The Right Wing's Idea of "Freedom"

[paft.livejournal.com]

From Statepress:

Arizona House Bill 2625, authored by Majority Whip Debbie Lesko, R-Glendale, would permit employers to ask their employees for proof of medical prescription if they seek contraceptives for non-reproductive purposes, such as hormone control or acne treatment.


‘I believe we live in America. We don’t live in the Soviet Union,’ Lesko said. ‘So, government should not be telling the organizations or mom and pop employers to do something against their moral beliefs.’

Jezebel points out that Arizona is an “at will” state. This means that bosses in Arizona will be able to fire women for being depraved enough to take birth control pills to prevent pregnancy.

As we all know, what made the Soviet Union infamous were not the gulags, its treatment of dissidents, and the rigid control over the press, but the fact that women could take pills for the purpose of contraception without fear of losing their jobs over it.

Yes, here it is -- the right wing's idea of "freedom" is a society where a woman has to ask her boss' permission to use oral contraceptives.

Does anyone else find this more than a little weird?

Crossposted from Thoughtcrimes

Comments

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

Why would the insurer pass along that info to the employer?

From what I know of insurance claims the employer doesn't get anything medically detailed.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Why would the insurer pass along that info to the employer?
There doesn't have to be any passing along of information. There just has to be someone who wants birth control. And workplaces being what they are, how soon do you think you can narrow down the pool of who is trying to get birth control?

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

But why would the insurer tell the employer that they're filing claims for birth control?

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Because people get annual reports on health care costs and where they come from. You don't think benefits doesn't comb through this stuff?

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

Costs. Not denials.

What does it matter if the employers knows you're getting a prescription medication? It doesn't know what you're getting and why. The plan provider is the only one who knows. I see no reason to believe they're going to gossip.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying it matters or doesn't matter. I'm saying it's a fantasy that employers don't know anything about who has cancer or who missed work, or who called in or who needs Thursday to take care of X.

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

Then this law really wouldn't affect anything because even if they did cover it you'd still have the same connections. And if it didn't cover birth control at all then you'd be ever better off as far as privacy.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

I'm not talking about privacy as the end here.