Here at Rewire, we strive to bring you the best and latest in
reproductive health news.  But I’ll admit it – I like opinions, too.  I
can’t leave an editorial or a letter to the editor unread. Sometimes
there are opinions so good they just have to be shared.

These are NOT those opinions.  These are the other kind…

"Never Trust a Man to Do a Women’s Job"

I
often like to tease that women are the superior sex.  But it’s just a
joke.  Usually.  But even I won’t go as far as this writer, discussing the possibility of male hormonal birth control:

"The same quantity of men would lie about being on the pill as do
about about pulling out," [Ravi Somaiya of Gawker] wrote. "Men would forget to take the pill
in the same numbers that they forget to buy condoms."

So basically: Don’t trust a man to do a woman’s job. He will lie
with the intent of getting into your pants, forget about BC at the same
rate at which he forgets about your anniversary, and leave you with an
itchy poochacha and, perhaps, an illegitimate child.

Dear
beloved male readers, have no fear.  I know you can manage the supreme
responsibility of taking a pill a day.  And if I can’t trust you enough
to do so, there’s no way I’d have sex with you anyway.

"Enlisted Women Should be Forced to Be on Birth Control"

Talk
about trust issues.  This woman not only agrees that pregnant women in
the military should be court-marshalled, but that to make sure it isn’t
a problem,
all should be forced to use Depo Provera while serving.

If women wish to join the military, they must be just as willing to
go to war for their country as any man. Women cannot expect to have
equal rights with men if they use reproduction as an excuse to get out
of their duties. Women can join the military and have children, but
when they are in combat zones, the only thing they should be doing is
their job as soldiers. Separate but equal is not equal.

Unfortunately, the older I get, the more realistic and cynical I
have become. I realize that no matter how much you try to explain to
them that they are doing more harm than good for women’s rights by
copping out on the menfolk, they won’t listen. They’ll cry and moan
about their rights to breed, totally neglecting the fact that they are,
first and foremost, soldiers.

Last time I checked, a soldier’s body was not his or her own.
Legally, it’s government property, which means the government dictates
to a soldier what they can and cannot do with his or her body. While
this policy has resulted in some very unfortunate incidents, such as
the Edgewood experiments, it is supposed to ensure that soldiers are
regulated so they can perform their duties as needed.

So, since I can’t talk sense into the people who signed up for the
job, I have a suggestion for their boss instead: Change the policy.
Instead of punishing soldiers for war-zone pregnancy, make it mandatory
for all women soldiers to be on birth control. And not just any birth
control; make sure it’s Depo-Provera, a type of birth control given by
injection. If we can’t rely on women soldiers to keep their pants on,
we can’t rely on them to take a pill every day, now can we? Not to
mention the fact that, for the legitimate women soldiers, being in a
combat zone isn’t the best place to remember to take a pill every
single day. The Depo-Provera shot, on the other hand, is only needed
once every three months. Every soldier is required to get a dozen shots
before they go over there anyway, so just add this to their round of
inoculations. Problem solved.

Obviously,
the real solution is to demand that women in the military have
hysterectomies before they are shipped out.  I assume that comes in her
next article.

"Health Care is Not a Right, It’s a Privilege, Says Privileged People"

They often think if they say it enough, people will believe it’s true.  But this Letter to the Editor writer is a little more mixed up than most.

There is nothing in our U.S. Constitution that says everyone is
entitled to health care. Forcing people to buy insurance is
unconstitutional and threatening them with fines and or jail terms is
socialistic.

Everyone
in America had or has the same basic rights as I do. That is, the right
to a public education; if they do not pursue it, it is not my duty to
supply benefits to them.

I
am pro-life and do not want my taxes paying for abortions. There are
many forms of contraception on the market, with condoms being the
cheapest. If people do not use birth control, I do not want my taxes
paying for their bills, home, food, etc.

So,
you don’t want your taxes paying to support people who can’t afford to
feed and house their children.  And you don’t want your tax dollars to
pay for anything that might prevent them from getting pregnant.

Everyone understand?

Mini Roundup: Was that too much nonsense?  How about some news from Utah?  Nearly 3% of the Utah women having abortions in the state had already had five or more prior births.  And sex ed brings together strange partners.

January 14, 2010