One More Abortion Access Post

I’m bowling for abortion access in Arizona this weekend.

Because there are already too many barriers to such access in this state. They’re geographic, economic, legislative. Many are discriminatory.

And while I’m also watching our state legislature and letting my elected representatives know my voting priorities — there will be people who need this health care procedure before such barriers are removed. It’s not something that waits.

If you are both able and so inclined, you can donate to our team page here or my individual page here. I’d appreciate it, and so would a lot of other people in Arizona.

PS — The offer to write awkward yoga poetry in return for donations still stands.

Bowling for Abortion Access & Awkward Yoga Haikus

First off, I do not mean to spam you all with this. I may post once more closer to the date of the event, but no more between this and then.

As I kid, I remember my parents being financially supportive of the PBS pledge drives when they could. But I also remember growing up with a fair bit of Sesame Street swag: a Big Bird blanket, a Bert and Ernie tote bag, a whole series of Sesame Street number and letter books.

Sadly, I do not have Sesame Street swag to give away. What I do have, however, is the ability to write awkward yoga poetry. (It’s okay to be jealous.)

So for every $5 donation toward my fundraising goal or my team’s fundraising goal, I will write one awkward haiku based on the yoga asana of your choice. (Yes, if you donate $10, you get to choose two poses… and so forth, though I think I’m going to cap the haiku offer at five.)

The simplest way for folks to know which poses are spoken for would be to comment here with your choice if/when you donate. However, you’re more than welcome to email me — anytimeyoga@gmail.com — to let me know privately.

Thanks again!

Bowling for Abortion Access

I am.

Because Arizona is a big ol’ state with a lot of empty spaces and a lot of vulnerable populations (ethnic minorities, poor people, people in rural areas, undocumented people). Add to that an anti-choice legislature that systematically made it more and more difficult for people to seek abortion.

If you’re interested in donating and able to do so, the link to my team is here. Thank you!

Writing About Roe

There’s a lot I’ve said about Roe v. Wade — as well as other court decisions and pieces of legislation related to reproductive justice — over the years. And I’m sure I’ll continue to say more about them in the future.

This time, it’s a quick factual overview of how the case of Roe v. Wade progressed through the court system. Though if you’re a(n untrained) constitutional law geek like me, you should definitely also read the full opinions for yourself.

I AM Voting Pro Life

This is not, I am sure, an original thought in the social justice blogosphere.

But.

As I’m driving around this election season (you know, like Christmas shopping season — it all started in July!), I keep seeing these signs.

Vote Pro Life.

Vota Pro Vida.

Since I am so easily swayed by the power of words on paper posterboard, I have decided that voting pro life is precisely what I’m going to do.

I’m going to start with the people who respect the fact that my uterus, my ovaries, my vagina, and all those darn X chromosomes don’t make my life less valuable and doesn’t make me less fit to govern my own choices. This means people who understand that nothing — not a penis, not an ultrasound wand, not a baby — comes into or out of my cunt without my consent.

Pro life means respecting the lives, respecting the agencies, of roughly half the people on this planet. We are the individual bosses of our bodies, and this includes our sexual and reproductive organs.

Next, I’m going to look for the candidates who believe that food and health care are entitlements. Yes, entitlements (and yes, italics) — because you know, food and medical treatment are essential to staying alive. I know that not everyone is into that whole Bible thing, but I think there are worse words to live by than these:

35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’”

– Matthew 25:35-45, NIV

Even for folks not looking to receive eternal reward or to avoid eternal punishment, this also falls well under the umbrella of just being a decent human being. And while I cannot personally feed every hungry person or look after every person who is sick or hurting, I can help elect people who prioritize those things and say, “Yes, this is where I want my tax dollars to go.” Because that is pro life.

Then I’m going to check out the candidates who candidates acknowledge the life of the mind. It is my experience that a good many politicians believe that the primary purpose of education is to create obedient, unquestioning little drones and peons who can fill in the bubbles and who can regurgitate rote facts — but who cannot empathize, innovate, or problem solve. It is also my experience that this style of “education” is a direct contributor to drop-out rates, juvenile delinquency, and school-to-prison pipelines. We do it this way both because it is cheap and because it reinforces and already prejudiced social hierarchy, not because it values the potential within each young life.

With this, all I can say is that I hope more people will —

Vota Pro Vida.

Vote Pro Life.

Links. And More Links.

Unhappy Birthday to the Amendment That Started the War on Women by Jessica Arons at The Daily Beast — “Earlier this year, when an all-male congressional panel debated whether employer health plans should have to cover birth control and Rush Limbaugh lambasted law student Sandra Fluke for arguing that they should, many people were left asking, ‘When did birth control become controversial?’ In some ways, we can thank former Rep. Henry Hyde (R.-Ill.) for setting us on this path.”

What We Talk About When We Talk About College by Miriam at Brute REason — “I still remember the pervasive sense of loss I felt when I realized that I was never going to get what I came here for. That beautiful, glossy image of college that I’d been sold would never be my experience.”

Error and Fraud at Issue as Absentee Voting Rises by Adam Liptak at The New York Times — “Yet votes cast by mail are less likely to be counted, more likely to be compromised and more likely to be contested than those cast in a voting booth, statistics show. Election officials reject almost 2 percent of ballots cast by mail, double the rate for in-person voting.” — Included because over the past few elections, I’ve experienced an increasing amount of outside pressure to register for early mail-in ballots. I don’t want to, for reasons that are my own. And totally good for people for whom it’s the best option — but for anyone who feels the same sort of pressure I do, it might be worth knowing that mail-in voting is not always the magic answer some political groups want it to be.

Sex Scribbled on my Skin by Jo at A Life Unexamined — On which bodies are allowed to be sexual, are not allowed to be sexual, and are required to be sexual.

A parable: What about a conscience clause for gun sellers? by Literata at Works of Literata — “I work in a sporting goods store. One day, a man comes in and wants to buy a handgun. He’s had his background check, and his safety training, and has waited the required period…. I refuse to sell him one.”

Thank You, Richard Nixon

For signing Title X — thereby providing family planning services to low income families and individuals — into law. More specifically, thank you for doing so to fulfill the promise that “no American woman should be denied access to family planning assistance because of her economic condition.”

It’s good to know that some issues transcend partisan lines.

Oh, wait. We’ve actually regressed since 1970. We had better family planning politics in the era of the eight-track and the Ford Pinto.

In that case, Mr. Nixon, would you be willing to haunt some people from beyond the grave?

More Political Postings

I’m writing this on the last evening of the Democratic National Convention. Probably — I’m not watching TV and not keeping track of time zones — even as I’m writing this, Barack Obama is giving his speech to the DNC delegates.

And that is fabulous, but tonight, I’m thinking about politics back home.

Because I’ve spent the past week-ish contacting six Democratic candidates for the state House and Senate. I’ve played email tag; I’ve played phone tag. I wrote up two interviews — for Tucson area Senate candidate David Bradley and for Phoenix area House candidate Matthew Cerra — and am trying to work out the timelines for more.

Here’s the thing: None of these candidates — to-be-interviewed or already interviewed — is seeking to represent my local legislative district. And yet, their elections matter to me.

Because as a woman, I cannot afford even one more legislator who votes against the interests of women.

Because as a queer woman, I cannot afford even one more legislator who votes against the interests of LGBTQ people.

Because as a teacher, I cannot afford even one more legislator who votes against the interests of education. (People — schools or prisons: YOU MUST FUND ONE.)

Because as a teacher in a high-minority, low-SES district, I cannot afford even one more legislator who votes against the interests of poor people or of minority ethnic groups.

Because as someone committed to as much social justice as I can manage (and I’m way not perfect on this, at all), I cannot afford even one more legislator who is committed to the opposite.

And really — who can?

Getting Political

As some of you may know, I’ve been doing some blogging over at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona (PPAA). It’s important to me not only because I support Planned Parenthood’s mission and goals but also because it’s one way for me to make a difference in my community. In short, the political climate in Arizona is scary — in no small part because, at least the way I see it, the ultra conservative legislature is more extreme even than what is unarguably a rather conservative state — and I’d like to change that.

That’s part of the reason why I participated in interviewing some of PPAA’s endorsed candidates for the state legislature, namely Lela Alston and Bruce Wheeler.

Disclaimer: I have been actively involved in politics since age nine, when my mom and I went around with a petition to recall the newly elected governor of my then state of residence. (He wanted to privatize a lot of community mental health services, which consequentially cut the services offered and more strictly limited who qualified for said services.) I was on roller skates. Not only did the petition fail — the governor served for 12 years in the state — but we got yelled at and cussed out an awful lot for a woman and child walking around with a clipboard. I am under no delusion that politics are anything but messy.

Nor do I operate under the delusion that politicians are anything other than human, biased and flawed. In fact, I happen to have my own biases, some of which are flaws. But when it’s a choice between someone whose basic values are in line with mine and someone whose values are diametrically opposed? It’s not exactly a difficult decision, you know?

PS — If you happen to live in Arizona, you may wish to check out this PPAA Guide to Voting in Arizona. It is about making sure you’re able (if eligible) to vote and to have your vote counted — regardless of how you plan to vote. It should be helpful to all prospective Arizona voters, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum.

This is the dog blogging.

My human is off at the Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona blog again. This time, she is writing about the thyroid screening services most Planned Parenthoods in Arizona offer. It’s part of a series designed to show Senator Jon Kyl that over 90% of Planned Parenthood’s services are not, in fact, abortions.

I know, I know. I don’t have the heart to tell her that maybe Jon Kyl doesn’t read things the PPAZ blog. For people who do read, this one is still good information for anyone who has a thyroid.

For anyone who has a dog cookie, please leave it in the comments below.

More Links of Awesome

Gail Collins on Texas’s Abstinence Sex Education Problems at The Daily Beast — “It’s an ethos that celebrates everyone’s right to be left alone, with no government telling you what to do. It’s an intense, deep-felt creed of personal freedom which for some reason does not apply at all when it comes to sex.” [Via Feministing.]

Because if it’s abstinence only, it’s not really sex education.

How to Tell a True Story by Caedra Scott-Flaherty at The Rumpus [Notes for relationship abuse, sexual assault, victim blaming] — “When I was little, I thought the word was ‘rake.’ I imagined a man standing over a woman, in a pile of leaves. He dragged a rake over her naked body. I imagined it happening in my own back yard. Now, as an adult, I’m not sure that this image is entirely incorrect.”

Yoga for Runners from The Pragmatic Yogi — A short list of common running injuries and complaints, along with complementary yoga postures for stretching and strengthening.

Restricting Plan B OTC sales to 17 and over affects everyone and protects no one by Dr. Jen Gunter — “Plan B isn’t alcohol. Plan B isn’t cigarettes. There is no contraindication to using it. Not one. It’s safer than Tylenol. It’s safer than driving a car.”

This makes me a little nostalgic for the days when my NP would give me a dose of Plan B — two pills only, then, no generic — to keep on hand “just in case” I or someone close to me needed it. I mean, I realize that in actuality, Plan B as prescription-only meant that only people with provider access could get it, so my nostalgia is misguided, but still.

Sex, choice and control: what violence has to do with family planning by zohra moosa at the f word blog [Note for gendered violence.] — “The focus on family planning to date has largely circled around technocratic solutions to what is at heart a problem of power.”

I’m at Planned Parenthood Today!

That is, I have a post up at the Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona Blog today, to mark the fact that this Friday will be 20 Years Since Planned Parenthood v. Casey. (Robert Casey, the former governor of Pennsylvania, not my dog Casey — who is awesome.) It looks at the decision and evaluates what the standard of “undue burden” has come to mean for reproductive justice.

I’m not sure if it will be “fun” reading, exactly, but hopefully it will be informative!

Unless You’re There with Me

Dear Arizona Legislature,

With all the lovely, vomitous anti-reproductive rights (because let’s face it, you’ve already decided that “merely” working to outlaw abortion is not extreme enough) bills you’ve been introducing lately, please do not think that Senate Bill 1009 has escaped my eye. It’s not enough to play at being doctors; now you want to play at being teachers, too?

In case you didn’t read it, here it is in near entirety:

A. IN VIEW OF THE STATE’S STRONG INTEREST IN PROMOTING CHILDBIRTH AND
7 ADOPTION OVER ELECTIVE ABORTION, NO SCHOOL DISTRICT OR CHARTER SCHOOL IN THIS
8 STATE MAY ENDORSE OR PROVIDE FINANCIAL OR INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM SUPPORT TO
9 ANY PROGRAM THAT DOES NOT PRESENT CHILDBIRTH AND ADOPTION AS PREFERRED
10 OPTIONS TO ELECTIVE ABORTION.
11 B. IN VIEW OF THE STATE’S STRONG INTEREST IN PROMOTING CHILDBIRTH AND
12 ADOPTION OVER ELECTIVE ABORTION, NO SCHOOL DISTRICT OR CHARTER SCHOOL IN THIS
13 STATE MAY ALLOW ANY PRESENTATION DURING INSTRUCTIONAL TIME OR FURNISH ANY
14 MATERIALS TO PUPILS AS PART OF ANY INSTRUCTION THAT DOES NOT GIVE PREFERENCE,
15 ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT TO CHILDBIRTH AND ADOPTION AS PREFERRED OPTIONS TO
16 ELECTIVE ABORTION.

If I may say this with every bit of kindness and respect you deserve — You really have no fucking clue, do you?

No clue what it’s like to be the third ninth grader to come to me this year — this time at the beginning of lunch, outside of instructional minutes — in tears, nearly gasping out the words, terrified she might be pregnant. And probably no clue what it’s like to look into a face so despondent and so scared.

I know this will not please you, but I can only answer with the truth.

This is where and how you can take a test in order to know for sure; that is step one. If the test is negative, these are the people who will talk to you about future contraceptive options if you want them. If the test is positive, these are the people who can help you with your options. Yes, they will help you if you decide to have the baby and keep the baby. And yes, they will help you if you decide to have the baby and arrange an adoption. And yes, they will help you if you choose to have an abortion.

Why? Because whatever the “state’s strong interest,” my strong interest lies in fully and fairly informing my students in order to make their own best decisions.

And while I know this statute speaks to instructional time and curriculum rather than what happens during “off time,” here’s the thing — what I’ve said already is what I would say if asked during class.

Because I have — state mandated, mind you — content area standards and performance objectives that center on “locat[ing] and evaluat[ing] information about… a question”* as well as “synthesiz[ing] information from multiple sources… to solve a problem.”** I have a pedagogical duty to teach my students the process of good decision making for themselves rather than to thrust my own — or the state’s — conclusions upon them. And I have a moral imperative to support my students with nothing less than the full truth.

If you don’t believe in that silly little “truth” thing, fine — but please save it for when students are coming to you with their pregnancy fears. Unless you’re there with me, with them, with us, you really just don’t know — and in this case, you’re so very wrong that it’s shameful.

* Arizona Reading Standard Articulated by Grade Level, Grade 9.
** Arizona Writing Standard Articulated by Grade Level, Grade 9.

Guest Post: How I Became a Political Activist

Becky is 30 years old, engaged, and pissed off. She works in an office supplies store and will soon finish her BA in Technical Theater & Creative Writing. Afterward, she’ll probably… continue to work in the office supplies store. She dreams of one day owning an animal sanctuary. She votes in every election, has a laundry list of reproductive problems, and makes a mean from-scratch pumpkin pie. She is owned by 2 cats and 3 chinchillas, and usually sleeps on her tummy with her arm under the pillow.

Possible triggers: images from my trip to an abortion clinic.

In 2005, I had a D&C. In line behind me was a young girl in pink pajamas and fuzzy pink socks.

This child and her grandmother sat across the waiting room from me watching television. Except for that TV, and the occasional whispered conversations between the girls that came with friends or partners, the waiting room was silent.

So it wasn’t hard to hear this little round-faced girl ask, “Grandma, when the doctor’s done, the baby won’t be in there no more, right?”

Grandma, of course, couldn’t lie to the child; it was why she’d brought her past the prayer vigil and pictures on sticks out front in the first place. “That’s right, baby. It’ll be gone.”

Could the room have gotten any quieter, it would have when she asked her next question.

“How’d it get there anyway?”

In that deafening silence, I met the eyes of another young woman a few seats away. We didn’t have to say a word; our faces said it all.

Oh my God. How could this happen?

“We’ll talk about that later,” Grandma said, and went back to her magazine with tears in her eyes. Later, as I left the procedure room and she entered it, I overheard the staff check her date of birth.

This child was thirteen.

In writing this, I went looking for statistics regarding pregnancy rates in American children under age fourteen. I couldn’t find any.

But really, I don’t need any statistics. The numbers are less important to me than the over-arching goal of humane treatment for all people. And all I need to do is think back on that little girl with her fuzzy pink socks sticking out from under the blankets in the recovery room to galvanize myself again.

But there are those vying for power in our country that insist the circumstances don’t matter: to some status-seekers on the nightly news, the potential child within is more valuable than the living, breathing, hurting woman without.

I disagree.

So, when I heard about Mandatory Ultrasound laws and Conscience Clauses debated by cis-male religious political response panels, I started reading.

Then I got pissed.

Growing up, my Dad liked to quote his father, “If you want to be seen, stand up. If you want to be heard, speak up. If you want to be appreciated, shut up.”

As I read, I realized as “a woman of child bearing years” that cannot safely do so, I don’t want anti-humanist political figures “appreciating” me any more than they already do. Their provisions and “concern for women’s health” could actually cause me *more* health complications. So, I decided, it’s time to stand up and speak up, both for myself and the people relying on having reproductive choices to keep them contributing members of our society.

The movement I joined started with a Facebook page, calling themselves Unite Women. It is a national, grass-roots organization staging protest marches all over the country this April 28th, to remind people that “[women] vote, [women] matter, and that [political figures] can’t succeed without [our] help.”*

Every state in the U.S. and its protectorates will have a march that day, because issues like the Blunt Amendment, the ERA, and the systematic political attacks on Planned Parenthood touch us all on a personal level, regardless of our political affiliation, our race, our economic status, or our gender(s).

I didn’t get involved with this movement because I’m “a slut” that uses abortion as a primary form of birth control, like some pundits and talking heads would like everyone to think. I didn’t even get involved only because my county’s under-funded Family Planning clinics have to provide services for over 2,500 people per office (of which, there are 2). I got involved because I’m a firm believer that the Rule of Law has no place in my uterus, and what *does* end up in there should be decided on by me and my doctor. I think it’s time to stand up and speak up, so, I am. I will be called names and ridiculed for it; I know this a month before the march. I also know that women dedicated to the rights of all people to keep Federal law in the Federal forum will be right beside me, standing up for the same thing.

And that, for the first time in 30 years, has made me able to call myself a woman without hesitation. Not getting my first period, not losing my virginity, not my miscarriages, not becoming engaged… joining this fight has made me feel prepared to stand up in front of hundreds of people and say, “This woman that spent 7 hours in a car this morning to get here, and will spend that much again to get home tonight, has had enough of being your bargaining chip!”

Hope to see some of you on the news on 4/28th. I’m driving across the width of New York, from Buffalo to Manhattan, to take my faulty uterus for a walk down Broadway.

Because, in spite of what my uterus and I *can’t* do, I’m a woman, not a wedge issue.

(* NY Congressman Richard Hanna (R), in a public speech regarding the Equal Rights Act, 3/22/2012. Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/22/richard-hanna-gop-congress_n_1373381.html )

Irresponsible

[Mentions sexual assault.]

This post is part of Back Up Your Birth Control’s Blog for EC Day of Action.

The theme of this year’s Day of Action is EC=BC, and it’s aimed at combating misinformation about emergency contraceptives.

First, I need to get this out of the way. The “big deal” misinformation is that emergency contraceptive pills act as abortifacients. This is factually wrong, and I have no tolerance for bullshit today.

Moving on.

The EC misinfo I actually encounter most frequently is some variant of, “But it’s irresponsible! It will make them sluts!”

It takes a few forms, some of which are actually grounded in fact. However, that fact is generally misapplied.

1 — Emergency contraception doesn’t protect against sexually transmitted infections. Quite true. Neither do standard oral contraceptive pills. Neither do IUDs, Depo Provera, the Catholic Church’s beloved Natural Family Planning, or anything else that isn’t condoms. While this is an excellent reason why we need more education about sexually transmitted infections as well as reduced stigma and increased access to STI testing, it is not a reason why we don’t need EC. For people inclined to whine and wail about everyone who’s now having “slutty” condomless sex because they just figure they’ll rely on a morning after pill, the numbers do not support this happening in quantity. In fact, negative stigma toward EC may already be preventing some people (adolescents, in this study) from using it.

2 — Emergency contraception is less effective than other forms of birth control. Again, true and why we still need access to and knowledge about other forms of contraception. However, it’s not a reason to demonize and dismiss post-coital contraception which is, sort of by definition, the only kind that can be used after the sex has taken place. In a perfect world, of course, one would always be able to see a contraceptive failure coming and just avoid having sex then. But back here in reality, sometimes the sex happens first; the missed pills or broken condom happens second. And when the contraceptive failure has already happened, there is no time when primary BC failure plus EC is less effective than primary BC failure alone.

3 — But women who are having sex should be using some kind of birth control already. Just like if I budget my money very carefully, I “should” be able to put some into savings each month. In both cases, shit happens. My car won’t start. I get pneumonia and need to go to the emergency room. Condoms break. Pharmacies mess up prescription refills. IUDs expel.

Among some people, there is a desire to portray people who use emergency contraception as irresponsible and promiscuous (as well as to create a connection between the two descriptors, which there isn’t inherently). Never mind that the data do not support the idea that EC access increases promiscuity.

I’ve taken emergency contraception twice in my life. Both times I was already using another form of birth control. Most recently (a couple of years ago), my diaphragm slipped, and my partner ejaculated inside me. A decade earlier, I was practicing abstinence; the person who raped me wasn’t.

Want to know how Not Interested I am in people who are not me dictating what I “should” be doing with respect to my sexual health?

4 — Well, some people just make stupid choices; they should know better. I… guess? I mean, it’s true that some people do choose to have sex impulsively or based on inaccurate information about the risks, benefits, or premises of that sex (e.g., believing having sex would earn them more affection or commitment from that person). Some people choose to have sex based on any number of factors that I would not choose for myself (case in point: some people have sex to make babies). And some people do come to regret those choices in the hours or days after making them.

I’m not there myself — but only because all of my impulsive choices that went against norms of what women “should” do turned out to be awesome and empowering for me. I’m well aware things could have turned out differently; that doesn’t make those decisions “stupid.”

Besides, even if every person who took EC should “know better” beforehand, what good does it do to tell them so after the fucking has already happened? In what sphere of reality does that work? And by what logic does stigmatizing people who rely on emergency contraception, possibly risking keeping the person at a higher risk of unintended pregnancy, do anything besides hurt?

Shame is a bad motivator, and reveling in someone else’s “irresponsibility” — whether via outright self-righteousness or concern trolling — is cruel.

To the People Against Funding Contraception

I get that you don’t want to pay for birth control. I get that in the religion you practice, you may well have a sincere belief that this is sinful.

However, there are also people who have sincere beliefs that vaccines cause negative health effects and are therefore unsafe or wrong. Does that mean they should not be required to help fund the vaccines of others?

There are people with the devout religious belief that blood transfusions are sinful. Should they refuse to help fund the blood transfusions of others, even if they work in a place where not everyone shares their religious beliefs?

I have a sincere belief that antibiotics are overprescribed and that prescribing them when unnecessary is against the interest of public health and safety. Does this mean I should only help fund — with my tax dollars, with my participation in helping my employer find the best insurance plan for us — the antibiotic uses of which my conscience approves?

Here’s the thing:

1. There is no Bible verse that states, “Thou shalt not use the pill.”
2. Even if there was, that is no way to determine public policy in a nation where people hold varied religious, spiritual, and moral beliefs.

And that is what we’re doing here, with this funding of contraception as preventative care: We are shaping public policy. And for that public, there is no doubt that contraceptive access — which, by the way, includes affordability — saves lives and improves quality of life.

In fact, due to its curious side effect of mitigating torrential bleeding, birth control might actually be saving my life right now. At the very least, it is saving my pants.

Quote of the Day

In a 1990 decision, Employment Division v. Smith, the Supreme Court disagreed. Even a sincere religious motivation, in the absence of some special circumstance like proof of government animus, does not merit exemption from a “valid and neutral law of general applicability,” the court held. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the opinion, which was joined by, among others, the notoriously left wing Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.

– Via Whose Conscience?” — Linda Greenhouse’s Opinionator piece in the New York Times online.

Which leaves me wondering whether contraceptive access is considered non-neutral or invalid.

Plan B in a vending machine?

When I first read this story, I have to admit, my first reaction was, “That is fabulous!”

Basically, there is a vending machine in the campus health center at Shippenburg University in Pennsylvania, which, among other medications and devices, dispenses Plan B. According to the Associated Press article, only university students and staff can access the machine, and all students attending are age 17 or older and so can legally purchase Plan B without a prescription.

Honestly, my biggest worry — given my experience with other vending machines — is that someone will be dispensed expired emergency contraception, find themselves out $25 (the cost of Plan B from the machine), and have no easy way to remedy this. (I have totally purchased expired condoms from similar machines before. Don’t ask.)

There are apparently folks hand-wringing going, “But should we really make emergency contraception this accessible?”

Um, yes. Yes, we should.

As I am experienced with emergency vending machine purchases of all varieties (condoms, lube, but a veritable avalanche of vending machine pads and tampons), so I am experienced with emergency contraception. I’ve taken it twice during my life: once post-assault, another time post-oops. It’s true: The common side effects of hormonal emergency contraception are not exactly fun — but you know what else is not exactly fun? Being at increased risk for unwanted pregnancy!

Except for folks who are allergic to levonorgestrel (which pharmacists and doctors can’t detect via simple consultation unless the patient already knows), the biggest risk of Plan B (or generic) is that won’t work, and the person will become pregnant. Yes, there are other common side effects (nausea, irregular bleeding, prolonged PMS symptoms), but for most people who choose to take EC, those are worthwhile trade for reducing pregnancy risk.

So Plan B in a vending machine? If it helps provide safe access and reduces pregnancy, then — hell yes.

The Anti-Choice Desert

This post is part of NARAL’s Blog for Choice Day 2012.

This year’s question is: What will you do to help elect pro-choice candidates in 2012?

My pessimistic answer is “probably not enough.”

I don’t say that because I’m not an active citizen. I vote. I sign petitions to get pro-choice candidates on their respective ballots. I encourage everyone I can to register to vote. (As a teacher, I’m very careful not to encourage students to vote any particular way, but encouraging them to register is a-okay.) I talk about reproductive justice issues with friends, many of whom would vote pro-choice anyway. I support Planned Parenthood financially and follow PPAZ’s blog to find other ways I can help. I further support (financially and with my time) additional causes (largely education related) that, while not explicitly pro-choice, are explicitly about access to accurate information… something that’s been at issue with much of the anti-choice legislation the Arizona government has passed in recent years. I have contacted my state and national representatives numerous times over the years, sometimes (though not always) with respect to reproductive justice.

In short, I am a pro-choice nag.

But I live in the anti-choice desert, a place where there are both legal and geographic barriers to access. We have residents a hundred or more desolate miles from an abortion provider, should they need one — because the state has passed laws targeting abortion and subjecting it to different levels of scrutiny than they do other medical procedures. (To the best of my knowledge, while some of these laws have been temporarily enjoined, the fact that abortion providers have closed in non-metro areas is still reality.) In this “right to work” state, where many employees have limited protections if they need to take off multiple days for undisclosed or unapproved reasons, the state has instituted a mandatory waiting period between an abortion consult and the procedure itself. In places where there may be dozens of miles between pharmacies, we have pharmacists to refuse to provide emergency contraception when needed — and the law supports them on this.

Whatever I do, it never feels like enough.

In some ways, I feel quite insulated from personal fallout now. I’m in an area with good contraceptive access, have a supportive partner and the financial means to deal with emergencies (however unlikely), and — oh, yeah — I’m sterile. But I’m not so far removed from a time, in this same state, where I was in a more rural place (a place that is currently 100 miles from the nearest abortion provider), with an unsupportive partner, without friends or reliable transportation to get me to the next city — and without adequate contraception for my circumstances. It happens. It’s not hard to read about all the reproductive health restrictions and think, “That could have been me.”

I’ll still do all the things, of course, everything that’s within my control: petitioning, voting, promoting, donating, encouraging, and nagging. (You bet your sweet ass I will nag.) But sometimes it feels like one grain of sand in a state full of desert.