Lament of the Livestock
To every woman out there between the ages of 12 and menopause:
Congratulations! You’re Pre-Pregnant.
This came out in the Washington Post yesterday:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/15/AR2006051500875.html?referrer=emailarticle
“New federal guidelines ask all females capable of conceiving a baby to treat themselves -- and to be treated by the health care system -- as pre-pregnant, regardless of whether they plan to get pregnant anytime soon.
Among other things, this means all women between first menstrual period and menopause should take folic acid supplements, refrain from smoking, maintain a healthy weight and keep chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes under control.”
Now, for a woman who’s not pregnant but is planning to become pregnant soon, this is good advice. Months before actually becoming pregnant with my daughter, I was taking vitamin supplements and refraining from drinking alcohol (not that I do that much anyway) and doing all the things one should do to have a healthy baby.
Having said that, I am absolutely fucking LIVID about these guidelines and what they advise.
“…to be treated by the health care system -- as pre-pregnant, regardless of whether they plan to get pregnant anytime soon.”
In other words, the fact that some women out there do not want to have kids doesn’t matter to them. To these people, a woman’s only value is to provide offspring. They don't value her for herself, so why should they value her opinion?
I was raised in a farming community. I know about the nutritional supplements that many farmers put into their livestock’s feed, to ensure healthy offspring. Because that’s what the farmers care about; good-sized and hard-shelled eggs from the chickens, and good healthy calves from the cows.
MOOOOOOO. Git along, little heifers; Uncle Sam wants some good calves out of you…
I really shouldn’t have been surprised; I’ve heard from other women how very hard it is for them to get contraceptives, let alone sterilization surgery, when they’re single and trying to remain childfree. Too many pharmacists are refusing to fill prescriptions for contraceptives for single women, citing that it’s “against their religious beliefs” to “condone promiscuity.” (Never mind that they fill out prescriptions for Viagra for single men without blinking!)
Hell, I’ve heard from other LJ’ers about how even married women have a hard time getting sterilization surgery done, when their husbands can get vasectomies done with no problem or backtalk at all from doctors who think they know better… let alone outright refusal. The reason given is always, “Oh, you’ll change your mind later.” Only after a woman has given birth to at least one child will the doctors finally relent and schedule the surgery… which most insurance companies won’t pay for, by the way. But again, the presumption is that the weak, inconstant, overemotional woman can’t be relied upon to know her own mind; to know what’s good for her.
South Dakota passed that anti-abortion law, and nearly all the reasons for it all focused on the life of the fetus, not of the woman being forced to bear it whether she wanted it or not. Even if the child was conceived by rape or incest. Wanna know what one so-compassionate pro-lifer said about the rape issue? “The woman has been subjected to an ugly trauma, and she needs love, support and help. But she has been the victim of one violent act. Should we now force her to be a party to a second violent act--that of abortion?"
“Force her to be a party”? Did you notice that? I have heard rumors of fathers forcing their pregnant teenage daughters to get abortions, even flying them to Mexico to be strapped down for it. But again, that’s presuming from the start that the woman shouldn’t be given a choice; that she’s not capable of making decisions for herself.
MOOOOOO.
I could go on and on about the anti-abortion laws, but let’s get back on topic, which is the new federal guidelines that treat all women as walking wombs, just waiting for someone to knock them up so they can pop a healthy baby out nine months later. Which I really should have seen coming after South Dakota passed that law, and after so many other states started trying to push similar laws through their legislature.
Because it may not stop here, folks. oracleofdoom pointed out on her post that the next step after this, this valuing of even the potential fetus’s life over the woman’s will, would be to start refusing prescriptions for other drugs besides contraceptives. Other drugs that can help an adult get better from one condition or another, but have been known to cause harm the fetus.
Future conversation: “I can’t fill this prescription for you, because you might become pregnant while taking it and it would hurt the baby!” “But I’m not pregnant, and I don’t plan to become pregnant!” “Too bad; I don’t trust you to make choices about your own life, because you’re a woman.”
FOR CHRIST’S FUCKING SAKE, DID SOMEBODY IN D.C. READ “THE HANDMAID’S TALE” AND DECIDE IT WAS A HOW-TO MANUAL?!?
If any of my gentlemen readers are still reading this, please answer the following question:
If Uncle Sam told you to not only stop smoking and drinking alcohol, but take vitamin supplements every day and do all the right and healthy things, because you might father a child someday and that’s what should be done in order to father a healthy child… what would you do?
Congratulations! You’re Pre-Pregnant.
This came out in the Washington Post yesterday:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/15/AR2006051500875.html?referrer=emailarticle
“New federal guidelines ask all females capable of conceiving a baby to treat themselves -- and to be treated by the health care system -- as pre-pregnant, regardless of whether they plan to get pregnant anytime soon.
Among other things, this means all women between first menstrual period and menopause should take folic acid supplements, refrain from smoking, maintain a healthy weight and keep chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes under control.”
Now, for a woman who’s not pregnant but is planning to become pregnant soon, this is good advice. Months before actually becoming pregnant with my daughter, I was taking vitamin supplements and refraining from drinking alcohol (not that I do that much anyway) and doing all the things one should do to have a healthy baby.
Having said that, I am absolutely fucking LIVID about these guidelines and what they advise.
“…to be treated by the health care system -- as pre-pregnant, regardless of whether they plan to get pregnant anytime soon.”
In other words, the fact that some women out there do not want to have kids doesn’t matter to them. To these people, a woman’s only value is to provide offspring. They don't value her for herself, so why should they value her opinion?
I was raised in a farming community. I know about the nutritional supplements that many farmers put into their livestock’s feed, to ensure healthy offspring. Because that’s what the farmers care about; good-sized and hard-shelled eggs from the chickens, and good healthy calves from the cows.
MOOOOOOO. Git along, little heifers; Uncle Sam wants some good calves out of you…
I really shouldn’t have been surprised; I’ve heard from other women how very hard it is for them to get contraceptives, let alone sterilization surgery, when they’re single and trying to remain childfree. Too many pharmacists are refusing to fill prescriptions for contraceptives for single women, citing that it’s “against their religious beliefs” to “condone promiscuity.” (Never mind that they fill out prescriptions for Viagra for single men without blinking!)
Hell, I’ve heard from other LJ’ers about how even married women have a hard time getting sterilization surgery done, when their husbands can get vasectomies done with no problem or backtalk at all from doctors who think they know better… let alone outright refusal. The reason given is always, “Oh, you’ll change your mind later.” Only after a woman has given birth to at least one child will the doctors finally relent and schedule the surgery… which most insurance companies won’t pay for, by the way. But again, the presumption is that the weak, inconstant, overemotional woman can’t be relied upon to know her own mind; to know what’s good for her.
South Dakota passed that anti-abortion law, and nearly all the reasons for it all focused on the life of the fetus, not of the woman being forced to bear it whether she wanted it or not. Even if the child was conceived by rape or incest. Wanna know what one so-compassionate pro-lifer said about the rape issue? “The woman has been subjected to an ugly trauma, and she needs love, support and help. But she has been the victim of one violent act. Should we now force her to be a party to a second violent act--that of abortion?"
“Force her to be a party”? Did you notice that? I have heard rumors of fathers forcing their pregnant teenage daughters to get abortions, even flying them to Mexico to be strapped down for it. But again, that’s presuming from the start that the woman shouldn’t be given a choice; that she’s not capable of making decisions for herself.
MOOOOOO.
I could go on and on about the anti-abortion laws, but let’s get back on topic, which is the new federal guidelines that treat all women as walking wombs, just waiting for someone to knock them up so they can pop a healthy baby out nine months later. Which I really should have seen coming after South Dakota passed that law, and after so many other states started trying to push similar laws through their legislature.
Because it may not stop here, folks. oracleofdoom pointed out on her post that the next step after this, this valuing of even the potential fetus’s life over the woman’s will, would be to start refusing prescriptions for other drugs besides contraceptives. Other drugs that can help an adult get better from one condition or another, but have been known to cause harm the fetus.
Future conversation: “I can’t fill this prescription for you, because you might become pregnant while taking it and it would hurt the baby!” “But I’m not pregnant, and I don’t plan to become pregnant!” “Too bad; I don’t trust you to make choices about your own life, because you’re a woman.”
FOR CHRIST’S FUCKING SAKE, DID SOMEBODY IN D.C. READ “THE HANDMAID’S TALE” AND DECIDE IT WAS A HOW-TO MANUAL?!?
If any of my gentlemen readers are still reading this, please answer the following question:
If Uncle Sam told you to not only stop smoking and drinking alcohol, but take vitamin supplements every day and do all the right and healthy things, because you might father a child someday and that’s what should be done in order to father a healthy child… what would you do?