I just have to say this because it has made the Sheldon
Cooper side of my personality come out…. If you want to have a meaningful
argument, PLEASE use an apples to apples comparison, it can get hard to get
past it otherwise.
Viagra is a medication that is taken to help someone,
usually an “older” man, to be able to perform the necessary bodily functions to
HAVE sex. Birth control is not necessary
to having sex, the purpose is 1. To prevent an unintended consequence of sex in
“younger” women, being pregnancy or 2. To regulate complications from a
hormonal imbalance, etc. (I've used it for both.) They don’t
serve the same functions. Birth control
for women is comparable, well, to birth control for men, otherwise known as
condoms or a vasectomy. Birth control as
a hormonal regulator is comparable to hormones, such as testosterone injections, in men.
Viagra for men is comparable to hormone replacement therapy
for “older” women (and I use that term loosely because I am menopausal and have
a prescription for HRT!), both of which help the body to perform functions
necessary to have sexual relations.
Though both of these medicines may have other effects, if you want to
compare medications for males vs. females, they are the most similar.
If you want to argue that condoms should be free to men if birth
control is free to women through insurance, and vice versa, I’m right on board
with you.
If you want to argue that hormone replacement therapy should
be covered at the same rate as Viagra, I’m right on board with you there too.
If you want to argue that the second reason for birth control should be considered medically necessary and covered, I'm down with that too, but for some reason that rarely gets mentioned.
The real issue that the Supreme Court decided on today comes
down to money. No one has lost their
right to have sex, no one has lost their right to use birth control, both sentiments of which I've seen posted all over the internet today. Some people might have to pay for it out of
their own pockets, that is all. Not an
unheard of concept with other things insurance may or may not cover.
Ever known someone who was allergic to several classes of
antibiotics? You sure? Well, just in case, I’ll tell you about it
because I’ve been familiar with it my whole life…my mom, sister, and I all have
antibiotic allergies. If I get a strain
of strep throat or a sinus infection that does not respond to a Z-Pac, I’m out
hundreds of dollars for 10 days worth of medications that could potentially
save my life because all that will work that I can take is not a “formulary”
medication. It has been that way all my
life. It’s just how it is, and it’s
something I’m willing to pay for because it is a priority to me. Would I love if all my antibiotics in my
lifetime were free? Heck yeah! Do I think that the rest of the world who
does not have antibiotic allergies is discriminating against me and hates me
and is just trying to keep me down in society?
Hmm, let me think about this…NO!
Do I have the choice to work for an employer that provides insurance
that covers all antibiotics? Yes, I do,
but I’ll never find one, unlike those who find it important to have birth
control covered.
Have you ever had trouble filling your birth control
prescription because a pharmacy has reached their legal dispensing amount of it
or been required to drive to the doctor’s office each month to pick up a paper
copy each and every month so you can get it filled, and then have to have the
prescription reported to the DEA?
No? Well thousands of kids with
neurological disorders do, you can read my past blog posts if you want to know
the frustrating details.
In other parts of the world women aren’t allowed to drive
cars, are stoned to death, are only allowed to have one child, are not allowed
an education. In THIS country women are
raped, abused, intimidated, and looked at as sexual objects. Can we put as much passion into those issues
as we do about having to pay for readily accessible birth control?
Insurance covering birth control is not what is going to
help all of the above problems. I know this is not what the popular opinion
among many women is, and that those that hold my opinion are often called names
and no one even wants to understand what we are saying, but that doesn’t change
what I think. I do think that there is
so much positive energy that could be used in other women’s causes, and other “unfair”
causes in general, instead of all focusing on this one.
Life is such a bigger picture.
And that’s why they have wine.
