, student loans, groceries . . . they gobble up her paycheck, leaving nothing—certainly not the more than $150 she would need to pay a private ob-gyn for a Depo-Provera shot, which she has used in the past not only to help her put off having kids until she can afford them but also to treat her debilitating and painful endometriosis. Thankfully, she had access to a Planned Parenthood clinic, where she paid $59 to cover this basic health need. But she worries, constantly, that women's health programs will lose their funding and shut down.

Her fear is well founded. Some of the recent attacks launched by staunch conservatives are chillingly retro and misogynistic: Rick Santorum's financial backer pining for the days when a woman stuck an aspirin between her knees to avoid pregnancy; a GOP legislator in New Hampshire, Lynne Blankenbeker, proposing that married—married!—couples could practice abstinence unless they want to conceive; a panel of all-male House Republican legislators and religious leaders debating contraceptive coverage at a House Committee meeting; conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh going on a three-day on-air tirade against law student Sandra Fluke, calling her a slut and a prostitute for speaking up in favor of birth-control coverage. And, particularly scary for Chris, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney pledging to defund Planned Parenthood if elected. Also out of luck if Romney wins: the one in five women in the U.S. who have received basic health care and disease screenings at one of Planned Parenthood's more than 800 clinics.

(This is a 5 page article….to read more, follow the link below)

Read more at Women's Health: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/birth-control-rights#ixzz2BRn0uRIw

4 comments:

  1. well said!!! Let's just hope that all those young women who have so much to lose, get out & vote. If you have time, go on my blog & read the post on "my life & times". She's such a great writer (as are you). Thanks! Jan

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  2. I had heard about this video but hadn't seen it. Well done.

    So many younger women don't know about what their foremothers went through to get the rights we all enjoy today. Let's hope postings like yours help get the words out there. Thanks again, Tammy.

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  3. I really do NOT believe the GOP wants to limit women's access to contraceptives. I think this is an absurd charge --unfounded to attempt to scare women. It's just not true. I had a disturbing experience with Planned Parenthood many years ago when I attempted to enter a clinic for a FREE Pregnancy test, touted largely on a huge sign outside their clinic, with my 5 yr. old daughter in hand. I was charged at by 3 women who refused us access (almost knocking us down) because they said were doing abortions and didn't want the women to see a child and change their mind. They actually said that! I didn't even know they did abortions and didn't really have a strong conviction about it. My daughter was frightened and crying and we quickly left, but I couldn't help but wonder--didn't those women have the "right" to change their mind? Also, I find disturbing the racist remarks of Planned Parenthood's founder, Margaret Sanger who said regarding blacks and immigrants "they are...human weeds, "reckless breeders, spawning human beings who never should have been born."

    V

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  4. The Conservative Movement has never advocated the limiting of birth control for any woman...We strongly object to requiring those Americans who have ethical or religious beliefs against birth control or abortion to pay for other women's birth control or abortions. It is too bad that some on the left in this election chose to misrepresent the conservative position. We ask only that we not be villified for a sincere heartfelt belief.

    Thank you.
    Linda

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