Soapbox

Say It With Me.

The other day I saw a letter in the paper from a man responding to some letter from another reader who apparently had argued that 'good' people should not have to pay for the sexual activity of bad ones in the form of insurance-provided contraception. The second man presented a nice argument about why it is Ok for the government to pay for contraception and pointed out that we all pay for things we don't want, like war. It was a well-written letter, and it missed the point entirely, as most people in this ridiculous and Puritanical fuss over birth control do.

I respond to the "Contraception avoids high costs" letter of March 11th. Mr. Miller sets out well-reasoned arguments, unfortunately, he defeats a straw man and proves that Rush Limbaugh has accomplished exactly what he set out to do.

This is not about the government paying for anything. This is about insurance. Say it with me: Insurance insurance insurance.

Our president is not proposing that the government hand out free birth control pills on streetcorners to wayward college students. He simply says that your health insurance, something you pay for, should cover certain basic health needs. He believes that a woman whose doctor says she needs hormonal treatment for an ovarian condition should not end up having to have that ovary cut out of her body because a group of men believe that their religion should get to control her body. Mr Limbaugh wants you to think about sex videos of coeds instead of women being denied needed medical treatment because of the misogynist rantings of someone's religion.

This was never about how much sex liberals have, or protecting freedom of religion. Rush Limbaugh judged that the battle could be won if he got people to think about it in that way, however, the same way he and others have sucessfully convinced so many that  if their child is able to get treatment for a painful pre-existing (and so formerly excluded) condition… this is somehow evil.
These red herrings are being thrown in our path to drive wedges into society: between left and right, men and women, rich and poor. Because rest assured, the rich will always be able to buy hormonal birth control whether insurance pays for it or not, just as they will be able to get abortions without waiting periods and transvaginal ultrasounds.

This new policy is simply about guaranteeing poor, often married, working-class women the right to get the medication their doctor prescribes them, regardless of their bosses interpretation of the Bible.

Say it one more time, with feeling: Insurance!