SO. This blog is not a political blog. It is an art and travel blog for the purposes of recording my study abroad experience, for posting my work and work in progress so I have a timeline of my progress, and for contact with my family.
Even though I've been in Europe since September, I've been following the news in the States, and what I'm hearing is appalling. I don't know if it's because I've been reading biased news sources (I try to find unbiased news, but often I read articles off friend's facebook pages. Usually I read Huffington Post and articles published by the Associated Press, but I also take a look at BBC and Al Jazeera), but I'm appalled that we are battling for women's rights in 2012 and for our right to assembly.
A point that caught my attention in particular is the debate about whether insurance companies should provide the option for contraceptive coverage (specifically birth control) for employees of Christian institutions, for example Catholic schools or hospitals. The argument that I hear against this issue, is that tax payers don't want to pay for something that is against their beliefs (the use of contraceptives). The solution to that is: no one is paying for their contraceptives, only the employees that choose to take them, and the insurance companies. The way insurance works is that the employee pays into insurance, and then they receive coverage based on the policies of that company. The tax payers have nothing to do with it. Another important point is that birth control is not only a medication used to prevent pregnancy, it is used to regulate some women's hormonal problems so that they can have a healthy body. In this way, prevention of pregnancy is a side affect.
Birth control is used for relieving menstrual pain (some women I know will throw up or pass out from the pain, bad cramps feel like you have been physically beaten around the lower back and abdomen), lighter menstrual periods (which reduces the risk of anemia from excessive bleeding), and treatment of premenstrual dysphoric disorder to name a few. From my own experience, PMS is a serious problem, and I swear that my grades, relationships, and mental health during my high school and early college years suffered from PMS. Birth control in some women, alleviates this. Birth control comes in many different forms and options, of which the pill form is most common. These pills come in one month pill packs where the woman takes one pill a day for the month, and without insurance, can cost up to 75 dollars a month. I know because I asked at a pharmacy. Through my university (Rochester Institute of Technology), birth control costs 15 dollars a month. Both these figures are excluding the physical examination that you need in order for a doctor to prescribe you this medication, which costs more money. In Italy, the same prescription is available over the counter with out a prescription and with no questions asked. I know this because in my Italian Lit class, we happen to have just finished reading short book regarding women's rights by Dacia Maraini.
Long story short, taking birth control is an individuals choice. This choice does not affect anyone but the woman who makes this choice. So why is it anyone's business if a woman takes birth control? Providing birth control in an insurance policy does not mean that every woman insured is going to take advantage of this option. It means that a woman can gain access to birth control if she gets a prescription from a doctor that agrees that it is good for her health. Another point is that not providing contraceptive coverage does not prevent a woman from buying it out of pocket. It's expensive, it's a pain to go without insurance, but it can and often is done. If these institutions don't like their employees to use contraceptives, then they should stop paying them their wages entirely. How absurd is that?
Also. Viagra is covered by many insurance companies. This medication provides relief to many other symptoms besides erectile dysfunction, but there has never been such a heated debate about providing insurance coverage for a drug that directly facilitates someones personal life. Why is this? Could it be that mostly men are making these decisions?
Anyway, many of the employees of these institutions are not Christian, or agree with the belief that it is wrong to use contraceptives, so shouldn't they have the same coverage? Coverage that may help them deal with hormonal issues, or to simply prevent pregnancy before they are ready?
I think that the answer is an obvious one. I think that contraceptive coverage should be provided to employees of all institutions, on the grounds that hormonal contraceptives are a legitimate medication in treating numerous heath problems that affect women. It should be provided, and the woman and her doctor are left to decide if the choice is right for her.
Another issue that has been in the news lately is the cuts made to Planned Parenthood. The idea is that taxpayers don't want to pay for something that is against their beliefs. This time, abortion in addition to contraception. Presently, no public money is used to facilitate abortions through Planned Parenthood. I agree that people shouldn't have to pay for things that they don't agree with or don't believe in. I neither believe in or support the United States involvement in the Middle East and other parts of the world, yet as a tax payer, I have to pay for that. My parents also had to pay school taxes even though my brother and I attended 7 years of Catholic elementary school. Wouldn't it be more effective for us to use that money to help disadvantaged women get breast exams and rape crisis services? I'd be more than happy to help teen girls have access to the morning after pill, for free, at Planned Parenthood. I'd be more than happy to help schools provide adequate sex education for high school students. Knowledge is power, in this case, power to make choices regarding ones own body.
Sex education is schools has been one of my pet issues. I think that if parents can't stop their own children from having sex, no one can, and if teens and young adults are going to be doing it anyway, they should know how to be safe.
An example is: USE A CONDOM. They are about a dollar a piece, and they come with paper directions in the box. How easy is that? Not only is it very effective in preventing pregnancy if it is used properly, it is also very effectively prevents STD's. So what is the problem with teaching sex education to students, and not just settling for abstinence only sex education, which statistically isn't as effective? Hence, why we have the abortion problem in the first place.
I can't say enough on this issue. Teens have the ability to choose for themselves if they want to have sex, and many do. What they do not have the ability to do, is to choose what is taught in their schools, or what the policy is regarding curriculum. Therefore, it is up to US to give them the power to make informed decisions.
I don't know the answers to these questions, I just have my own beliefs. But I think that a lot of people have the same ideas or beliefs, and I think that they are valid. I think that these beliefs should be heard, which brings me to our First Amendment right to assembly.
I don't advocate for trespassing, or damaging property in the act of taking advantage of the right to assembly, but peacefully protesting in a public space is a right. As seen in Richmond,VA recently, and during the Occupy protests, United States citizens have been arrested for peaceful, legal, protests on public grounds. Two examples are the protests in Madison WI and Richmond VA. In both peaceful protests, riot police were called in to disperse the crowd which HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BE THERE. The protest in Madison, was about workers rights, and the one in Richmond was about the issue of contraceptive coverage. This is a blatant attack on our first amendment rights, and I'm not going to go into how many different levels of wrong this is. My question is: who's making money off of this? Everyday US citizens aren't, they're the ones paying the police their overtime in taxes. They're the ones sacrificing money for education, for example, to pay for this.
These have been some of my thoughts lately. I need to do some more research, but to me, it really looks like the rights and needs of everyday citizens are being neglected for a few powerful people to make a buck.
Tomorrow is International Women's Day, so please, think about these issues from different perspectives, and try to make well informed opinions :)
On a very different note, more work in progress to come! Ciao!
