Full Frontal Feminism_ A Young Women's Guide to Why Feminism Matters - Jessica Valenti [27]
The idea is that only sluts use contraception, because only sluts would have premarital sex. And when you have sex while you’re married, you should be trying to pop out babies, so no birth control for you, either.
Basically, it’s more of the same “sex is bad and shameful” crap. Sex isn’t supposed to be fun, so they’re not about to make it easy.
The bottom line? They don’t care about our health. They don’t care about increasing the number of abortions (which will inevitably happen if we don’t have birth control access). All they care about is making sure that women aren’t having sex, and that if we are, we’re “punished.” Period. But of course, most of them won’t admit that.
I mean, even President Bush refuses to say whether he is for or against birth control. In 2005, former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan refused to give Bush’s stance on birth control. Since then, members of Congress have sent him four different letters asking him point blank whether he is for or against birth control—they’ve gotten no answer. Bush and the other anti-sexers know that if they let out how they really feel about contraception, too many people will catch on to their true agenda.
They know that the majority of Americans support birth control. Using contraception isn’t some radical idea—it’s pretty frigging normal. In fact, 99 percent of women will use birth control at one point in their lives.
That’s why anti-choicers are so disturbing. Despite the fact that the majority of us think birth control is fine and dandy, lawmakers, powerful organizations, and even the president are creating new ways to keep birth control away from us every day.
Check this one out: At publication time, a lawmaker in Wisconsin, Representative Daniel LeMahieu, is close to banning birth control from being distributed in any of that state’s colleges. And again—it’s all about The Sex or, in this case, fear of spring break. (Cue scary music.) LeMahieu got all bent out of shape when he saw an ad in a University of Wisconsin campus paper that recommended picking up some emergency contraception (EC) before heading out for spring break. Most would say a smart idea, no? Everyone knows that plenty of The Sexing goes on during spring break, and that in case a condom breaks it’s good to have backup birth control. That’s not exactly how LeMahieu saw it: “I am outraged that our public institutions are giving young college women the tools for having promiscuous sexual relations, whether on campus or thousands of miles away on spring break.”1
Many women who get abortions say that concern for their existing children is a key factor in their decision. That sounds like the opposite of “ selfish” to me
Girls Gone Wild on Birth Control! Because who among us hasn’t gotten a little wet in the panties when confronted with contraception? That plastic case is just so . . . sexy. Anyway, this ad started LeMahieu on his banning-birth-control crusade—it’s just a matter of time before colleges in other states follow his lead.
Unfortunately, it’s not just on college campuses that we can’t get birth control. Women of all ages are being denied contraception at the one place you’re supposed to be able to get it—the pharmacy. Imagine this: You take your monthly trip to the local pharmacy for your birth control pills. When you hand your prescription slip to the pharmacist, he randomly asks you if you’re married or if you’re using the pills to regulate your period. When you answer him (even though you’d like to smack him silly and tell him it’s none of his business), you say that you use the pill for the reason most women do—to avoid getting pregnant—and no, you’re not married. He tells you sorry, but he can’t fill the prescription—he doesn’t believe in premarital sex. Even when you inform him it doesn’t