Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Power of Choice



“It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” ~ J.K. Rowling

I’m a whore. Not only am I a whore, I CHOOSE to be a whore, a big nasty whore. I’m not the only whore in the neighborhood either, not by a long shot. All my sisters are whores. My friends are whores too! I’ll even go so far as to say that several of my nieces are whores. Some may even be waiting for the day when they too can take their rightful place as whores. Hey, maybe they can start a club: The Whorelets or Future Whores of America. I like that one, it sounds so patriotic.
Know what else? I like it.
Some of you may be wondering what has prompted me to embrace my whorish nature. Well, I really did not know I was a whore but apparently I’ve been a whore since way back in the day.
According to media-whore and blowhard Rush Limbaugh, any woman that chooses contraception is a whore since contraception allows you to let your freak flag fly. Damn, had I only known before. Do you realize how much random sex I missed having? Do you realize how many potential partners I passed on? Damn it all to hell! Why do I find out the good stuff too late!!!
Specifically, I’m talking about the filthy lies that Rush and others on the right (I’m looking at you Ray Romano’s TV wife) are using to smear smart, driven, law student Sandra Fluke whose only “crime” was to try to testify in that farce on “religious freedom” that Darrell Issa recently held.
Let me explain in simple terms what is going on here and it certainly ain’t impinging on anyone’s “religious freedom”.
Ms. Fluke was not going before a congressional panel to talk about why she needs free birth control so she can screw anything and everything that moves. No. Ms. Fluke testified: "These denials of contraceptive coverage impact real people. In the worst cases, women who need this medication for other medical reasons suffer dire consequences. A friend of mine, for example, has polycystic ovarian syndrome and has to take prescription birth control to stop cysts from growing on her ovaries. Her prescription is technically covered by Georgetown insurance because it’s not intended to prevent pregnancy. Under many religious institutions’ insurance plans, it wouldn’t be, and under Senator Blunt’s amendment, Senator Rubio’s bill, or Representative Fortenberry’s bill, there’s no requirement that an exception be made for such medical needs. When they do exist, these exceptions don’t accomplish their well-intended goals because when you let university administrators or other employers, rather than women and their doctors, dictate whose medical needs are legitimate and whose aren’t, a woman’s health takes a back seat to a bureaucracy focused on policing her body."

This whole episode started when the Obama Administration released a list of preventative measures aimed at women’s health which recommended that insurance companies provide without deductibles. This included prescription birth control, breast-pump rentals, counseling for domestic violence, and annual wellness exams and HIV tests. This list was based on the recommendations from an independent advisory panel of health experts.
The Catholic Church took issue with providing free birth control since it ran contrary to its teachings. Not to worry, the Obama Administration had a plan for that, shift it back to the insurance companies for the Catholic Church and everything would be fine.
Hold the phone! Outrage poured in from the right. How dare the government tell any “job creators” not just religious institutions, that it HAD to provide certain health benefits thru health insurance policies? How could a person of conscience sleep at night knowing that that their employees might be fornicating with no intention of procreation.
This is not a religious freedom argument. After all, how many congressional representatives have held hearings on the evils of vasectomies? Or, denouncing the man-whores that demand their Viagra (please do not tell me that this is a procreative drug or I will slap you, hard)? Or standing up for the job creator that is a practicing Jehovah’s Witness and has to offer health insurance policies that cover blood transfusions?
See how easy that argument is to debunk.
It’s a control issue. More specifically, it’s about controlling our bodies and our futures, because then they control us.
Saddle up ladies; it’s time to choose. Do we choose to be empowered and make decisions about our bodies and our futures or do we not?
Empowered women have the power to change the world and that scares a lot of people.
Choose wisely, they have consequences.