Tag: Misogyny

Reproductive Rights

[Here’s an older article that is definitely still pertinent today, with the American Taliban’s fight to shut down women’s access to reproductive health care, closing down Planned Parenthood locations, withdrawing funding from women’s health. If you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention!]

lady_justice_standingKeep your laws off my back! (out of my bedroom, out of their vagina) Here’s my take on a few things…

Where do these men get off thinking they can control what women do with their bodies? Controlling what access women have to taking care of their bodies and their reproductive systems? Men have no say! It’s like that bumper sticker,

If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament!

It’s not enough that Religious Right & pro-life (read as pro-male/anti-female) sycophants try to get Roe v. Wade repealed or reproductive rights curtailed, now they are trying to strong-arm pharmacies into following their male-centric views and Judeo-Christian/American Taliban nonsense.

This a new story about Pat Robertson and his legal support group (American Center for Law and Justice) coming to the aid of four religious nut pharmacists who had worked at Walgreen’s stores in Illinois, but were fired because they refused to fill prescriptions for the “morning after” pill, all because of their “religious views,” filling the prescription violated their religious beliefs. Here’s the link on Yahoo from the story carried by Reuter’s Health News.

Since when do pharmacists have a say in what medications a woman can put in her body? Yes, their job is to provide the female customer with factual information about the medications she’s taking, to make sure the drugs are not going to cause problems especially with other drugs she might be taking. Outside of that, she puts a piece of paper down on the counter, signed by her doctor or her own request, they fill it. Since when is it a pharmacist’s job to let their version of morality (their mores) enter the picture? If they can’t do their job according to the corporate guidelines Walgreen’s has in place, then they should leave and start their own pharmacy (or work at WalMart.) If a company’s policies conflict with my beliefs, I should address the company and try to reach some sort of an agreement (a compromise, a corporate statement/disclaimer, etc.), if that can’t happen, then I should walk.

But noooo! Here comes Pat Robertson, who believes that New Orleans deserved what happened to it by Hurricane Katrina because of the sins of the people of New Orleans and who believes that Ariel Sharon had what was coming to him because of his going against Robertson’s “god.” (Story here about how whacked this old fart truly is.) Good-old boy Pat steps in with his idiotic views and old-timey religion (read as white male of privilege using an established hierarchical structure to keep his sheep-like, no-thinking followers in place with the fire and brimstone, rath of “god” bullshit) and his deep pockets of money skimmed off his followers from his tele-evangelism shows. Old Pat brings his forces to bear and goes on the offensive against Walgreen’s.

Now, I have no great love for Walgreen’s — the stores are a blight on the land! Every corner you look, there’s another freakin’ Walgreen’s! Where in the hell did that one come from? Why do we need another one of these damned things so close by? But, ya gotta give ’em credit: they fired these religious zealots who where letting their religious beliefs get in the way of doing their job and serving the public, doing their jobs according to Walgreen’s corporate policies. Pharmacists do have advanced degrees and are supposedly intelligent people, but they are simply employees of the company. If they can’t follow the company guidelines and policies, then they need to take a freakin’ hike!

Abortion Foes Make Their Big Play

[Another article that is still sounding like it was pulled from today’s news feed! When will this insanity end, right?]

Back Alleys and Coat Hangers

Apparently, South Dakota is hoping to put itself at the top of the list of places that women for choice (and their allies) will least want to visit anytime soon. Abortion foes are making their big pelvic push into the warm, moist nether regions of South Dakotan freedom of choice.

Big bucks from the Religious Right and anti-abortion/anti-Roe-v-Wade proponents are pouring into South Dakota, home of the incest and rape victims without voice or rights! Yes, under proposed legislation, women who are rape victims won’t be allowed access to abortion and the rapist will have the same visitation rights as a father of a non-rape child. How many women would want to live with that? Here’s an article describing this insanity! The New York Times (registration req’d.) has an in-depth article on the pumped-up pro-lifers who are just jumping for joy now that there is a set of true believers sitting on the Supreme Court bench. “It’s our time!,” I’m sure they’re blathering.

What’s next? Locking up condoms? Prescriptions for condoms? Mandatory abstinence pledges? If there was accurate sex education, promotion of safe sex practices in our schools and doctors’ offices, would abortion be necessary? If women were empowered with sexual choice and safe sex practices, how much of this legislation at the expense of womens’ health would simply not happen?

The pro-lifers are also very savy when it comes to using double-speak and outright lies to influence and emotionally blackmail women. They’re now spouting quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr. to further their cause. This is right out of the Bush, grab-em-by-their-cajones playbook! The only important thing in the pro-lifer’s mind is to ensure that their women are kept in subjugation — barefoot and pregnant, indeed!

Teens and Drug Rx Permission

Trojan to the rescue!

[Another older article – too bad I can’t say we don’t see this type of behavior or measures being presented around the U.S.]

There’s an article in the Arizona Daily Star about a bill being presented by another one of our fine state congressional representatives that would provide additional male control over women.

The Daily Star article reports that State House Representative (Phoenix Republican, Stephen Tully) is proposing with HB 2707 that females 18 and under must have parent permission before they can get a drug prescription filled. An thinly veiled attempt to limit teen girls’ access to birth control pill prescription. Actually, this is not veiled at all! Some red-neck father, who probably doesn’t want to share his daughter’s ass with anyone else outside of the family, was incensed that his daughter had a birth control prescription. How dare she give it up to someone else!

This Tully is just another dumb-ass white guy who apparently hasn’t read teen pregnancy stats (LINK=http://www.agi-usa.org/pubs/state_data/states/arizona.html TITLE: We’re number 2 with a bullet) lately — some report that Arizona is second highest in teen pregnancy, some report AZ as number 3 (Planned Parenthood.) He for sure hasn’t paid any attention to teen drop-out rate for Arizona teen girls. Tully is reported as saying that teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted disease infections are not as important as a parent’s right to know (read control) their daughter’s sexual health. White guy speak, “Our daughters aren’t sexually active, they’ve all taken the Abstinence Pledge and signed a holy contract with us not to drop trou at the first chance they get.” But they’re free to watch all the sex programming on TV, watch girls getting rubbed up in MTV videos; these impressionable teen girls won’t be affected by overt sexuality on TV, in fashion and lifestyle magazines, sex acts in school bathrooms.

Not that Tully, or the majority of the other Arizona legislators give a rat’s ass about education. They certainly don’t fund school districts throughout Arizona (well, qualify that as districts outside of the Phoenix area.)

So, here we are again with men dominating their women folk, telling women how they can take care of their bodies, what women are permitted to do with their bodies. There’s that bumper sticker again, “If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.” Keep the laws off of women’s bodies!