Despite the best efforts of the GOP, most women living in most
areas of the US (Mississippi, Arkansas and Arizona are some notable exceptions)
do have more freedom and better access to opportunities than women living in
many other parts of the world. But one area where we seriously lack is access
to birth control.
Yes, we can get it (most of the time, and if we can afford
it), but most people don’t even know what equal access to gender-specific birth
control (condoms are male-specific, as they are worn by the man – oral
contraceptives are [currently] female-specific) would look like.
Imagine a man wants to procure a gender-specific method of
contraception. He goes to a drug store/gas station/grocery store/public
restroom and purchases one for about $0.50 each, or $6-$10 for a pack.
Now imagine a woman wants to procure gender-specific, oral
contraceptives.
If she has insurance, she has to set up an appointment with
her OB/GYN, or possibly with her primary care provider first, to get a referral
to her OB/GYN, and wait for the appointment (oftentimes for weeks!) –
alternately, of course – a woman could go to a Planned Parenthood IF it hasn’t
been defunded in her state. Then once she is able to take the time off work to
attend her appointment, most of the time she’ll be forced to undergo a
non-birth-control-specific, not medically-necessary invasive pap smear which is
tied to prescribing to further discourage women from engaging in sexual
activity. Then she has to take the prescription to the pharmacy, hope the
pharmacist doesn’t think his or her religious beliefs supersede the woman’s
private medical decision, get the prescription, and return every 4-12 weeks to
pick up a new pack. And then repeat annually.
Sort of a side note, but the American Cancer Society has
released new guidelines recommending that women now should only get pap smears
beginning at age 21, then once every 3-5 years between the ages of 21-30, and
once every 5 years after that. Yet the pap smear/pelvic exam is still a
mandatory part of the birth control process for the vast majority of women.
Why?
Because it’s another means of controlling and degrading us.
It started off as a patronizing “women are too stupid to take care of
themselves if we don’t require them to do it” and has continued on as an
uncomfortable method of forcing women to submit to physical and sexual
discomfort in order to gain access to safer sex. You want to be penetrated? How
about by ice-cold tongs.
But back to my original point. The American Congress of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists has recently recommended
that oral contraceptives be available over the counter without a doctor’s
prescription. They point to studies that show that easier access to oral
contraceptives will lower the country’s unintended pregnancy rate, will
drastically reduce costs for taxpayers, and that prove that oral contraceptives
are safe. In fact, oral contraceptives are safer than Aspirin, but you won’t
hear that statistic from the religious right. The only indicator that needs to
be checked for oral contraceptives is blood pressure to ensure against the
possible risk of stroke, and most pharmacies are already equipped with a blood
pressure machine.
But with the way our country is currently heading, I don’t
see their recommendation being adopted anytime soon.
Why? Because the very vocal, very wealthy religious right
doesn’t believe women should have equal access to sexuality. And that’s what
the fight is really about – not about some poor Catholic having his religious
beliefs trampled upon by some woman he doesn’t know taking a daily pill, but
about a subset of the population who believe women should be controlled by any
means possible.
If women can’t access birth control, they can’t have sex as
frequently, or without a considerably higher risk of pregnancy. It ensures women
face greater consequences for the moral sin of enjoying sex and demanding
equality. To these people, the purpose of woman is to serve as docile broodmare
to her husband – if women can control reproduction, they can attain higher
levels of education and wealth, and threaten the entrenched superiority of the
white man. And that’s what’s at stake here – not just access to birth control,
but access to the right to say ‘I am allowed the same sexual, physical and
moral freedom as a man. I am owed equality. Recognize my humanity.’
