contraception is not abortion

[rm]

It is hard to know what to say about the latest misogynistic insanity from the Department of Health and Human Services.

I could tell you I've had an abortion or been on the pill and talk about what it means to live and die a child in the eyes of the law, even if we can vote and own property in these oh so progressive days.

Instead I'm going to leave it at this:

While good science isn't always great policy, bad science is NEVER good policy, adequate policy or acceptable policy.

Policy and law changes that erroneously classify common birth control methods as abortion reduce women to chattel, will increase rates of unwanted pregnancy and will, in particular, put the health of poor women at risk. Additionally, these changes provide no mode for women to certify that they are not pregnant, effectively baring us from getting complete medical care that we direct and meets our own, personal ethical standards.

This is what it feels like to be a woman: I am always the future and yet never exist.

Details from others:

http://melebeth.livejournal.com/1091553.html (locked, trying to see if she'll change that)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/washington/15rule.html
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2008/07/15/hhs-moves-define-contraception-abortion
http://raaven.livejournal.com/550309.html

Comments

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

I've been freaking out about this all morning. Also, what about ppl who use the pill for other medical reasons? GAH. As I was saying in an email earlier: I just don't understand. Even the fucking Republicans think the religious right are wack jobs now. HOW are these proposals still getting mileage???
It's like Obama with the federal funding for church initiatives, so he
can court the evangelical voters! Now a dude from THE OTHER SIDE is
supporting an initiative that was only popular with the far fringe of
THE OTHER PARTY, and somehow it seems like a good idea???? I just
don't get it.

[rihani.livejournal.com]

I'm slamming my head against my desk repeatedly (in my mind, anyway) right now. I'll manage more eloquence over it all (rather than the ranting I just posted) later when I'm calmer.

[raaven.livejournal.com]

The more I think about this, the worse it gets. If this goes through, any medical facilities who receive federal funding will be hamstringed. That means any docs offices that accept Medicaid or Medicare, as well as publicly funded stuff like free clinics and Planned Parenthood.

Also, it's not a huge leap of imagination or logic that the next step will be barring women (who can't prove they aren't pregnant) from receiving ANY meds or treatment that might damage a fetus. Barring women from buying or consuming alcohol. Cigarettes. Hair dye. Etc, etc, ad nauseum.

I am horrified.

[rihani.livejournal.com]

Also, it's not a huge leap of imagination or logic that the next step will be barring women (who can't prove they aren't pregnant)

There'd be no way to prove you aren't pregnant though. If we're going on fertilization, we're fucked, there's NO WAY to prove a pregnancy until implantation. Because it's NOT A PREGNANCY YET. Argh. Sorry for yelling. I'm frustrated and angry and terrified.

Also, I love your icon. :-)

[raaven.livejournal.com]

I think that it is because when the Repubs were courting the whack jobs, they put them in positions of power...and they're still there, churning out horrors.

[raaven.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Don't sweat the yelling, I'm right there with ya.

And thank you. I swiped it from someone ages ago...it is credited to one jaig.

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

Yes, this. It is a slippery slope, and it's evil. This is why they gave Henry Morgentaler the Order of Canada and why he was a hero to me even when I was anti-abortion. Because WOMEN ARE HUMAN, and we are still fighting to prove it.

[lllvis.livejournal.com]

"While good science isn't always great policy, bad science is NEVER good policy, adequate policy or acceptable policy."

AMEN! Tell it from the mountain!!

[mobobocita.livejournal.com]

And what about those of us who use it for HORMONE control, not BC? Without it I pass out from pain each month. *sigh*

[raaven.livejournal.com]

Because WOMEN ARE HUMAN, and we are still fighting to prove it.

Every. FUCKING. Day.

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

Fucking hell! I am enduring the week it takes the BCP to hammer my body into submission so I don't BLEED TO FUCKING DEATH. Yea, 'cus me hemorrhaging a hemoglobin point a week without pause or fail without the BCP is conducive to conception and a healthy pregnancy.

[tantra-cat.livejournal.com]

Part of me thinks this is SO outrageous that it will never pass. Then I think of all the right wing activist judges who have been appointed and will be appointed if McCain gets in...

I hope republican women will come to their senses and help us defeat these mysogynist assholes...

[sethg]

IIRC Obama's faith-based proposal is much more restrictive than what the Bush Administration wants: e.g., under Obama's proposal, a church would be able to take Federal money to operate a soup kitchen, but it wouldn't be allowed to discriminate in who that kitchen hires or who it offers services to.

[sethg]

I am so inured to this Administration that my main reaction to this news is surprise that HHS didn't come up with the idea sooner.

[sethg]

Good news: according to this week's ABC/WaPo poll, Americans are more likely by a 24-point margin to trust Obama than McCain to handle "social issues, such as abortion and gay civil unions".

(via Yglesias)

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

They are going after all birth control. All of it.
I can't think of anything angry enough to say, which would not be illegal.

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

I'd say make him the next Governor-General. And we could do it, too.

[upstart-crow.livejournal.com]

This is dreadful and I'm going to do whatever I can to fight it. Without getting into my views on the subject of abortion, I'll just say that I'm so incredibly sick of birth control being compared to abortion both ecclesiastically and medically. Especially as many women take BC for PCOS, endometriosis or any number of other conditions even when they're not sexually active whatsoever. Hell, my gyno has been wanting me to go on the stuff since I was 22 and I've never even kissed a man.