I once wore I'd never get wrapped up in the stupidity of it all, never allow myself to be forced to vote for the lesser of two evils. But as I've matured of the last couple of years, I can't help but to allow myself to get swallowed up in certain issues. And I'm not talking about gay marriage and abortion, those are personal ethical issues and should not be a part of politics. I mean things like the back and forth over whether the Dems or the GOP is waging a "war on women". Let's look at the pure facts here for a moment:
The Democratic party has, since Obama's election, put into effect laws that provide equal pay for women and require health care coverage to include contraceptive methods for both medical and personal use. On the other hand some well known public supporters of the Democratic party have said some things about women that were less than tasteful, including using the "c" word in reference to Sarah Palin, and another instance of the word "slut" in reference to another public female figure (I forget who, I'm sorry)
The GOP is trying to put into effect laws that violate a woman's right to control her own body, including one which allows an employer to pull medical records and fire any employee that uses contraceptive methods for reasons nonmedical, and also forcing women who desire an abortion to have a transvaginal ultrasound and see the developing fetus before going on with the procedure.
Ok, time for my opinion now:
GOP is a fucking joke right now. I do not affiliate with any set political party, but I definitely feel some type of way about these new laws they are trying to pass.
For one, pulling an employee's medical records and using those as part of "terms of employment" is completely unethical and violates doctor-patient confidentiality. Whether or not you agree with the use of contraception for nonmedical purposes (which for those of you do who do not understand this concept, some forms of birth control have been shown to help improve certain hormone imbalances that create health problems for women therefore making it a true medication rather than merely pregnancy prevention), it has NOTHING TO DO with whether or not a person is qualified to perform a job.
As for the idea of forcing women to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound before abortion, let me make one thing clear. While I do not support abortion, I do not pretend to know what is right for another woman, and speaking from personal experience, TVUs are HIGHLY INVASIVE and can be PAINFUL and even TRAUMATIZING. Not to mention it fits the very definition of rape, which according to the World Health Organization is "physically forced or otherwise coerced penetration – even if slight – of the vulva or anus, using a penis, other body parts or an object". Even with informed consent and no coercion, both times I underwent TVUs I felt incredibly violated and would never have agreed to submitting to them were it not medically necessary to find the cause of the health issues I was having at the time. To force women to submit to this procedure is morally, ethically, politically, and humanely WRONG. I realize many of those words mean basically the same thing, but I need to make this point very clear.
When it boils down to it, speaking as a woman, I would rather be called a slut or even the "c" word than have to submit my medical records for a job, let alone be forced to submit to invasive and unnecessary medical procedures because someone ethically disagrees with a choice I make in regards to my own body.
