Sunday, March 11, 2012

Birth Control

Here's my disclaimer...don't read if you're easily offended.

After listening to insane amounts of dialogue about whether or not insurance companies should fund birth control for women, I am exhausted.

Almost every girlfriend of mine has a story about how and when they started the pill.  Some of them were prescribed it by their doctor to regulate their menstrual cycles or to manage symptoms connected to their periods.  Others started when they began having sex and some never ingested a pill until after they were married, had children, and were trying to get their wonky cycles back on track.

Either way, for as long as I've been kicking, protecting one's body against pregnancy has largely been the responsibility of a woman.  Sure, you'll say that every guy you know carried around a Trojan.  But the reality is that if you were going to have sex and wanted to be 99.9% sure that you did not have a baby, you took the birth control pill...because condoms can break...men can claim they have one and then, oops they don't.  And, so taking one pill every day at the same time ensured that you would not conceive.


But for me what stands out in these dialogues is that if men and women are going to have sex with each other, then birth control is not exclusively a woman's issue.  Much like, if men and women have sex and conceive a child, parenting is not the primary responsibility of the mother, even though biologically, she carries the child in her womb.  Because last I checked, I never got pregnant from masterbating.

So why still is birth control, conception, pregnancy, and whether or not an insurance company should subsidize or fully fund any part of the aforementioned processes a woman's issue?  This is our issue...together...get it?  Men and women having sex together, does not make the woman a slut...you ridiculous, piece of shit poser talk show host. 

And if collectively, we decide that we want to fund, partially or fully, a woman's birth control pill or a man's viagra prescription, it won't be about whether either is a whore....it will be about whether this decision makes economic sense now and for the future.  So stop making this a morally reprehensible issue that pits us against each other.  It is time to unite and stop throwing stones.

4 comments:

  1. Preach on! I went the the Women in the World conference this week...and this was a hot button issue. One of my highlights: http://www.thedailybeast.com/videos/2012/03/09/leymah-gbowee-it-s-time-for-women-to-stop-being-politely-angry.html

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  2. Brittany...thanks so much for writing in! You are doing such amazing work, I stand in awe!

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  3. K!
    Good point! Also don't forget how over population is already becoming an issue too. Contraception should be free (or at least almost free to people) since it is surely a lesser charge now for the insurance companies, government, society (or whoever), than for them to support an over-populated society.
    -oliver
    (write-on)

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  4. I think the isuue was the Government MANDATING that it be covered by CHURCHES. O started this converstaion to deflect away from the real issues. This is non-sense. How about self-control? How did the world turn for thousands of years without the pill? I support birth-control in places like Africa where people are actually suffering.

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