Book, I love you dearly...

[nagaina_ryuuoh]

...but this entire post right here:

http://bookkeeper.livejournal.com/170781.html

...This is pretty much disingenuous bullshit from start to finish.

And since LJ's comment size is limited to 4300 words, I'm going to respond to it here.

Let’s get a few things straight from the get-go.

Comments

[the__ivorytower]

The part that really gets me is that there are reasons other than pregnancy to take hormone pills. My mother, as an example, is anaemic. If she has heavy periods it will make her very, very sick. So she takes birth control. This was long after my father had a vasectomy. The law student's friend in the example takes them to avoid ovarian cysts. There are other reasons. Others and others and others, and it would be really, really nice if people would stop treating women who need to take birth control as if they're doing it so they can go out and have orgies every single night.

[nagaina_ryuuoh]

My feelings on the matter are very simple: there are no good/pure/legitimate reasons to take birth control and there are no bad/slutty/illegitimate reasons to take birth control, and fuck anyone who says otherwise. Whether you're taking BC to prevent anemia, dysmenorrhea, migraines, or, y'know, actually getting pregnant, the purpose of birth control is prevention and it should be treated as such, period.

[kalikahuntress]

This exactly, why is preventing pregnancy an illegitimate reason I will never understand.

[the__ivorytower]

Most verily do I say, fuck yeah.

[doctorcaligari]

Preach it, sister. Amen.

[thenakedcat]

THANK YOU. Living in Colorado Springs, I've had to suffer through this bullshit on the opinion page of the local paper (which has just about enough journalistic integrity to line a shelf) for days now.

Right now I'm insured, thanks to the ACA's requirement that children be eligible for their parents' coverage until age 25, but Tricare was late in implementing the provisions. That meant for a couple months last year I was faced with a choice between the antidepressants that allow me to get out of the bed in the morning or the HBC that keeps me from dissolving into a puddle of tears once a month....and the HBC lost out because of daily vs. monthly benefits. The drugs I use are very basic generics with relatively low retail cost but even so my unemployed ass could only pay one at a time. I may be BACK in the same boat within the next 6 months, when I age out of my parents' coverage, because my mental health issues mean I'll likely end up in the Colorado High Risk Pool--another ACA innovation which is far better than the private

[eyelid]

Am I expected to believe that a woman going to Georgetown Law School (Full time tuition: 23,000 dollars per year) can’t scrape together the money for birth control pills

uh... how is the fact that she's forced to pay $23,000 a year in tuition (before living expenses, and while not being able to hold a signficiant job cause she's in school) somehow a point in FAVOR of her being able to afford contraception?

Earth to bookkeeper: having to pay $23,000 per year in tuition means you have LESS money. Not MORE money.

(in fact, as is probably obvious to anyone who isn't an idiot conservative, Fluke's probably taking on that $23,000 in student loan debt, as most law students do. As, in fact, I did when I was in law school.)