The title for this blog post as you can see is very "in your face." Most people are taken aback by the word...uterus. You might get a wince at "vagina or "clitoris." Anything related to the female reproductive system seems to scare the heck out of Americans, especially conservative Americans.
Throughout human history, especially the past one hundred years, there has been a war on female reproductive rights. A woman's sexuality has always threatened men in power and therefore, many have tried to set limits on our bodies. Everything from sex out of wed-lock, to abortion and birth control, the government can't seem to stay out of a woman's pants. For some women, these arguments seem to be a thing of the past. Of coarse there has been significant improvements in sexual freedom. According to the CDC, 99.1 % of sexually experienced women ages 15-44 use some form of contraception. But you would have to be living under a rock to not realize that the war is far from over.
Let's talk about Hobby Lobby shall we? Over the summer the Supreme Court made a few decisions that have outraged women across the United States. The first was "The Buffer Zone" ruling which struck down a Massachusetts law that required anti-abortion protestors to stay at least 35-feet away from an abortion clinic. It also struck down the ability for female home health care workers employed by the government to have representation in unions. But the most blood-curdling decision of all was the Hobby Lobby ruling.
Two corporations, Conestoga Wood Specialties (wood cabinet maker) and Hobby Lobby (craft store chain) contested contraceptive coverage do to the fact that they run their business under Christian values. As a family-corportation following the values of Christianity, Hobby Lobby and CWS did not want to pay for employee contraceptive insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Essentially, female employees of these two companies would be left to pay for their own reproductive health with working wages. So in June the Supreme Court ruled, in a 5 to 4 decision, that "requiring family-owned corporations o pay for insurance coverage for contraception under the Affordable Care Act violated a federal law protecting religious freedom." (nytimes, Adam Liptalk) In other words, "corporations are people and have religious rights."
This ruling is a major set back in reproductive rights. This directly attacks low-income women who cannot afford reproductive health care and rely on employer coverage. This will increase the level of poverty amongst women and will leave some women dependent on violent partners. A woman's right to choose has been destroyed. According to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who voted against the ruling, "It bears note in this regard that the cost of an IUD (intrauterine device) is nearly equivalent to a month's full-time pay for workers earning the minimum wage." Now any corporation can claim religious rights in order to save money. It should also be noted that the majority decision was made by men.
This is truly an outrage. An attack on a woman's freedom has been made. Now thousands if not millions of women will suffer the consequences of this decision. There will be more unwanted pregnancies leading to even more abortions. Conservatives should realize that in order to stop people from getting abortions, contraception can decrease the amount. But now low-income women can't afford contraception. Many people like to say, if men could get pregnant, contraception would be affordable to available on every street corner.
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