by Roxeanne De Luca | February 15th, 2012
I got the idea for this meme when reading Stacy’s post about NARAL’s new anti-Catholic, economically-illiterate ad.
We can talk all day about the economics of “free” birth control, the disgusting pandering that Obama is doing in light of $4/gallon gasoline and almost 9% unemployment, or religious freedom, but this blogger is ready to talk about discrimination. Specifically, the huge numbers of people who are discriminated against by this rule.
For example, gays and lesbians – particularly gay men. There is no sexual activity that any gay man or lesbian will do, with the partner of their choice, that will ever produce a child. A sexually active gay has about as much use for the Pill as does a fish for a bicycle, but they will have to pick up some of the cost for their heterosexual peers. How heteronormative – and homophobic.
It gets worse for gays, though. Gay men are about forty-four times as likely to have AIDS as their straight counterparts. But this new regulation doesn’t pay for condoms as a way of preventing STDs, even though treating AIDS costs over a half-million dollars per patient. And AIDS is an actual disease, unlike pregnancy; AIDS ends in death, not in new life. But apparently, Obama doesn’t care about gay people.
This also discriminates against the middle-aged and elderly. The Pill isn’t safe for women who are over 35 or 40, who have to use other forms of birth control that are not covered by the mandate. So does Obama think that women who are beyond their “sell-by” date don’t deserve to have a sex life? To continue my usual rant, fertility is not a disease; having working ovaries is not a medical condition. However, erectile dysfunction is at least a dysfunction, but HHS isn’t offering to pay for Viagra. Again, why the disparity? Obama thinks that anyone who isn’t Hollywood young-and-hot doesn’t deserve to have fun in bed? A couple in their forties, struggling with losing their jobs to lay-offs, whose children are teenagers, can’t (ahem) enjoy each other’s company?
My favourite group that this discriminates against: pregnant women. They still have co-pays for prenatal care, labour, delivery, paediatrician visits, preemie care, even prenatal vitamins. Lest anyone think that having a child is a choice, let me remind you that Social Security is seriously insolvent; next time a woman talks about a $300 co-pay for delivering in a hospital, remember that her baby will be paying your retirement and changing your bedpan. But the hard work of being pregnant and growing a healthy baby doesn’t rate under Obama’s idea of “women’s health,” and having babies is now only for rich white women – minorities, poor women, and all those groups hurt by a co-pay on the Pill should hear the message loud and clear: Obama thinks you don’t deserve to have kids.
The Obama Administration’s plan is great – if you’re young, heterosexual, don’t have a family history of blood clots, and are wealthy enough to pay for both your babies and some other chick’s birth control. The message is loud and clear: this is all about ensuring that heterosexual men can bang young women without having to pay child support.
