bluestareyed

Open Letter to Senator Obama.

Dear sir,

Recently the Department of Health and Human Services has produced proposed regulations to prevent health care providers from “discriminating” against those health workers who refuse to issue certain standards of care by refusing to hire or disciplining them for not doing their job based on a “strong moral conviction” to not participate in anything that the individual workers deem as abortifacient regardless of medical fact. These regulations would not only make it illegal for health care providers receiving federal funds to insist that their employees do their jobs and make it so that the refusing healthcare professionals are given legal license to discriminate against patients based on sex, perceived gender, and supposed violations of their personal ethics, but would expand the definition of abortion to include some things that are clearly, scientifically not abortions, such as IUDs, certain types of hormonal birth control, and emergency contraception.

I would like to start with a quick logic/biology lesson. IUDs, hormonal birth control, and emergency contraception all fall under the technical heading of “contraception” which, by definition, prevents conception. The argument of when life begins (at conception, implantation, first movement felt in utero by the mother etc) is moot here because these methods prevent conception altogether. Abortion, by definition, requires conception to occur. Therefore, this set of regulations is conflating the prevention of pregnancy with the termination of pregnancy. This flies in the face of basic logic and biological/medical fact, unless American legislators would like to start declaring that each human ova is merely a person who is “pre-conception,” in which case every menses is akin to manslaughter. Even declaring that life begins at conception is problematic due to the fact that 60 to 80% of conceived zygotes are flushed from the body during menses, contraception or no.

I would also like to point out that contraception is prescribed for many things beyond simply preventing unwanted pregnancy, including endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome, both conditions that cause a great deal of pain and can lead to infertility as well as increase risks of certain cancers in women. Hormonal birth control alleviates many of the symptoms and can be prescribed as part of treatment for these conditions.

On to the original point of why I am writing this letter to you, Senator. Already your former opponent for the Democratic Presidential nomination has spoken out against these regulations as unduly and dangerously restrictive not only of women’s rights to proper healthcare, but to their rights to determine what to do with their own bodies. As a woman who voted for you in my state’s primary, I would like to respectfully ask: WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU? Why are you letting down the women who voted for you, the women who believed that you saw them as people? It seems that you are resting on your laurels as far as the concerns of the basic health and welfare of the women in this country because you have already presumably secured the nomination. Since you no longer have to compete for us with one of our own, we no longer make a difference to your campaign. Do you expect us to vote for you simply because the alternative is John McCain who thinks that women don’t matter at all? Are you going to expect us to take the crumbs you hand us and be grateful for the privilege of even being addressed? What about our strong moral conviction that we should be able to make medical choices that are actually to our benefit?

I am sorry sir, but your record thus far in this election with regards to me and other women in this country and our rights is spiraling the drain and spiraling fast. I am disappointed in you sir, and I am beginning to regret voting for you in the first place. This situation with the DHHS regulations is your chance to redeem yourself somewhat from your ridiculous “late term abortion” faux pas and actually prove that you see us and acknowledge us as being more than incubators. I really hope to hear more from you that the form letters that other concerned citizens have received from you regarding this issue.

I really hope that you don’t disappoint me again sir, or I may just give you the finger and vote Green come November.

Sincerely,
One of your supporters with ovaries