Anger and Confusion

I'm 36 and I'm a beneficiary of the first and second wave women's movements. I've grown up with any number of rights and privileges as a result of the women before me fighting like mad for them. One of those rights is birth control. And now there is discussion from "Dr." Hagar of the FDA and some pharmacists about taking it away.

"Why" you might ask "would people want to take away an awesome thing like birth control? It's such a wonderful way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and help people with family planning."

You ask this even though the current administration claims to be support the family but condemns family planning to the extent that we've withdrawn monetary support for global family planning initiatives.

You ask this even though the Religious Right (not necessarily all Republicans or all conservatives) has managed to aggressively promote their agenda against potential life-saving late term abortions - normally only used in the *most* extreme circumstances when the life of the mother is at stake.

You ask this when the RR has managed to get 'family' redefined into an image they approve of in at least 11 states in the Union - normally progressive Oregon as one of them.

But I think it's even scarier than that. I think many of these people believe that women should be (basically) back in the kitchen, barefoot, and pregnant. Possibly, they believe that's the 'place' a woman should occupy. Birth control is the one thing, other than abstinence and/or celibacy, that gives a woman a certain amount of control over her own life.

Before birth control, women were basically at the mercy of their body and its ability to get pregnant. That doesn't even take into account the fact that men could fuck/rape their wives whenever they wanted to and a woman had no legal recourse. Actually, the legal option today still isn't that great but it's better than nothing. If birth control access is limited or removed, that means that, in order to retain that control over our lives, we have to completely abstain from sex or that we have to risk pregnancy with every, single encounter. I've got nothing against children, but I would like to have some control over when and if I get pregnant.

I know I'm looking at worst case scenarios but I don't think that's a bad thing right now. We've got to remember - Bush may be gone in four years but he'll leave a legacy of appointees who won't be. In addition to the Supremes, there are any number of other appointments that the President makes that are permanent until death or resignation.

I wonder if all those women who voted for Bush (because a man in their life told them to) even bothered to find out about any of this stuff. They should have because it could be them who's suddenly chained back in the kitchen.