The big debate on yesterday’s morning news show was whether birth control should be considered as preventative care and therefore covered by health insurance.
What?! Are we really having this discussion in the 21st century? Do we really need to go over the long list of ways that providing women with family planning options makes sense socially and fiscally?
The woman brought in to speak against the bill made the case that people who are opposed to birth control for religious reasons shouldn’t be forced to pay for this coverage.
Well, guess what, lady? That’s the whole basis of any type of insurance; you pay for what you hope to never use. Believe me, I hope I never need to use most of what’s covered by my health insurance and I don’t want to use my car insurance or my life insurance either.
Call me old-fashioned, but I believe in supporting services that I may never use. My taxes help pay for schools that I’ll never get to send my children to, but I’m happy to pay to keep other people’s children educated. I no longer need to use birth control to prevent an unexpected pregnancy, but I’m more than happy to do my bit so that others can have that option.
It’s Whiny Wednesday, the sun’s shining right in my window, and I’m hot, cranky, and pissed off about backwards attitudes. What’s on your mind today?
Insurance pays for Viagra and for substance abuse treatment / rehab. But not birth control or weight loss treatments. Really?? . . . Argh!
So, viagra is covered, but in my state and most others not a single penny is given to covery any form of infertility treatment or even testing.
I do not know why the lady was speaking against funding birth control, so I cannot defend her position, but I do know why I am personally opposed to this. It is not a question of money being used to pay for things we do not need, it is about participating in sin. People who do not want to sin, also do not want to be forced to participate in it. My faith tradition teaches that artificial contraception is a sin, and I am just one living example of the consequences of that sin. I won’t say anything more because this blog is not a forum for discussing religious differences. Just wanted to help you understand why people oppose funding things like contraception and abortion. It is not about the money.
It is pretty well-documented that funding birth control will NOT encourage people to have sex: it will just prevent them from getting pregnant ONCE they have the sex that they will have no matter what (actually my opinion is that std’s are worse, you can’t even give those up for adoption). Similarly, allowing abortion does NOT encourage women to have them, it just allows them to have the procedure in a decent condition ONCE they have been mistakenly knocked up.
And by the way, we cannot put contraception and abortion in the same basket: if you educate people properly regarding contraception, you can drop the abortion discussion.
I love your blog. Let me tell you about my 50 cents in this matter even if it’s an old subject. If contraceptives are covered by private insurance or even Medicaid, they should also put infertility treatments covered at least completely too. There’s people who wants to get a chance of having children without breaking their bank. I for one, cannot afford that and I’m destined (punished) to not have kids. I’m 37 now and not happy with who I am and I’m going on counseling trying to solve this thing out. Don’t have any support group I can relate too. I’m by myself and I’m tired.