liz_marcs: Michael Palin in Monty Python Sketch Declairing That His Brain Hurts (Monty_Python_Brain_Hurts)
liz_marcs ([personal profile] liz_marcs) wrote2008-07-16 11:22 am

People Who Believe This Deserve to Flunk Med School

Isn't this nice?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have decided to "re-define" contraception (i.e., hormonal contraception aka, The Pill) as "abortion."

Feel free to read the draft regulation here, and if you're female, prepare to seethe.

Because, yes, a woman who needs a medication (one that almost every single woman in the U.S. has taken for one reason or another in their lifetime) should be made to run a gauntlet of health care providers who refuse to — y'know — provide health care by making hormonal birth control less accessible.

And can all you gals out there tell me why this is so?

Here's a hint: Because clearly if you've got an icky vagina you'll only just abuse the privilege of having access to birth control. YOU CAN'T BE TRUSTED YOU DAUGHTER OF EVE YOU!

And if you're poor? You're double-plus screwed (<----- see what I did there?), because your health care options are pretty limited. People with health insurance and money can always tell nutjobs like this to go screw themselves and go find a doctor who will write that script, but if you're poor or if you're in a medically underserved area? You may find yourself living "Every Sperm Is Sacred" for reals.

So, what's with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services actually redefining the meaning of the term "abortion?"

Well, it's to protect aaaaaalllllll those people who should've flunked medical school and should be bared from treating a patient...ever...because they never passed their clinical pharmacology classes.

That's right.

If your hospital, medical clinical, physician's office, doc-in-the-box, or any other point of contact between patient and doctor accepts any money from the U.S. Government, said medical organization will not be able to fire these ignorant fools just because they refuse to write scripts for or fulfill scripts for medications that are indicated for contraceptive purposes.

You think I'm kidding about how these people should've flunked out of medical school? Take a look at how hormonal contraception actually works. (To get you started, look up the brand name or the generic name of any contraceptive drug here at the drugs@FDA Web site). Anyone who actually knows anything about the mechanism of action for hormonal birth control will tell you that it is in no way an abortion. It's not even in the same universe as an abortion, let alone the same ball park.

So, what kinds of hormonal birth control might be affected? The pill, the patch, subdermal capsules, hormonally-treated barrier methods. In short, a whole rainbow of contraceptive options could be affected by this.

By the by, if you need The Pill to treat your endometriosis, difficult menstrual periods, acne, post-hysterectomy hormonal imbalance, osteoporosis, or any of the other indicated and off-label uses of hormonal agents...you're just as fucked as the women who use it for actual birth control.

That's right ladies, we're all sluts now.

Here's what drives me wild about this: If you don't want to take hormonal birth control because, for religious reasons, you think it's abortion, then don't take it. You're scientifically and medically wrong for believing it, but if you're being honest about basing your decision on your personal moral code, my hat's off to you.

But when you start pushing your damn morality (and, I might add, your medically and scientifically wrong ideas) on people who do not share your belief system, you deserve my foot hitting your crotch at a very high rate of speed.

You also deserve to have your medical certification and licenses yanked.

You deserve to be fired.

If you've got a moral problem with providing health care to patients within their framework, then you shouldn't be in the medical field at all. Period.

For more information on this abandonment of sanity, here's the article from the New York Times.

Tristero at Hullabaloo has some commentary on this.

Here's commentary from RH Reality Check, which tracks reproductive health issues.

[livejournal.com profile] twistedchick has some important background on the roots of this DHHS proposal as well as ways you can register your opposition with the DHHS and your local Senator.

And once more with feeling, The DHHS proposal.


Now, if you'll excuse me, it appears I've got a revolution to start planning for. Send lawyers, guns, and money.

[identity profile] nebris.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 04:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Commence Shit Storm!!

~M~

..fucking scumbags..

[identity profile] fengi.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 04:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Is it too much to expect Obama to take a stand on this?

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[identity profile] stephanierb.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 04:19 pm (UTC)(link)

I have no words. I'm so angry right now, I'm beside myself.

[identity profile] imaginarycircus.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 04:19 pm (UTC)(link)
I think I passed beyond seething and just had a cardiac event. O_O You know I've had an abortion and I've been on birth control pills. They are NOT EVEN REOMTELY FUCKING THE SAME!

[identity profile] tobywolf13.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 04:28 pm (UTC)(link)
That's ridiculous. What this will do will increase the number of unwanted pregnancies and set back Rowe v. Wade. I resent some man telling me what I can do with my body, what paternalizing bullshit. Also, I think this is ridiculous pushing of religious motives.

[identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 04:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I think I am speechless.

syderia: planets in the sky (otherworlds)

[personal profile] syderia 2008-07-16 04:37 pm (UTC)(link)
A 2001 Zogby International American Values poll revealed that 49% of Americans believe that human life begins at conception. (emphasis mine).
Note that it's not the majority.

At times like this, I'm happy not to be an American. I hope you guys will be able to stop it.

[identity profile] sabbysteg.livejournal.com 2008-07-19 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
I believe I read in twistedchick's comments that the cities they sampled people in were Salt Lake City and Tulsa. If I am right, that's not exactly unbiased sampling.

[identity profile] midnightsjane.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 04:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, good freaking grief! This just boggles the mind, and makes me very angry on behalf of all those poor women in the USA. Also makes me even happier to live in a country like Canada, that believes that issues like contraception and abortion are none of the government's business.

[identity profile] pierceheart.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 04:45 pm (UTC)(link)
As bad as that issue is (and it's awful, says the man whose gf take hormonal birth control to regulate the effects of periods on migraines), there are states in the US where an EMT can refuse to transport a woman requiring a medically necessary abortion, and not got punished, even if the woman dies.

google moral refusal law, mississippi and emt

[identity profile] cindyg.livejournal.com 2008-07-18 06:29 am (UTC)(link)
where an EMT can refuse to transport a woman requiring a medically necessary abortion, and not got punished, even if the woman dies.

@.@

That is *insane*. How any place could consider itself "Christian", or even "moral", and allow that? I can't imagine that happening in my country, which is majority Catholic and with as many anti-abortion people as could be wished for on the planet.

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[identity profile] marenfic.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 04:46 pm (UTC)(link)
It's so incredibly infuriating, and a lot of that is because it's so incredibly STUPID.

[identity profile] m-mcgregor.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 04:51 pm (UTC)(link)
That's really quite the reverse-mindfuck they've got going on there. We're going to protect everyone's right to freedom from religion by making it impossible to fire (or not pay with federally funded dollars) doctors/nurses/pharmacists who refuse to provide medically relevant treatments because it conflicts with their religious beliefs?

Huzzah-wha?

It's another great example of how backwards religious fundamentalism gets. Essentially they're trying to circle back around again in order to force their religious beliefs on others, but do so by claiming it's an affront against THEIR freedom to be able to hold any religious beliefs they wish.

How about this instead? They can all go to work, believe abortion and contraceptives are evil, and then suck it up and do the job they're being paid to do anyway.

Keeping your job is not a right. It's a privilege you earn by performing the job to the best of your abilities. If your job is to provide medical care, then you goddamn better provide medical care, especially if you're getting federal money for it. I don't care if you think the Flying Spaghetti Monster will smite you with his noodly appendage if you prescribe penicillin, you do it anyway because that's what the job is.

And if you can't do it, you don't get paid.

People make me sad.

[identity profile] crowgirl13.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 05:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Where exactly should we be sending the guns and money?

I'm having flashbacks of The Handmaid's Tale.

[identity profile] guiltyred.livejournal.com 2008-07-26 05:23 am (UTC)(link)
I'm having flashbacks of The Handmaid's Tale.

Ditto -- I'm increasingly glad I'm only about 45 minutes away from the Canada border...

[identity profile] justhuman.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 05:08 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm seething at my desk here with no time to read the links right now.

Thanks for the heads up

[identity profile] huzzlewhat.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 05:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Yep. Saw this this morning. Been seething with barely suppressed rage ever since.

I... I'm just speechless.

[identity profile] anelith.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm sick with disgust. But thanks for letting me know about this.

[identity profile] stoney321.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 05:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, ENOUGH DUBYA. Good fucking hell.

Although, I read the legislation and it doesn't look to take away the pill for keeping a woman from getting pregnant, but outlawing use of the pill (as in, doubled up to resemble the Morning After pill) once contraception has happened. Plus, it says "in utero" so that means it's still okay to abort a fallopian pregnancy.

I have a BIG PROBLEM with a medical professional who doesn't honor the FIRST THING THEY SWORE: First, do no harm.

Why those assholes can't understand that for someone who cannot have a baby for whatever reason, forcing them to have the baby IS DOING THEM HARM. GAH.
syderia: lotus Syderia (Default)

[personal profile] syderia 2008-07-16 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
They have a different definition of harm. You know, just like they have a different definition of abortion.

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[identity profile] texanfan.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh Good Lord!

[identity profile] liz-marcs.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
*nods*

Precisely.

[identity profile] juntasan.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
The hell?

I must admit i found your lj by accident and its been an interesting view into things the other side of the pond (seeing as I'm resident in the UK).

This is just all kinds of stupid. I honestly don't understand how when pushing religiously motivated laws through and governing several states via several thousand year old *stories* that the average US politician seemingly can't get why the US is being seen as a bit of a joke abroad.

Truthfully, we're not much better at the moment with some of our own daft laws and lawsuits we've seen recently, but eesh this just should NOT be allowed to go through. Human rights grounds for one =/

[identity profile] texanfan.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 06:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, just read the proposal and I now see where this is coming from. I have this bad habit of thinking of all Christians as being doctrinally similar to myself. I have a bad habit of forgetting about Catholics.

Catholics consider any birth control morally objectionable. I'm not going to defend this stance, as I totally disagree with it, but it is their right to hold it. The Catholic Church owns a lot of hospitals.

Question is, can we compel them to offer contraception in defiance of their moral stance? The point made that someone who doesn't want to provide realistic medical care shouldn't be a doctor is well taken, however, will the Catholic Church pulling the plug on these hospitals leave communities even more underserved than they already are for all other medical treatment? Rasa frasa grumble grumble.

There are days I simply want to slap the Pope until he catches a clue. *sigh*

[identity profile] nikcool.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
I've discovered that a lot of Christians think that anyone that doesn't think like them is wrong.

They should realize that the drugs aren't just used for contraception. But the clue stick usually misses anyone close to being radical.

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[identity profile] nikcool.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 06:04 pm (UTC)(link)
I hope this doesn't pass, but with Bush messing everything up... I dunno.

If it goes through, a lot of women are going to be breaking the law and going elsewhere for birth control. Illegal abortions and such will be on the rise too.

We'll all just have to be criminals.
ext_7299: (Default)

[identity profile] redbrickrose.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)
*seethes* That is completely disgusting.

[identity profile] serendu.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
*blinks* Wow. That's just mindbogglingly stupid.

I do hope this does not get any further than a 'draft'.

[identity profile] rileysaplank.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 06:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Huh? What?

I have a friend in the US that if she gets pregnant has a high probability that the preganancy would kill her (not sure of the details, she didn't say and I haven't asked) so taking the pill truly is helping to save her life.

Want a group of twenty to thirty people that train regularly with swords to come and start bashing some heads together?
deird1: Fred looking pretty and thoughful (Default)

[personal profile] deird1 2008-07-16 07:07 pm (UTC)(link)
By the by, if you need The Pill to treat your endometriosis, difficult menstrual periods, acne, post-hysterectomy hormonal imbalance, osteoporosis, or any of the other indicated and off-label uses of hormonal agents...you're just as fucked as the women who use it for actual birth control.

That's right ladies, we're all sluts now.


As a non-sex-having woman who takes the Pill for her acne, I am not happy!

(Not that I think they should bring in this legislation for people who use the Pill as birth control, you understand - I'm fairly furious about that too...)

[identity profile] mana-katana.livejournal.com 2008-07-18 06:26 am (UTC)(link)
I concur!

Well, I'm a non-sex-having woman who takes the Pill for dysmenorrhea and irregular and excessively heavy periods.

But close enough, right?

[identity profile] dylia.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
This just makes me sick to my stomach.
Disgusting

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