A law student at Georgetown wants us to panic, because if she doesn’t have access to free birth control, it’s going to cost her $3,000 a year! My God, how do the common people function without their diamond encrusted platinum diaphragms? I went to a state school, so my government diaphragm was only sterling silver with turquoise. I know, right? Deprived!
No, actually, when I was in college, I worked at the Student Health Center, where we had a giant silver cannister of free–count ‘em–FREE condoms for anybody to grab who walked in the center. Most student health centers do, so if you need free condoms, put your cap on backwards and pop into your local university’s clinic. Nobody will question you. Just grab a handful. I did. I brought bags of free condoms back to the dorm for the girls who were too shy to obtain them. They were even the fancy spermicide coated rubbers. And that was the magical year I discovered I was allergic to Nonoxynol-9. Oy vey.
If you feel like a heel taking free condoms from college health centers, the drug store and even your local gas station has them. They’re not terribly expensive. They sure don’t add up to $3,000 a year, so I’m not sure where this supposedly highly educated person got this number. I used to buy a couple of boxes of condoms and put them in a dish amongst the crudites at any party I threw once I made enough scratch to have parties with crudites. I would make a dear little sign that said “Take As Many As You Need!” I was a college student working as a receptionist in a doctor’s office. Buying two boxes of condoms for a party didn’t break me. How would it break a law student?
“Oh, that’s an isolated incident,” my very knowing and considerate Lefty friends say. “You know that most people who can’t afford contraception are not law students, and they don’t spend $3,000 a year on anything. Do you want people who can’t afford to have children to get pregnant?” As a small government conservative, I want people to do whatever floats their boat, as long as it’s not hurting anyone. I do expect them, just as they expect me, to be responsible for their own choices. This particular choice starts with a male partner. So I am here to ask my fellow females a very simple question:
Why in God’s name would you want to have sex with a man who can’t afford a condom? If the mention of God makes you uncomfortable, I’ll rephrase the question. WTF, my girls? WTF?!
“Oh, I don’t care about material things. I love a man for his soul,” you titter, batting your eyelashes and maybe stroking your rose quartz crystal necklace. The hell you do. Look, girl, we both know that as much as flashy wealth repulses many of us, none of us grows up hoping to fall in love with a man who gleefully wallows in the mire of abject, irresponsible poverty. If he can afford the dollar menu at McDonald’s on your date, he can buy a damn condom. For that matter, so can you.
I’m not even asking you to abstain, because you’ve already told me you won’t. I’m asking you to have a thimbleful of respect for your vagina. I’m asking you to avoid veneral disease, as that’s even more likely than a lovely baby.
“Oh, I’m in a committed relationship. I don’t like condoms. Condoms fail a lot. I want the pill.” Then get the pill. Your student clinic, the free clinic, and even your family doctor can provide you with a prescription for the pill at such low cost, you’ll only have to skip a couple of Starbucks runs to afford it. How an educated young woman could not know this is of profound concern to me.
HOW CAN SHE NOT KNOW THIS?! Is there a super secret one-percenter form of birth control that costs $3,000 that lower-middle class schmucks like me don’t know of? Does it shoot the sperm with laser beams? Laser beams from space? Does it come in gummi bear form and also make you lose weight? Does it turn your vagina from a birth canal into a frozen yogurt dispenser? What is this amazing and expensive technology being hidden by The Man from we working stiffs?! WHY DON’T YOU JERKS SHARE IT WITH US?!
And this is the real problem. Now that I know about $3,000 birth control, I won’t rest until I find out what it is. It’s got to have some fancy side effect. Maybe if you take it, you do get pregnant, but with lovely pygmy kittens who never grow up into adult cats. Maybe every time you have sex, an ex-boyfriend gets hives. Maybe it makes you not only impervious to sperm, but sunburn, heat rash, and mesothelioma. That’s worth $3,000, right?
Meh, I’ll just continue to wait around for a guy who’s actually worth the trouble.
I was just going on about this same thing….link to a Misfits piece in it btw:
http://ladyliberty1885.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/really-ladies-really/
oh and this bonus:
http://ladyliberty1885.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/wherein-liberals-have-slut-amnesia/
The $3000 birth control is the Apple birth control: It’s made of the exact same parts as the much cheaper kind but it’s housed in an aluminum case and operates slightly different.
So you’re saying the key difference is IT WORKS?
I also call “BS” on the $3,000-a-year birth control (and every other idiotic thing this “college student” said).
Forget condoms: Birth control pills – WITHOUT insurance – cost about $25 a month, which equals $300 a year. So, only off by a factor of 10! Maybe law students don’t have to be so good at math. But frankly, if she’s got time to have $3,000 a month worth of sex, she’s not gonna do so good at LAW either!
Maybe she is taking Plan B after every bout of sex with her partners in case the pills fail? O_o
As someone who has been on the pill since the age of 16 for medical reasons, I can promise you that it gets VERY expensive. There are now some generic versions of the pill available, which can be had for $25/mo, but doctors will prescribe different kind of hormone levels for different cases. When I didn’t have insurance, I paid $75/month for a bare-bones version of the pill and it was not a lifestyle choice – it was a medical necessity. I understand that the Georgetown student in question was testifying about a friend who needed the pill for similar reasons.
$75 a month is still not $3000….not even $1k.
My pills were $65 a month, and somehow my broke husband and I, living on ramen and water, did it.
God love you, girl. This is perfect.
This is AWESOME!
I laughed heartily. “Does it shoot lasers? From space?”
It is a very interesting thing. What costs that much. This is the real question.
It appears that the “23 year old law student” in question is actually 30. Oops. How embarrassing.
She admits to reading Georgetown’s insurance policy and enrolling for the express purpose to combat it. And what do you know? This past president of “Law Students for Reproductive Justice” is magically invited to appear before Congress.
I smell a rat.
A very apparent and undeniably slutty one
If she’s spending that much on birth control, I think we’d see some pharm stocks drop while she took time off from her horizontal endeavors to travel to Washington.
“Please take a number….I’ll be under you shortly.”
Wait, wait, wait… In the interest of fairness I would just like to make a correction to the above piece concerning Ms. Fluke’s testimony. The silly little twat did not say that it costs $3,000 per year. She said it costs $3,000 OVER THE COURSE OF LAW SCHOOL. Which means you are (accidentally I’m sure) misrepresenting what she said. It also means that her actual statement is even more absurd than the point you were making. Even if we take her word for it and it is 3 grand over the course of law school, then, SO. THE. FUCK. WHAT?
I just watched the entire 12 minute video on youtube so that I could get the whole picture. I wouldn’t want anyone to think I was just getting my info from the right wing echo chamber and only listening to out of context sound bites. I’ll never get that 12 minutes back. Ever. It’s worse than I thought. She really believes that she deserves to go to Georgetown (because that degree carries weight) and make them pay for her and her other spoiled friends’ birth control because it would cost them $100 per month. She is insulted that someone would suggest that she pick another school whose student health plan covers the pill. She should not have to choose between a quality education and her “reproductive health” or whatever stupid-ass term she used. It’s an attack on women if you merely suggest that they go a state school. These spoiled elitist….
Shit- will finish this thought later. Baby just woke up.
Even at $1000 a year, you can get generics at Wal-mart & Target for $9 a month. Her math sucks or she’s a lying liar who lies a lot. Or both.
BRAVO!!! Even if it is $1000 over the course of three years, that totals out to about $2.74 a day. That’s less than a cup of Starbucks.
Even still, most condom packs are about the same and hey, condoms protect you from disease and prevent pregnancy if used correctly.
Heck, if she’s 30, she can just wait a couple years and BC won’t be necessary. Mother Nature to the rescue!
Hold the phone. I’ll be 38 this month & I still need me some BC, which is currently abstinence. Because men be cray-cray.
*ahem*
Males can be cray-cray. Real men….not so much.
OK…maybe a little, but in a good way.
She’s already protected by nature. I thought it was Bluto Blutarski up there testilying in front of Pelosi.
Damn, that’s funny! Thanks for doing the math. I’m a old married dude but I knew that stuff couldn’t cost that much.
More brilliance from KJ, but the part that got me was the bowl of condoms at the party. I kept trying not to imagine a bowl of Chex Mix mixed through with little colored squares.
I just hope no one got drunk enough to eat one. >.<
Pfft, BTeach, like I’ve ever made Chex Mix.
The part that gets me is when she talks about the woman who can’t get bc even though she needs it for her disease. The insurance won’t cover it because it is to prevent pregnancy even though that isn’t an issue since she’s a lesbian. Then the twit talks about how this woman lost an ovary and we should all be really sad because now how will she give her mother grandchildren. Doh! Wait I thought that wasn’t an issue? Yeah, yeah she’ll get it from a test tube, but wait won’t she have to go off the pill then? Won’t she get cysts then? Nancy Jr. Good read! Enjoyed it!
That also threw me through a loop, glad someone else caught that. And no we’re not homophobes for thinking that either. *wakka wakka wakka*
I really don’t know why I just quoted Fozzy Bear….
Sandi, my old Catholic healthcare plan covered the pill if it was used to treat illness or pain, so yeah, there’s a lot of lies or willfull ignorance going on. I have a piece coming out about that soon.
It’s a good thing that lawyers don’t need to be good at math. Of course this idiot is a liberal. Liberals suck at math. Is it really a surprise that liberals tend to have liberal arts majors? (yes, I am majoring in engineering so I am entitled to my anti-math snobbery)
Also, who the hell wants to be a lawyer?
You are all overlooking something. As a good liberal feminist, this woman’s most likely primary form of birth control is probably not condoms OR the pill, (wouldn’t those interfere with her sense of “empowerment” and “self-actualization”?) It is most likely that her primary form of birth control is abortion, in which case she could only afford TWO per each year of her three year law school career, totaling only six measly abortions before she maxes out at her 3,000dollar cost marker, who can get by on THAT?//
Come on ladies, pills are twenty-five lousy bucks a month, or approximately the cost of two drinks in a Georgetown bar! That totals $300.00 over three years, leaving $2,700.00 left over for condoms. Condoms are given out for free in bars, nightclubs and health clinics in every metropolitan area of this country, but lets assume this genius law student cannot manage to navigate public trasportion to get one half mile off of the Georgetown campus to find free condoms> Okay, at $1.25 each she could manage to buy 2,160 condoms. That is enough condoms to have safe sex TWO times a day, EVERY single day for three years, leaving out a few days here and there. NOW, we can assume she is having sex with many partners and not a husband or boyfriend because WE ALL WELL KNOW, there is not a single man on the face of this planet capable of performing that much sex, no way, never. Not even three men could keep up with that pace! Give me a break.
wait, my math was bad…its 900 bucks over three years, leaving poor Ms law student only $2,100.00 for condoms. Still not a man on earth doin’ it that much. No way.
“WE ALL WELL KNOW, there is not a single man on the face of this planet capable of performing that much sex [twice a day].”
I beg to differ.
You can buy condoms at Amazon.com pretty cheap – say $30 for a 100 count box (some are less, some more). Hey, a lawyer would have to know something about bargaining, right? $3,000 would buy you 100 boxes, or 10,000 condoms. Three years = 1,095 days. Therefore, in order to blow through $3,000 worth of birth control, a person would have to have sex an average of 9.13 times per day. While that is a stunningly impressive feat, one must wonder: where did she find the time?
my my…when does she have time to study?
You know, I was thinking the same exact thing
Good job! Very well said!
Greatest. Article. Ever.
(cont’d from above)
bitches have it stuck in their heads that life isn’t fair because men don’t have to deal with these issues.
Ugh. I’m done. It’s retarded that this gets to be an issue. I’d rather slam my hand in a car door repeatedly than to ever hear her grating voice again. I’d like to exist in a world where I can go before Congress (with a straight face) and insist that while I attend an expensive private university they pay for me to get prostate and testicular exams. It’s my REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH!! 50% of the two men I surveyed said if they could afford it they would, once a month, have a woman gently check their balls for lumps and have the old prostate checked for swelling. Now that I think of it, he said he’d like to get it done at the exact same time. Whatever. IT’S OUR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHT!! Gimme gimme gimme!!
It’s not fair! I’m fighting for the rights of all men here and I won’t stop until there’s a finger in every male butt hole in America!! I want every man to have access to the male morning after pill! What’s that you ask? Well, it changes their blood type. Because as men in college and the workforce, if we have sex with a woman and she gets pregnant, we shouldn’t be burdened with having to pay for something that the woman doesn’t even have to consult with us to keep! It’s our riiiiigggghhhhttttt!!!!! ATTICA! ATTICA! ATTICA!
Ball checking wouldn’t be bad on a nightly basis, actually.
Just to be sure.
You can never be too careful about this sort of thing, you know.
And one last thing. This is directly to KJ. I liked the sperm-destroying BC and the other things it cured. But the fro-yo dispensing hoo-ha? No thanks. I like vagina and I like fro-yo but combining the two is not my idea of a good time. Overactive imagination. Anyway, great article.
Thanks, Doc. But yogurt! FROZEN YOGURT!
First, I want to state that I know KJ in real life. So if you have any questions about whether this is a made up story, etc., she can speak to my character as an individual.
Second, I am a libertarian. I believe in small government, and am an ardent supporter of government staying out of peoples personal lives.
Third, none of what I am about to say is an attack on anyone’s personal/religious/political beliefs.
Fourth, I watched Sandra Fluke’s entire testimony, and listened to Rush Limbaugh’s comments about her. I have read quite a bit on this subject from all political view points, as well as every response on this page.
Here is what I have to say. Feel free to not believe me, or ignore it. I offer this story as education and have a sincere question for you once you’ve read it all.
Ms. Fluke spoke about two friends of hers who needed birth control for medical problems, not to prevent pregnancy. In fact, none of her testimony was about the use of condoms at all. Those two issues are Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and Endometriosis. These are two genetic disorders that cannot be cured, only treated, and are very common. They can even be life threatening, as one was in my case. I suffer from both of them. I was diagnosed with PCOS six years ago when they performed an ultrasound and found a 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch inside of my right ovary. I was rushed in to surgery shortly after. The cyst burst when they were performing the surgery. If they had not operated then, there was a high chance I would have died, or at the very least lost the ovary. During the surgery they found out that I had severe Endometriosis as well. At the time, I had medical insurance, so everything was covered by my insurance and I paid my deductibles, etc.
However, right now I do not have insurance, even though I have applied to almost every independent company I can find. They will not cover me, regardless of how much I pay monthly, because of these pre existing conditions. I must use birth control, which is technically called “hormone therapy,” but everyone calls it birth control. If I do not, then there is a high percentage that this will happen all over again. The only way that I can currently get the life saving medical treatment I need (no it’s not as simple as paying “25 bucks a month for a pill”) is through non-profit clinics. The same non-profit clinics that several Republicans are trying to de-fund. I am also gay. So I have absolutely no need for any sort of pregnancy prevention.
The women that Ms. Fluke testified about have these same health issues and are paying for their own insurance. They are not having the tax payers provide it for them. So “the public” is not paying for their birth control. They were denied medically necessary treatment based on the religious views of their insurance provider (in this case, the university they were attending). Under the proposed Blunt Amendment, there is NO REQUIREMENT that exceptions be made for PCOS, Endometriosis or any other medical conditions. So any insurance company can legally deny to pay for any type of medical treatment based on religious beliefs. None of Ms. Flukes testimony was a call for the public to fund abortions, condoms or promote sexual promiscuity of any form. These are facts, not spin or any political rhetoric.
So here are a few questions for you all.
Would you also label me a “slut” or a “prostitute” because I have genetic disorders which require me to take birth control in order to save my life? If so, why? And if not, then why is Sandra Fluke labeled one for giving this testimony?
What is the legal precedent for denying me life saving medical treatment that an insurance company I am paying for can refuse to me because it is against their religious belief? Or should I just be denied the life saving medication, and why?
Because I am a lesbian, does this mean that my ovaries are less important than a heterosexual woman’s? Is it a requirement that I must produce babies in order to have my health care needs met?
I welcome all forms of rational debate, and respects others beliefs.
Tess,
“Any woman requiring hormone therapy for documented medical reasons other than birth control will be an exception.” That’s what I would do.
I’m more pissed off Obama called Sarah Fluke to offer his support but hasn’t said a word about U.S. troops being killed in the rioting he supposedly calmed down in Afghanistan. But that’s me.
Lem,
Can you provide a link to where that is stated? The examples Ms. Fluke provided were in deed denied this exact care based on religious grounds. Here is what the Blunt Amendment states, making the denial of the benefits completely legal, if it were passed.
“(6) RESPECTING RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE WITH REGARD TO SPECIFIC ITEMS OR SERVICES.–
“(A) FOR HEALTH PLANS.–A health plan shall not be considered to have failed to provide the essential health benefits package described in subsection (a) (or preventive health services described in section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act), to fail to be a qualified health plan, or to fail to fulfill any other requirement under this title on the basis that it declines to provide coverage of specific items or services because–
“(i) providing coverage (or, in the case of a sponsor of a group health plan, paying for coverage) of such specific items or services is contrary to the religious beliefs or moral convictions of the sponsor, issuer, or other entity offering the plan; or
“(ii) such coverage (in the case of individual coverage) is contrary to the religious beliefs or moral convictions of the purchaser or beneficiary of the coverage
The simplest way to get a message across would be to call hormone therapy “Hormone Therapy” and to call birth control “Birth Control.”
Why the waters are being muddied by lumping the two together makes absolutely no sense.
These two issues need to be separated from one another as two entirely different debates.
I agree that they need to be separated Koozbane. That’s a very logical view. However, legally they are not right now, and no politician is trying to do that from what I can find.
And this is why Ms. Fluke and others are opposing this legislation. Not because they want to force religious institutions to provide birth control, as many (not implying you) are trying to make it sound.
Note: Men may not want to read the following bit of advice, as it contains TMI, and may result in the side effect of nausea and vomiting.
Tess,
I’m very sorry for your condition. I, too, have suffered from ovarian cysts. They are very painful. However, death by ovarian cyst is rare. In fact, you probably have a better chance of being eaten by a shark than dying from an ovarian cyst. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21659835) Most ovarian cysts resolve on their own; however evidence suggests that birth control can help reduce the chances that more will occur. Conversely, there is also evidence that the estrogen in birth control actually has adverse effects.
I am married (and, to further clarify, not a slut) and choose not to take birth control, even though I have a propensity for developing cysts. I rarely take any type of prescriptive medication. Instead, I researched homeopathic remedies, which worked for me. You might want to try the apple cider vinegar/molasses/beet recipe. Try drinking teas high in antioxidants, such as green tea or red raspberry tea, which helps to regulate your cycle. You can also shrink the cyst on your own by coating your lower abdominal area with castor oil and applying a heating pad. Eat organic foods and avoid caffeine and cigarettes.
I hope this helps. You see, there are many more options than just birth control.
Sincerely,
waspishkate
KJ: Thank you for this article. It is a thing of beauty. A work of art. Dare I say, a masterpiece.
Tess, I have another post coming that addresses birth control for hormonal & pain issues. My old Catholic healthcare coverage did pay for it. Plan by plan, case by case. Not all deny it.
P.S. I come from a very long line of a military family, my Uncle served several tours in Vietnam, my Grandfather served as a Naval gunner in WWII. I have great admiration for those who serve in the military.
I would prefer that all political parties focused on fiscal matters and spend far less time debating women’s health issues or other social issues right now.
And yes I agree with you. The country should not be debating this non-issue right now. No one can make me believe this isn’t a carefully orchestrated bullshit issue raised to keep the focus off of President Obama. Law Students for Reproductive Justice. Pfft. Why don’t these little twats do some real work for women’s rights? Like fighting against human trafficking or protesting the brutal treatment of women in Afghanistan or the raping of women by local soldiers in Africa? Because they’re shallow and pretentious, that’s why.
Tess,
I’ll answer your questions first:
1- No one would call you slut or a prostitute. Rush Limbaugh did that because he fights absurdity with absurdity. He knows what he’s doing and laughing all the way to bank. Ms. Fluke provided 2 examples of health related issues and the rest was a bunch of bullshit about it not being fair because women are the only ones who have to purchase birth control. She said that 40% of the women her group (Law Students for Reproductive Justice- really? really?) surveyed said they felt financial, emotional, and medical strain from having to purchase birth control. Financial makes sense. I don’t give a shit about their financial strain but at least it makes literal sense The other two are ridiculous. The women they interviewed all attend Georgetown University Law School. If they are not happy with their current situation GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. She made the ridiculous assertion that they’re being made to choose between BC and a quality education. That’s so far out stupid I can’t even begin to describe the depths. It pisses me off that this is given credence as a legitimate argument. She’s a 30 year old far left feminist activist. Plain and simple. As a libertarian, I would think you would empathize with an institution that does not want to pay for something it does not believe in. But, I don’t know what your total beliefs are so that’s only an assumption.
2- You said you were denied for a preexisting condition, not the religious convictions of your insurance provider. It’s a hypothetical so I don’t sympathize your imaginary plight. You are getting your hormone therapy through the NPOs as you stated. Republicans want to defund them because tax dollars are being used to fund abortions that they provide. We don’t care how small of a part of the business that abortions actually are. They’re providing abortions and I don’t believe for a second that most of them are for the health of the mother or rape or whatever. There’s a reason Planned Parenthood is always conveniently close to college. I know 4 or 5 women myself who’ve had abortions and not one was for any of the usual exceptions that conservatives make. Two were blackout drunk and got pregnant (both adults in their 30s) and a third had 5, count ‘em FIVE abortions. But liberals and progs get to frame the debate and make it look like we want to defund care for women in general. It’s bullshit and I, personally, am sick of it. Give you your life saving treatment and women seeking abortions can pay for them themselves. Pretty simple I think.
3- No and no.
As far your specific situation where you can’t obtain insurance to cover these medical issues, I’m torn. I feel for you. That’s terrible. If you had insurance through an employer and it was covered before, I feel like insurance companies should take you on now. But, I also don’t think that people who go a significant portion of their adult life with no insurance whatsoever should be able to purchase a plan after they find out they have an ailment requiring treatment. It’s a tricky issue for me and I admit I don’t have all the facts. I don’t like insurance companies any more than any normal person. A lot of them suck ass. But as for GU and its student health insurance plans, these students’ premiums are not the sole source of money for this insurance company. The school pays a significant portion of it. That’s why it’s only pennies on the dollar for the coverage. So the school gets a say. Like I said, if they don’t like their current situation, then go somewhere else. After all, it’s a free country. For now.
And thank ALL of you guys! Great comments! I have a piece in the wings re: why we shouldn’t let this stuff be treated as real issues soon.
how about a calendar for charity? You know, to help with the old contraception budget.
Something like THE SLUTS OF GEORGETOWN….yeah, that’s the ticket. Put me down for 2 please.
Tuition at Georgetown University law school costs nearly $50K per year. I’m having trouble mustering up any sympathy for Ms. Fluke. It’s like the owner of a Mercedes complaining about the cost of windshield wipers.
Just wait. She’ll be complaining about student debt next.
Actually, if you know the price of condoms and windshield wipers, it’s like the owner of a Mercedes complaining about half the cost of windshield wipers.
I’ve been crunching numbers in my spare time for days, and I can’t figure out how she got to a thousand bucks a year. Seriously. Not even if she bought every single birth control item and used it three times a day.
There’s just no way anybody can spend that much.
@washpishkate – While you are correct that most ovarian cysts resolve on their own, as you acknowledged not all of them do. When they do not resolve on their own, such as when they are not diagnosed early enough or when they are malignant, they can rupture and lead to life threatening conditions such as hemorrhaging and infections (Source: the Physician’s Desk Reference sitting on my table). Is it rare? Sure, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen, and its rarity does not mean hormone therapy shouldn’t be made available for those that want it. It’s wonderful that homeopathic remedies have worked for you, however they don’t work for everyone in just the same way that synthetic drugs don’t work for everyone. Considerations like those need to be taken in, and we could end up making exceptions for seemingly endless possibilities.
But whether exceptions for such conditions as ovarian cysts and endometriosis are included in the legislation is really a moot point. The problem? Why in the hell are we legislating this kind of crap? If someone has a moral objection to birth control, then they don’t personally need to take it. This country is being overrun with sanctimonious politicians (and their supporters) who think that they know better than the rest of us what to do with our bodies, our medical decisions, our lives, and that legislating the morals of a few into the lives of the many is acceptable. Don’t you all want to continue to be able to make medical decisions for yourselves (or as much as you can without insurance BS)? How does what your neighbor chooses to do with her uterus or your other neighbor chooses to do with his testicles affect you in anyway? I’m using “you” generically here as it applies to the supporters of such legislation, people, politicians and priests alike, not specific commenters in this thread.
And then let’s move away from that debate to the biggest issue of this whole debacle: this absurd ad hominem attack by Limbaugh and the disappointingly large groups of people supporting him. How does the use of birth control make you a slut? Insurance-covered birth control is not tax subsidized, nor free, so how does it make someone a prostitute? Not only is it a sad reflection of the state of sex education in this country that many have left the notion of Limbaugh’s conclusion that you need a birth control pill for every instance of sex unchecked, but the non-germane name calling is continuing. As women, hell as human beings, such disrespect and uncalled for remarks should not and cannot stand. As others have mentioned it’s a distraction from the real issues, it’s a waste of our time, but it also needs to be called out else it continues.
That Kellie or anyone else would support the labeling of someone whom and whose situation they know nothing about as a “slut” is such an incredibly disheartening reality. Have we really evolved to this? Baseless name calling when we can’t come up with logical arguments? Assuming some women need birth control pills because they are having otherwise unprotected sex (and lots of it) with men who can’t afford condoms? Nevermind that condoms aren’t 100% effective at STD or pregnancy prevention, and that pills aren’t taken just to prevent pregnancy, and that they are more often used in conjunction with the other. Really we’ve come down to this sort of drivel and judgment?
“This country is being overrun with sanctimonious politicians (and their supporters) who think that they know better than the rest of us what to do with our bodies, our medical decisions, our lives, and that legislating the morals of a few into the lives of the many is acceptable.”
Okay, stop right there.
This is not about “legislating the morals of a few”. This is about whether the government can force a private religious institution to structure their private contracts with their private employees in order to subsidize things they don’t believe in.
Unwillingness to subsidize is not prohibition.
SFH, this piece was written before anybody called anyone anything. I personally do not believe, satirically or otherwise, that the young lady in question is a slut. She is a liar. There is no form of birth control that costs $1000 a year in this country, unless there is some super secret 1%er version of BC that we little people don’t know about. Should we subvert the Establishment Clause for a lie? No. We shouldn’t subvert it for any reason. Since you don’t like sanctimonious types, the freedom of religion (or from it, if you prefer) should be high on your list of rights to fight FOR, not against. As such, if a religious organization does not want to provide something, they should not be forced to, just as you shouldn’t be forced to have a religion. Birth controll pills are $9 at Target.
Except, you know, hormonal birth control isn’t always about birth control. Which is precisely what Sandra Fluke was talking about.
To base your entire rant on something she didn’t focus on is, well, stupid. And it makes you look ignorant.
You can make your point without so much snark and sarcasm. I’ve read some other posts, and well, I’m quite shocked at how much anger and sarcasm y’all espouse, but seriously. Grow up. This is the kind of crap high school kids write. You can make a point without being a jerk. it’s just not necessary.
I’m actually quite disgusted at the comments here, calling her a slut, a “silly twat”, etc. I mean, I’m conservative and all, but Jesus Christ, I would *never* call anyone I disagreed with a name like that.
Tell you what…..I’ll cover the sarcasm and let you dish all the anger from now on.
The whole problem here is a massive failure to communicate.
Lumping hormone therapy in with birth control is exactly the same as failing to distinguish Sildenafil citrate treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension from using it to get a woody. One should be covered as a legitimate medical expense and one should not.
I can’t help but feel the two issues are being mingled purposely by those who desire their birth control covered to the detriment of those who medically benefit from hormone therapy.
So you would NEVER call someone a slut or a “silly twat,” but you’re totally ok with using Jesus Christ’s name as a curse? Hypocritical much?
You have clearly missed the entire point of Misfit Politics. Congratulations, dillweed.
“I need $3,000 to cover birth control. I don’t care what your stupid religion says about it, it’s YOUR BUSINESS to pay for it!”
“Gee, $3,000 is a lot of money. What are you spending it on?”
“THAT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!”
Medically necessary or not, it is all a bunch of bull shit!!! I don’t care if you have PCOS or anything else.
If you read your school’s insurance policy and find out it doesn’t cover BC, then you just budget that into the cost of going to school there.
If you are going to an institution like that you are either going to be up to your eyeballs in debt anyways, or someone else is paying for it. If you don’t want to compromise on education, than don’t. Just realize that it is going to cost a little extra. And by a little, I mean only around 1.6% more, using her rather high numbers and the most generous math I could.
Let me run some numbers for you.
According to my source, for the 2009-2010 school year, tuition was $43,750 for full-time students and living expenses are around $20,000 per year. That doesn’t take into account fees or books, which, if it is anything like my school, would add probably another 3-5k but I am leaving that out. It takes three years to get through the program. According to my math, that puts a law education at Georgetown to be at around $191,000 over the course of three years. So. $3,000/191,000 = 0.0157 or 1.57% Breaking the bank right there…
Can you imagine “Well, I’m going to Georgetown, but I figured out that because they don’t pay for BC it is going to cost me 194k instead of 191k so now I’m in financial distress…” Yeah, THAT’S why…
(source: http://www.top-law-schools.com/georgetown-law-center.html)
“To base your entire rant on something she didn’t focus on is, well, stupid. And it makes you look ignorant.”
Hey Lux, watch this: I. Don’t. Give. A. Flying. Fuck. What. You. Think. I watched the video. She gave two specific examples in a roughly 12 minute diatribe. The rest was a bunch of bogus horse shit and liberal assholes of the planet think she’s gonna be their mascot. She was more interested in being in front of Pelosi and telling the world that she was a former president of Law Students for Reproductive Justice (gag, cough, puke) She’s trying to piggyback on women with legitimate medical issues and make BC available to all women who CHOSE TO GO TO GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY. I don’t simply disagree with her. I think her entire premise is to be a sexist asshole who plays identity politics. Woe is me! I’m a woman! Life is unfair! Men suck! Girl power! We’re fighting for the rights of Lesbian Latino Trial Lawyers With a Disproportionate Amount of Bacne (LLTLWDAB)! (What I hear: Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!)
Go preach your sanctimonious crybaby bullshit somewhere else or at least stop wasting your breath (or keystrokes, whatever) on me. I don’t give a shit what you think is high school crap, what you think is or isn’t necessary, or what you consider to be an appropriate amount of sarcasm or anger. You don’t set my tone. I do. If what I say offends your sensibilities then stop at the part that says, “Doc says:” I live in a free country that I fought for and you have no say in the way I express my opinion. If the moderators on this site decide to delete my comments or ban me then so be it. But when I first came to this site, I watched an introductory video by Brandon as to what this site is about. I suggest you watch it as well.
Read my response to Tess. Does that meet your standards for civil discourse? (Hint: It’s rhetorical- I still don’t care what you think)
[...] $1000 a year, my foot. [...]
Thumbs Up!!
The argument in favor of free contraceptives is especially irrelevant in the cases of medical necessity. What about the multitude of other chronic illnesses which require non-generic meds, left uncovered by insurance? If estrogen therapy is provided free for all women suffering from ovarian cysts and endometriosis, then by default, all therapeutic medications should be provided free to all people. Where does it end?
Excellent point. But that is, of course, their end game.
Hilarious! And this article alone, which I found cross-posted on another site, made me bookmark Misfit Politics. Well done!
@Koozebane:
Well, it’s exactly the same medication. It’s just a different name. Why bother getting upset and argumentative over semantics? People use medications for all kinds of issues. I don’t understand the point of insisting on calling it something different, depending on who is taking it for what reason.
*shrugs*
So is a insurance carrier going to grill you on why you need to take a certain medication? Why does it matter *why* you have to take it? A woman legitimately using it for birth control could very easily say she’s using it to regulate her mensural cycle. Is it then magically hormone therapy?
Dear, it takes a lot more than a snotty poster on the intarwebs to get me upset.
Remember…..you’re just text on my screen.
And I find your inability to differentiate between the different uses for certain medication to be very telling.
Yes, lets just put it all under one banner and pretend that it’s all the same…even though, it really isn’t.
Life is so simple when one doesn’t have bother examining how a medication with several benefits is actually used. It certainly keeps that War on Women banner waving furiously, doesn’t it?
So educate me then. How is hormonal birth control used to prevent pregnancy different than medication used to control endometriosis, or irregular periods, etc? Is it a different medication? Since you seem to know so much about it and all.
Educate you on….chemistry?
Really?
Do you actually want to behave as if you’re not aware of the numerous substances in existence that have more than one use?
And this is the intellect of those who declare they know better than anyone else and think they deserve control .
Piss off. Your dumb act suits your cause.
You know, at this point I can’t tell if the dope you’re smoking is legally for pain and nausea, or you’re just sneaking it to catch a buzz.
Oh, wait….that’s a dual use drug.
Never mind, you wouldn’t understand.
@Leah Sergeant:
“So you would NEVER call someone a slut or a “silly twat,” but you’re totally ok with using Jesus Christ’s name as a curse? Hypocritical much?
You have clearly missed the entire point of Misfit Politics. Congratulations, dillweed.”
Actually no, I would never call someone a “slut” or a “silly twat.” I don’t see how I’m a hypocrite if I say “Jesus Christ” as a phrase of exasperation but won’t name-call like yourself. I’m not a Christian.
I see that you’re more interested in fighting and name-calling. I think it’s really just sad and pathetic that you (and everyone else on this website) feel the need to call people names and whine and complain and use sarcasm instead of actually, you know, having a conversation with people and try to change their minds using reason and logic and rationality.
I’ll keep looking because I certainly won’t find that here.
First of all, if you’re going to go after me I demand that you spell my name right. It’s phonetic, so assuming that you have somewhat of an education, it shouldn’t be too big of a strain on your gray matter.
So I and the people on this site are “sad and pathetic,” but I’m the wicked name-caller, huh? Wow. Hypocritical much? Grow the heck up. This isn’t kindergarten, babe. This is grown-up land. And thank you for demonstrating once again that you’ve completely missed the point of Misfit Politics. Quit your immature whining and bo-hooing and go home. Your “contributions” to the political realm won’t be missed, that’s for sure.
More insults. Nice.
And if this is grown-up land, what’s with the name-calling? What’s with the insults? The adults I know don’t resort to petty ad hominem attacks during arguments.
If you want to say that this is “grown-up land” then can the stupid insults and make a real argument void of fallacies, because that’s the kind of crap high school kids do. Not adults. Well, maybe if you’re Rush Limbaugh and a bully.
If you want to continue with the petty insults and ad hominem attacks, go ahead, but it’s neither mature nor productive.
@Doc:
If you don’t give a fuck what I think, then why bother replying to me?
People like you make me ashamed and disgusted to be a Republican. it’s guys like you that make us look bad. But of course, you don’t care, just as long as people hear your ugly rants.
I’m disappointed my friend introduced me to this website because I’ve honestly never encountered such an ugly group of people in my entire time reading blogs across the internet.
This whole “us vs them” mentality that everyone here seems to espouse is going to get us nowhere. If you want to keep bickering about who is right and who is wrong and who is a slut and a twat and name-call, fine. Get nothing done. Keep bickering. It’s your loss.
I find it hilarious that people like you come here claiming to be a centrist or even a republican, try to tell us we’re mean spirited people after you say condescending things to us then get hammered in return, then claim that you’ll never be back to this website and you’re sorry you ever came here.
Honestly, if you really don’t like the website then stop coming here and replying to folk. Walk away and leave us horrible people be, but honestly I don’t think that’s your actual thought and you’re playing a different game.
Don’t let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya!
“I’ve honestly never encountered such an ugly group of people in my entire time reading blogs across the internet.”
In response I will first quote John Bender: B-o-o. H-o-o.
And second: you’re not being honest. In your vast experience of blog-hopping you mean to tell me you’ve never went to Daily Kos? HuffPo? Reddit? Never read what that cheerful bunch has to say? Riiggggghhhhtt. Try pulling the other leg, it might play jingle bells.
I make you ashamed and disgusted to be a Republican? Me? I fart in your general direction! Grab some fucking balls or go home! (Is Lindsey Graham stalking the blogs again?) I say all this with the benefit of a shadow of doubt that you are indeed a conservative. Because your language and demeanor reflect that of a soft-bellied liberal. You’re above all the sarcasm and hate yet you passive-aggressively and condescendingly insult people. We’re stupid, ignorant, pathetic, ugly, devoid of reason, logic, and rationality, and you’re disgusted by and ashamed to be a Republican (that one specifically for me
)
And you would be wrong btw. I didn’t just blindly start name calling because I disagreed with her views. I disagree with a lot of people. I used logic and reason to come to the conclusion that a 30 year old student in a CATHOLIC law school that costs upwards of $191,000 advocating before a congressional committee about the (exaggerated) costs of birth control being a financial, emotional, and medical burden on her fellow female classmates and that the CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY THAT THEY CHOSE TO ATTEND must go against their beliefs and provide BC to ALL women who attend and work there because she was able to provide 2 examples of women with legitimate need for BC as a hormone therapy (one of which she fucking admits was able to get her BC THROUGH GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S PLAN) IS A SILLY TWAT! (Exhale) I watched the stupid fucking video. She whining and complaining about BC for all women! Correction: All women who choose to attend a religious affiliated university.
Do you realize right now, somewhere, a child is being molested? That there are human trafficking sex slaves in this very country? That 12 year old girls in Afghanistan are having acid thrown in their face for trying to get an education? I use all of this rationale to come to the conclusion that she is a spoiled, self-centered, sexist, feminist twat with super-sized sense of entitlement and it’s a waste of the people’s time that this is a fucking issue.
Dishonesty is all they have.
They can’t make truthful claims about who they are, how old they are, what their political affiliations are, what they want hormones for, or how much money those hormones are actually going to cost a year…….because that would undermine the mob approved narrative.
My personal theory about why contraception costs this Fluke person $3000 a year? She’s selling it on the black market. She probably goes to a bunch of different drug stores to fill the same prescription, then she takes the extra pills down to Skid Row or homeless shelters or some such and peddles them to the poor women there who can’t afford $9/month for their own contraception. Or perhaps she sells them to men who can’t afford transgender surgery, and therefore use the estrogen-rich pills to simulate a pseudo gender reassignment.
You heard it here first, folks. Sandra Fluke: black market drug trafficker of birth control pills, taking advantage of the poor and destitute to finance her voracious sexual appetite. Disgraceful.
So Doc,
if there are all those other problems are going on in the world right now, why aren’t you focusing on them, and instead wasting your time complaining about what one woman said? It’s obvious she’s had a huge effect on you and others on this site, or else you wouldn’t be so vocal in your commentary on her.
And really, you’re letting her win by getting so pissed off. She wanted to he heard, she wanted to make her point, and you’re helping her do that by continuing to talk about it.
Well because Doc brought up “all those other problems” he obviously must have some focus on those issues, as do I. I’ll refer to this argument “First world problem” for now. The fact is that Sanda…or Sandra fluke (I’ve seen it spelled both ways) is using a diversionary tactic most people on the left do. She purposefully used the vocabulary “contraception” to describe hormone therapy through birth control pills. While she did bring up a case about a women on it for hormone therapy, she deliberately said contraception which is a broad and blanketing statement, as an igniter.
This is why I get angry at this woman. If she had said the pill for use of hormone therapy, is being denied, which she did in a round about way (kinda), I wouldn’t be too opposed to it, and I wasn’t. But her deliberate choice of words was purposeful and inciting.
Furthermore, how many times have you heard libs and cons say lets have an honest open debate about (insert political topic here). Well I feel the reaction that people have to this is honest, regardless if I agree or not. But it isn’t necessarily open considering that once again through their actions and vocabulary the libs have pushed most peoples backs against the wall. “What do you mean you won’t let me get my contraception for free? You must hate all women.” So yeah this topic, this woman has a had a huge effect on a lot of people here because maybe if you took one moment to get off you’re high horse, we’re a little tired of the constant rhetoric and push from the left bombarding us from every angle.
Maybe, we are letting her win by talking about it, but we want to be heard too, regardless of the invasive language used, (and thank you so much Misfits for your website and your voice). I remember pretty clearly Bush’s daughters being called ALL sorts of delightful names when they were in college, or people saying Trig Palin should have been aborted, not to mention recently the leftists praying and hoping Breitbart is in hell. It doesn’t excuse the name calling on our side but this isn’t a new thing. When the line in the sand keeps getting pushed back further and further on legitimate subjects such as this (I guess) it wouldn’t take that smart of a person to really see how tired and pissed off we are, nor should anyone really be that shocked at *our* choice of vocabulary used.
Thanks
See? You couldn’t possibly hide your true colors. It is literally impossible for you. I’ve argued with libs, progs, commies, and socialists and as far as I’m concerned you’re all just a slightly different shade of the same color. I’ve ran across the pretenders who try to pass themselves off as conservatives. But, you can’t get away from telling me how to live my life or to criticize the way I frame my argument. When I explain my position, you ask me why I’m wasting my time and complaining. You’re a naggy busybody who’s offended by the commenters on THIS site(?) A right-wing site with a clearly stated mission? These are the proteges of Andrew Breitbart. Like I said, pull the other leg Saul, it might play jingle bells.
I’ll go back to your original post:
“To base your entire rant on something she didn’t focus on is, well, stupid. And it makes you look ignorant.”
1: Your self perception of moral and intellectual superiority on full display.
2: The fact that you ignore that her speech had very little to do with women with PCOS and endometriosis. What about her married friend with no medical problems? What about the girl who was embarrassed (oh for shame!) that she didn’t know that the student health plan didn’t cover BC and had to walk away from from the pharmacy counter without it? I know why you don’t talk about it: You haven’t watched the video. You get your talking points from the left wing echo chamber.
Now, if you want to prove me wrong and present an actual argument… I’m game.
But I bet you won’t.
What are the odds that, even though she kept saying “contraceptives”, she meant to say “hormone therapy”?
Or, in her case, whor…. never mind… too easy.
Uh,
I’ll take two cheeseburger happy meals and a dozen of those pygmie kittens to go….
Funny stuff…
Absolutely composed articles, regards for entropy. “Necessity is the mother of taking chances.” by Mark Twain.
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