Birth Control Pills To Become Illegal?

Let’s make this clear.  I am a woman and I don’t want to have kids – ever.  I have no intention of it and never have.  Say what you will about that decision, but it is mine to make.  Frankly, I don’t care whether you agree or disagree.  The fact is that a proposal has been made to reclassify birth control pills and other means of contraception as “abortion”…giving doctors and pharmacists the the legal right to simply refuse to prescribe and/or fill prescriptions for birth control pills – NOT based not on any medical or health concern for the woman…but solely on a personal belief that women are nothing more than “baby machines”.  It appears that the “powers that be” believe I have no right to decide for myself whether or not I have the means, both financial and emotional, or the desire to have & raise children.

photo credit: starbooze

As of now, I do have the right to make the choice not to have children…as well as taking the necessary steps to achieve that goal.  Apparently though, at least in the eyes of the right-wing, fear-mongering, self-righteous, bible-beating members of this President’s administration, even being married isn’t “permission” enough to have sex – unless you’re willing to take the chance of getting pregnant.  I honestly hope that the next time I need to have my birth control prescription refilled that the pharmacist refuses to fill it – there is absolutely no doubt that I will end up on the news.  It will be quite a scene, I assure you!

WOMEN’S  RIGHTS — OVER 100 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS DECLARE OPPOSITION TO BUSH’S ‘RADICAL’  CONTRACEPTION STANCE: More than 100 members of Congress signed a letter to President Bush yesterday urging an end to a Health and Human Services (HHS) draft proposal that would reclassify contraception as abortion. The letter warns that the proposal would “have a disastrous effect upon access to safe and effective birth control for millions of women” and create a “radical reversal of decades of public health work.” The HHS proposal would require hospitals receiving federal funds to pledge that they would not discriminate against people who refuse to provide forms of contraception due to religious beliefs in hiring positions. In the letter, 104 representatives wrote that the move “would allow any provider, who wants to deny a woman emergency contraception or even birth control pills, to claim protection based on a personal belief that such pills fit the regulatory definition.” At a press conference, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) said, “We will not put up with this radical, ideological agenda to turn the clock back on women’s rights.” The Bush administration has a history of hostility to birth control, from viewing contraceptives as part of the “culture of death” to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt’s assertion that health care providers with moral objections to abortion have no obligation to refer patients to other providers.