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

[dwer.livejournal.com]

Also (and I'm not sure if this has changed since Obamacare -- maybe someone can verify for me), but no one is ever forced to get health care through their employer. I'm sure if a woman is dissatisfied with the insurance plans offered by her employer, she can opt-out and purchase insurance or even just a prescription plan on her own.

This is in the same vein as saying that the US already has free healthcare, just go to the ER.

It's the truth by the rules, and utterly false in any reasonable scenario. The last time I tried to get private insurance, they wanted me to pay premiums ten times what I was paying my employer, and they wanted to exclude the conditions I needed the insurance for. Including prescriptions.

[dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com]

But you would agree that no one is forced to get health care through their employer. I mean, if a woman is dissatisfied with the health care offered by the company where she's employed, she can choose to seek an outside source for insurance.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

She can, but won't be able to afford it.

[dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com]

Then that's what Title X is for. Or condoms.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

title X doesn't cover everything.

[dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com]

Oh, I beg to differ...

One important thing the Title X funds allow Unity to do is to have all the various forms of contraception on hand for patients on the spot.

Also...

Only 5 percent of Title X-supported clinic clients came only for contraceptives; nearly 9 in 10 obtained preventive gynecologic care, and more than half received services related to sexually transmitted or reproductive tract infections.

Of the 7,000 or so family planning clinics nationwide, 4,500 receive Title X funding. About 60 percent of the clinics receiving the funding are operated by state, county or local health departments; 14 percent are operated by Planned Parenthood. The rest are run by a "variety of other types of agencies."

And the great news is that even though a portion of the funds go to Planned Parenthood, not one dime of it can be used toward abortions. :)

Anything else?

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/01/135018313/at-risk-federal-funds-cover-far-more-than-the-pill

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

Nice to know you support a federal health program.

[dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com]

In this case, yes. There's a difference between Title X and a full-fledged government handout that bleeds the economy dry like Obamacare.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

Actually, CBO estimates say Obamacare will lower the deficit.

[dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com]

Are you talking about the latest CBO estimates? The footnotes on the first page point out that the estimates DO NOT include federal administrative costs AND gross costs of the coverage are increasing by $50 billion, and net costs are only offset by a small amount.

People need to actually take the time to read these things...

[dwer.livejournal.com]

also, birth control pills are a birth control that a woman can take, on her own, without relying on anyone else to agree with her that the birth control needs to be used.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

in the same manner that no one is forced to get oxygen through the air. You might choose to seek an outside source for oxygen, but you're not likely to find it in any way that you can use.

[dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com]

Really? So what are oxygen tanks for -- inflating balloons?

[dwer.livejournal.com]

Really, you're going to push the analogy that far? Where do you think the oxygen in those tanks comes from?

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

Water.

The plants seperate it and sell the hydrogen and oxygen. At least that's what Air Products does.