OMG, That Baby Issue

Tonight's topic is family planning and the issues surrounding it.  I may -- scratch that, I will -- return to this at some point with more research and interviews backing me up, but tonight, this is simply an opinion piece.

I'm not here to talk about abortion.  As with anything that doesn't directly affect me, I'm kind of ambivalent; I believe in a woman's right to choose what goes into and comes out of her body, but sometimes I think, "What if [insert good friend's name] had been aborted?  What then?"  I get shivers.  So no.  This isn't about that hot topic everyone dances around like a friggin fire pit.

This is about the 'threats' posed to women by Rick Santorum and his ilk.  Of course, we're not in immediate danger, at least for the next four years; with the exceptions of Romney (and Paul, who isn't actually a Republican and won't get the Republican vote no matter how hard he tries), the conservative candidates are so far right that even lots of conservatives are shaking their heads and going, "...What?" 

But this isn't about this year.  This isn't about who's going to be President for the next four years.  This is about people like Santorum who would rather see women in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant.  (Can you tell I dislike this nutcake?  I'm using him as a public example of views that are very harmful to women, but making him look like a tool is totally a bonus.)

First, some facts, both about birth control...and Planned Parenthood. 

I mentioned PP because a) it's a family planning facility, but it offers more than its name suggests; b) its services are blown out of proportion by those who would say that women have no rights to their own bodies, and c) it's been attacked so many times it's ridiculous.  Of all the women (part of a couple or otherwise) who visit PP each year, three percent actually get abortions.

...Yep.  Three percent.  Their other services are: breast exams, testing for/prevention of cervical cancer, treatment for UTI/yeast infections, pelvic exams/pap smears, birth control/the morning-after pill, pregnancy services,  help with menopause and female infertility, and testing for STDs.  They also provide men's health services, but I'm talking about birth control, so I'll limit this to women's resources.  I'd like to point out that PP provides these services on a sliding scale, which is probably why so many people use their services. 

At a clinic or private practice, a pap smear can cost up to $500 without insurance.  At Planned Parenthood, it's based on your income; low income=low cost.  No income=no cost. 

Now let's talk about birth control itself.  Santorum states that birth control is bad for women.  Before I get into statistics and facts, I want to say something a little more close to home: I'm on Depo Provera.  I'm also asexual; even if I were straight, I wouldn't have sex.  My BC use is purely health-related; if I don't get the shot every three months, I don't stop bleeding.  This is maybe gross to think about, but many women use BC primarily for health reasons. 

Yes, there are side effects for Depo; long-term, it can cause bone loss, swelling, nausea, and other related symptoms.  My other meds cause light sensitivity, blurred vision, insomnia, weight gain, and a potential deadly rash that makes all your skin boil off.  Is he going to tell me to stop taking the only anticonvulsant that works for both of my health issues because it's 'bad for me?'  Not to be melodramatic or anything, but I'd probably be a one-woman riot.  And not in the funny way.

 Let's get into the facts here.  Birth control can be and is prescribed to help women with PSOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), endometriosis, heavy bleeding, debilitating cramps, severe PMS, low estrogen levels, irregular bleeding, and even acne.  PSOS affects one in fifteen women.  Endo affects 5.5 million women in America, and causes between 30 and 40% of those women to be infertile.  Estrogen imbalance can cause serious issues; birth control can act as a substitute for estrogen and therefore regulate menstruation. 

And birth control is bad for women.  Sure.  All medication is potentially bad for the person taking it, but often the benefits outweigh the risks.  Despite the chance that my skin can boil off, I continue to take Lamictal to manage two conditions. 

I want to take a moment to talk about the morning-after pill.  This is one of those 'in-between' issues, except...no, it really isn't. 

Emergency contraception is used purely as a birth control method.  There really isn't any health value in it.  So, your condom breaks, you realize you haven't taken your pill in two days, whatever, Plan B or Next Step is probably where you look.  Basically, it overloads your system with progestin, preventing fertilization.  Lots of people claim that this is like abortion.

It isn't. Life doesn't begin during sex.

Even if you believe that life begins at conception, you don't have a cute little zygote until two weeks after that scary unprotected sex.  Fertilization is generally at week three.  So what is emergency contraception?  A concentrated dose of the hormone found in birth control pills that works exactly like birth control, only a little late.  Sure, it's kind of the easy way out, but it is not abortion.  Not even close.

Fun fact: a haploid cell has only one set of chromosomes.  It's basically a sex cell, which is formed during that whole Mendel's Principle of Segregation thing.  When two haploid cells connect over coffee and have a wild night, a diploid cell is formed.  A zygote is one diploid cell (with two sets of chromosomes) which will eventually divide and divide.  I'm not sure if I really believe that one diploid cell can be considered a baby, but for the sake of this argument I totally do.  EC isn't abortion, because the zygote doesn't even exist. 

Obviously, I'm a strong proponent of birth control.  This is partly because I enjoy a life free of anemia and constant discomfort, but also because a woman has the right to control her own body.  And I bet you anything a husband wouldn't preach abstinence to his hot wife, no matter how rough it would be to have a baby at twenty years old.  Until a zygote is formed, those haploid cells are just potential.

I have the potential to be a superhero, but nobody arrests me for vigilantism.

Questions?  Comments?  Concerns?  Opposition?  Anger?  Please, do tell.  I eagerly await your responses, positive, negative, and in between.