Sunday, October 08, 2006

Emergency Contraception, Unavailability of

So several weeks ago, Biting Beaver posted her story about trying to get emergency contraception. I was appalled. Apparently her ob-gyn told her to go to an ER, which, when she called, all told her she would have to meet the doctor's "criteria" to get a prescription. Eventually she ended up getting some from Planned Parenthood, but outside the 72 hour window recommended by the manufacturer.

The update: the EC failed. She is now going to get an abortion.

This story simply highlights what so many of us already know -- the pro-life crowd isn't pro-life, they're antisex. If they were so interested in preventing the number of abortions that occure, they would be promoting birth control and family planning, not discouraging it. But no, instead it's all about punishing women for having sex. Even monogamous sex. Even protected monogamous sex. That's not good enough. Sex for procreation only, or face the consequences!!!

I have some genetic diseases in my family. Rather serious ones, in fact. Diseases serious enough that I would not bear a child if I thought it would, or even could, have them. My husband and I choose to have sex. We're married, so it should be okay, right? Once a condom broke. I spent frantic hours trying to find a clinic that would script out EC for me. A few months later, it happened again. This time, my doctor gave me a hard time about it. "Well, we don't like to do this very often....." My FEMALE doctor!!! So I found myself on the phone at work explaining why I wasn't on the pill at that time, and why it was so imperative to me to not conceive.

This whole story breaks my heart. That there are people who would rather she bear a child that she cannot care for, rather than take a pill to expel a cluster of cells. And that to those people, life begins at conception, and ends at birth. That once she has that child, it's her own damn problem.

Bunch of fucking hypocrites.

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