I had forgotten that I had given Planned Parenthood a few bucks in honor of Karen Handel, until I got this formal acknowledgement from my local affiliate, which made me laugh (as always, click to embiggen). I think my next donation will go out in honor of Nancy Brinker, who billed the Komen foundation $133K in expenses, including first-class air travel, while she was employed by the State Department as the Chief of Protocol.
Here’s the donation link, and here’s why you donate:
I had a pelvic scan and they found a huge cyst in my uterus. “The size of a grapefruit” the doctor told me, as if it were a thing to behold. They removed the cyst, and prescribed birth control pills to help keep a new cyst from forming. There’s where the trouble started.
I went to the local Walgreens to fill the prescription. I was on my parent’s insurance, and didn’t know the ins and outs of what was and wasn’t covered. When I went to pick up the prescription, it rang up at $80. For a one month supply. “What about insurance?” I asked. The heinous woman behind the counter said, as loudly and as self-righteously has she could, “insurance doesn’t cover BIRTH CONTROL! ! ! !” She didn’t say “you SLUT” but I know that she was thinking it.
There was no way I could afford to spend over $800 a year on this prescription. I was horrified by the way the woman spoke to me. I was going to just have to take my chances that the cysts didn’t return. Thankfully, someone, I don’t know who, told me that there was a Planned Parenthood on campus.
I went there, and the people were so kind that I cried with relief. The pills to help keep me from getting cysts— which also happen to keep me from getting pregnant if I were sexually active— were free.
I will never forget that experience. It taught me a lot about the importance of having access to women’s health care, for my whole body. It taught me first hand about the stupidity of self-righteousness.
Percysowner
I love the idea of giving in Karen Handle’s name. Maybe the next time I donate I will give it in the name of the Pope or maybe Rick Santorum. After all, their all out crusades to stop birth control for Catholics and non-Catholics alike reminded me that I need to start supporting this cause.
Litlebritdifrnt
Mistermix are you the resident climate change guru? I can’t remember but there is an explosive piece in the Guardian today
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/feb/15/leaked-heartland-institute-documents-climate-scepticism?CMP=twt_gu
Litlebritdifrnt
BTW posted this downstairs but it needs repeating:
So which brainiac in the Santorum campaign thought it would be a good idea to produce an ad where Romney (Rombo) is shooting shit (santorum) out of a gun? I know they SAY it is supposed to be mud, but come on when I saw it this morning I couldn’t believe the stupidity.
Face
“Thank you for….?” The handwriting is the suxxors.
RedKitten
Shit like that pisses me off to no end.
For starters, there are a lot of non-sexual reasons to take oral contraceptives. These scolds who would outlaw the pill would also be dooming a lot of women to reproductive issues (or dermatological issues, as many women take the pill for bad acne).
And secondly, it is NONE of the pharmacist’s fucking business as to why a woman is getting the pill. If it was prescribed to her, then her doctor wanted her to have it. And the pharmacist needs to STFU and fill the prescription. The only time they should be offering their opinion is to remind women about any contraindications, and to remind them that it’s most effective when taken at the same time every day.
Grrr…
If that’d been my daughter, I would have been raising holy hell.
RedKitten
@Face: Thank you for standing with Planned Parenthood, I think. It took me awhile to decipher it as well.
beltane
I realize that there are many women who take birth control pills for reasons other than birth control but I am not entirely comfortable in using these women as the main justification for including contraceptive coverage in insurance plans. For me, a “slut” has just as much a right to have her birth control pills covered as does a 35 year old virgin with ovarian cysts. The right is perfectly happy to go along with framing that promotes a distinction between chaste women with health issues and dirty sluts who use birth control pills so that they can have sex with their husbands and boyfriends.
R-Jud
@RedKitten: Yep, that’s what it says. My handwriting is equally as bad, so it was easy for me to read.
Elizabelle
@RedKitten:
You cyphered it well.
I was hoping it didn’t say “Thank you for us fondling with Planned Parenthood.”
ant
A good friend mine’s 15 year old son was going over to some chics house with a buddy a while back. On the way, they stopped off to get some condoms, just in case.
The nice lady behind the counter refused to sell the condoms to the boy. “You’re too young to be having sex” she told him.
Kid told his dad about it too.
nice eh?
Schlemizel
On another blog I read regularly there was a troll that always made everything about how abortion was murder and Obama was a murderer and a lot of tin foil hat crap. There was no reasoning with this troll and every tactic tried failed. About a year ago the troll dropped a particularly nasty turd so I replied “I just donated $5 to Planned PArenthood in your name. I am going to do that every time you post here until you stop the crazy.”
I had to keep that up for a few weeks, one day cost me $40 I really didn’t have but I counted every post that was crazy & congratulated the troll for the PP donations and thanked it for the not-insane posts that saved me $5 (I thought for a moment the troll was going to accept training). I even asked the troll for an address I could have PP send the tank-you notes to! Finally it went away & has never been back. Since I already gave money to PP it was not that big a deal, although I was really scared I would not be able to cover the deal there for a while.
Damn but it is fun doing well by doing good! And Tootie, where ever you are, rot in hell!
Ash Can
And in other news, President Obama is headed to Wisconsin today. Scott Walker is going to meet him at the airport, then attend Obama’s appearance at the local Master Lock factory. What could possibly go wrong??
RedKitten
@beltane: Oh, I agree completely, beltane. Absolutely. I was just pointing out that it is ludicrous for these individuals to think that birth control is only used by unmarried sluts. It’s used by virgins with bad acne. It’s used by married women who want to space apart their childbearing.
I guess I was just pointing out that their judgment is not only mean and wrong, but based on some pretty erroneous assumptions.
RedKitten
@Schlemizel: Nicely done!!!
beltane
@ant: Well, if he’s too young to be buying condoms he’s too young to be a Dad. As a parent of teenagers, I keep a box of condoms in the bathroom closet. I don’t care if they’re giving them away or selling them, I just want them to have easy access in case of emergency.
Joey Maloney
@Ash Can: You think he’ll wag his finger in the President’s face? Cross-eyed dicknose motherfucker.
Guster
@beltane: This.
I love my male privilege and heteronormative benefits, but sometimes I’m afraid that they just don’t go far enough. What kind of man doesn’t want women to have access to birth control? I’m pretty in touch with my jerkass self, and I think I speak for 90% of my gender/orientation when I say, wtf?
Obviously access to healthcare is a big issue for women, but how is this not a huge issue for straight men on the prowl, too? “The Republicans think every time you get laid, you should become a father all over again. Remember back when you lost your virginity? That’s how old your oldest child would be in Republicanland.”
middlewest
@Litlebritdifrnt: Watts Up with That is on the Koch payroll. Surprise, surprise.
Elizabelle
OT, but this story bothers me a bit:
In Washington DC, a TV reporter has pulled herself off the air (for a week) because she reported on a local liquor store that sells to minors. She has teenaged children, and they’re getting harrassed in school and on Facebook.
Not a profile in courage. If all it takes is some online and personal nastiness, think of the stories that won’t get covered so that one can fit in to one’s community.
(The TV station is still running the reporting. They’re using a male reporter to narrate the stories. Maybe he’s got tougher kids, or no kids, or old kids…)
Our professional media.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/wusa-reporter-balks-after-backlash-over-teen-drinking-stories/2012/02/14/gIQAmE3tER_print.html
beltane
@Guster: In Republicanland David Vitter gets to be a good Christian and spokesman for family-values while the women he had sex with are referred to as whores. Look at Erick Erickson’s handwringing over the attire of young female CPAC attendees for another example of this.
Schlemizel
@beltane:
When my daughter moved into the dorm there was a “condom captain” on every floor whos job it was to hand them out as requested. I made it clear to my little princess that I didn’t care if she never needed them but she damn well sure better use one every time it might be necessary.
People who think denying prevention equals denying sex are ignoring a million years of human history.
Ash Can
@Joey Maloney: That was the first thing I thought of. Walker’s easily dumb enough to do that. And I’m sure the workers at Master Lock will be blowing Walker kisses too.
Gin & Tonic
I wish someone in that story would have reported the exchange with the pharmacy tech or clerk behind the counter to the regional manager. My wife has worked as a pharmacist in these sorts of large retail establishments, and if she had said that she’d be off the payroll that same day. That’s a HIPAA violation, plain and simple.
Donut
The adult uterus-haver in my house has suffered from cysts in the past, and in fact was on a low dose of the Pill when she got pregnant with our daughter. Cysts are no laughing matter, and I guess I should be thankful that we live in one of the largest metro areas in the country. We aren’t immune to the slut-shaming nor the “conscientious” pharmacists who refuse to fill scripts, but at least we have it easy when it comes to finding alternatives. No one should have to tolerate that. These assholes are so up in arms about government being in healthcare, but I’m just as pissed about Jesus in my healthcare. Don’t want Jesus anywhere near medical records, thanks, and the First Amendment works both ways, assholes.
Bulworth
Yeah, but, but, but, 95% of what PP does is abortion!! //
Snarki, child of Loki
@RedKitten: yeah, agreed.
Aways a good idea to have a snappy comeback ready in advance (because you never can think of them at the time):
Wingtard: “insurance doesn’t cover BIRTH CONTROL! ! ! !”
Response: “Yeah, but I GUESS IT COVERED YOUR LOBOTOMY!”
Highway Rob
@Mistermix, if a lurker may intrude, here’s a link to the PP donation page that allows targeted giving.
Schlemizel
@Bulworth:
and they did just build that massive abortionlex with the huge profits they make.
Guster
@beltane: Yeah. It just freaks me out because Republicans run around pretending they’re the Party of Straight Hetero Alpha Manly Men, and pull this shit constantly. I don’t know _any_ straight men who want to get a woman pregnant every time they get lucky. I guess Santorum and that Duggars guy. But other than freaks?
I guess I’m longing for one Democrat who kicks them in the balls over this stuff in explicitly macho terms. “The Republican message to all the men out there is, every time you get lucky, you also get baby. If what you think when you see a hot woman in a bar is, ‘I really want to get _her_ pregnant,’ vote Republican.” I don’t know who’s tough enough, though. I bet Wasserman Schultz could pull it off.
Schlemizel
@Guster:
As far as a group of people who want to have every encounter=baby if you have not googled “full quiver” I would very strongly advise you not to unless you have a strong stomach and are prepared for the worst.
BTW – the beloved Duggers are full quiver assholes but that gets ignored by GE/NBC/Universal every time those inbreed hicks appear on one of their outlets.
Bulworth
@Schlemizel: Yeah, I read all about that. So awesome. That Onion paper sure does some good reporting that the MSM won’t!!
harlana
@Schlemizel: my mom is over 80 years old and she remembers very well, when she was young, that a nice lady (i assume from PP or a similar organization) used to hand out condoms to the local ladies, including my grandmother! this was totally non-controversial at the time, in a small southern town, (this would be sometime in the 1940’s.)
and, some 70 years later, here we are.
beltane
@Guster: Bill Clinton could pull it off if he wanted to but of course he won’t. Just the thought of it makes me laugh because it would truly drive them over the edge.
MomSense
There are lots of us who take birth control to treat medical conditions like blood disorders. Why are these extreme Christian Sharia types so stupid???
Here in Maine, seniors take bus trips to Canada to buy prescription drugs. Are we going to have to charter buses to buy condoms next??
This is beyond absurd.
Biscuits
I think a snappy comeback and a reminder of HIPPA all wrapped up in a nice YouTube posting of the actual event would do nicely. These people need to be named and shamed.
Chris
@RedKitten:
Isn’t the Catholic Church okay with contraception for non-sexual reasons?
They’d still be banning it for all sexual reasons and they’d still have “their” hospitals reviewing every case determining to their satisfaction what is and isn’t a legit (e.g. non-sexual) cause for taking it and whether or not they’ll hand it out, so I’m not minimizing the fact that they’re gigantic fucking assholes. I’m just saying, I thought they were okay with contraceptives in some cases.
Guster
@beltane: Oh, God. That would be priceless. Bill Clinton. They would explode. Makes me laugh, too.
I saw a chart somewhere (TPM?) about how much better Dems are doing with women and Reps are doing with men. I know it’d be sexist and all, but I’d love to see the numbers among men if Democrats embraced the label of the pro-blowjob party and Republicans were the ‘don’t touch unless you want to get her pregnant’ party.
Of course, I also think that a good argument for gay marriage is, “Unlike my Republican friends, I don’t obsess about man-on-man sex. I don’t spend half my time thinking about gays. They want to get married? Let them get married. None of my business. I’m not conservative, so I don’t want to stick my nose into the private lives of homosexuals.”
So many my political instincts aren’t infallible.
beltane
@Chris: You’re right on that. The Church excels at legalistic parsing of issues, and birth control pills are perfectly acceptable to them if they are used off-label for an non-contraceptive purpose just as they are OK with terminating an ectopic pregnancy by removing the fallopian tube. This is why I really don’t think we ought to be justifying the coverage of birth control pills on the grounds that they are sometimes prescribed for other reasons. All we will accomplish by doing so is to allow the Republicans to carve out a “sensible” exception to their rule for cases where birth control pills are prescribed for cysts, etc. F*ck that.
sharl
@Elizabelle: There might be reasons to not be too hard on Andrea McCarren. She has some personal history with aggrieved subjects of her reporting, including my former County Exec, a real scumbag named Jack Johnson (who is now in a place where he deserves to be).
I could see her remembering this incident, and not wanting to have that sort of thing visited on her kids. It may not be right – and if she is pulling her punches as a reporter because of it, perhaps she should reconsider her career options – but maybe it is understandable.
Soonergrunt
@Ash Can: The President needs to just walk right past him at the airport, and then during his speech at the factory, call out “those who don’t support American labor will get short shrift from my administration.”
dmsilev
@Soonergrunt: Apparently, it’s a moot point. Latest reports are that Walker canceled the factory visit due to stomach flu.
Hill Dweller
Walker has decided to skip the factory tour due to stomach flu, but he will still meet the President at the airport.
Interrobang
@Guster: I’m Canadian, so maybe it doesn’t carry over, but aside from the “I’m not conservative” bit, that’s pretty much the exact argument my very conservative family uses in favour of same-sex marriage. As far as they’re concerned, it neither picks their pockets nor breaks their legs, so what’s the problem?
I fear that strain of conservatism is exceedingly endangered in the US, though.
I’d also like to see the Democrats take a line like that on sex, too. Might be even better if they could get an older woman to say something, too. A lot of the Republican framing implies strongly that women shouldn’t like sex, except as a means to baybeez, and I’m willing to bet that some Democratic woman saying “You know what? I like sex way more than I like having babies, and I bet your wife does, too,” would play pretty well in Peoria.
harlana
@dmsilev: awww, how convenient – republican tough guys indeed.
Soonergrunt
@dmsilev: @Hill Dweller: I’m sure if I were him I wouldn’t be able to stomach the reception I’d get at the factory either. Meeting the President at the airport will happen on the tarmac because having AF1 in the background is always good optics regardless of the weather and also because it’s a secured area where the unwashed masses won’t be allowed, and therefore he won’t have to look at or deal with them.
harlana
@Hill Dweller: if it’s true, i hope he has the trots really, really bad while standing on the tarmac, perhaps that will be his “Jan Brewer” moment. :D
Schlemizel
@harlana:
Odd, back in 69-70 I attended a public discussion on birth control at the U of MN. I don’t remember the nice lady that spoke but I very clearly remember her talking about having been arrested in a couple of states for giving out the information and displaying the devices. She said she was in jeopardy of that in MN so she used a garbage bag to demo condoms & a tupperware bowl for a diaphram and shave cream for spermicide.
MN used to outlaw condom machines & most states required that a warning be displayed “For prevention of disease only! NOT for pregnancy prevention”
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: That’s what I read, too.
MomSense
@beltane
The use of oral contraception may be acceptable to the church if it is taken for non-contraceptive purposes, but it is certainly not cheaper. Exclusion of oral contraceptives from health insurance prescription coverage creates a financial burden.
This is my story. I think it is important that we women join all of our stories together. The common thread is that as women we are capable of using our moral agency to make decisions for our own health and well being. Sexual health is one part of our general health and well being.
harlana
@Schlemizel: oh wow, that is both hilarious and tragic at the same time.
my 2nd cousin, a social worker, got written up in the local paper for demonstrating condom use with a banana at my old high school, this was just a few years ago – at the time she was scared to death she was going to lose her job!
perhaps, next time, she should try the garbage bag approach.
XD
slag
@Schlemizel: Ha! I can’t remember how much money Brick Oven Bill has acquired for NARAL, PP, and NOW, but it’s at least in the triple digits. Good ol’ BOB…such a giver.
Soonergrunt
@harlana: what’s really fucked up about that is that back in the late 1980s, when I was going to high school in Colorado, sex ed was a week-long unit of freshman science (either biology or life science) that was pretty explicit. My teacher was very straight forward about answering ANY question that came up. Since there was a box for anonymous written questions, he had some pretty explicit ones.
In my school of 1700 students, I don’t remember that many girls getting pregnant. Less than 5 the whole four years.
How the hell did this nation become so prudish? How the hell did we let that happen?
Epicurus
And the very first response to this kind of asshattery is to ask to speak to the woman’s supervisor. She had absolutely zero business questioning the ethics of a person obtaining medicine; none at all. Screw these bluenosed busybodies…unless you have the letters “M.D.” after your name, I’m not really interested in your medical advice. Sure, I’ll be glad to ask a pharmacist what possible drug interactions or side effects are known, please keep your moral advice to yourself. Christ on a cracker, these folks piss me off.
LawyerInTheMaking
Hell yeah cysts are no laughing matter. I had one on one of my ovaries in 2007 that grew to the size of a softball/grapefruit. It was discovered when it twisted my ovary into the fallopian tube and almost ruptured. It ended up choking my ovary and subsequently the ovary died. I had to have emergency surgery to remove it and I could have died from internal bleeding had they not caught it before it burst.
I’d much rather have just paid the $10-20 copay for the pill! The pain associated with this was UNBELIEVABLE. And to think, I just thought I had cramps at first. I’ll say this: If you’ve never been in so much pain that you’re deliriously vomiting, hallucinating, and literally can’t see straight you haven’t LIVED.
F*CK THESE ASSHOLES WITH A RUSTY SCREWDRIVER.
shortstop
@MomSense:
In the Grumpy Old Men thread last night, I talked about the very high costs of a surgery and subsequent prescription for a common condition that’s treatable with oral contraceptives. I noted that the pill wasn’t applicable in my case, but that for other women, covering BCs could save quite a bit of money in surgical costs later. I honestly don’t know how Catholic organizations handle oral contraceptives for conditions other than pregnancy — do they generally allow the prescription but decline to pay for it?
Deb T
I had to take birth control pills for cyst prevention at one time. Luckily, this was before everyone got so hysterical about why we even needed birth control pills (for sexy funtime or something else???). That was in the 80ies. I can’t even believe how regressive the policies toward women’s health care have become.
twiffer
@beltane: i don’t see them being used as the main justification. i consider it an addendum, as in: it’s none of your business why someone needs this.
MomSense
@Shortstop
The problem goes far beyond Catholic organizations. Until the Affordable Care Act I think only about half the states required that insurance plans include contraception for women in their coverage. Certainly, my insurance company didn’t make a distinction between birth control and treatment for non-contraceptive purposes. In my state the law was passed in 1999 but I still had to pay co-pays which were not cheap.
I had to start taking “the pill” in high school to treat a blood disorder and I well remember the disapproving looks and comments when I had to pick up my prescription. It didn’t help that I was a preacher’s kid in a very, small town either.
Bubblegum Tate
I just set up my monthly contribution to PP last night. What’s that feeling you get when you know you’ve become a part (albeit a small one) of the solution? It’s a nice feeling.
shortstop
@MomSense:
December 2000, I think.
harlana
@Soonergrunt: yah, i just don’t remember this attitude when i was growing up, that’s for sure – birth control was about as controversial as not liking pie – srsly, and i grew up in a small town in the south! (i honestly don’t remember much of sex-ed, i think it was minimal, but at least they tried)
Hence, just exactly WHO are they trying to appeal to here? But, hey, keep it up, guys – it’s working out great for our side.
Ruckus
@Soonergrunt:
How the hell did this nation become so prudish? How the hell did we let that happen?
Of course you know there have always been segments as prudish. I’m a geezer and when I was in HS there were many things we could not do or even discuss. A pregnancy would get a girl booted out. Sex education was something discussed under the bleachers with your buddies.
Your second question is the one I want an answer to.
MomSense
@shortstop
I think that only dealt with Employer provided health insurance benefits. Doesn’t cover folks who are self insured- ie non group coverage.
shortstop
@MomSense: Not sure, but you didn’t make that distinction — that you were self-insured — and the vast majority of people who have health insurance get it through their employers. Thanks for clarifying now.
kideni
@dmsilev: As someone said on another blog, even Walker’s guts hate his guts. I just hope Obama has some hand sanitizer on him; I don’t want him catching Walker cooties.
And reflecting on the post, I had the exact same experience the first time I went to fill my contraception prescription, and it was a Walgreen’s too, though it was a male pharmacist who sneeringly informed me and everyone else in the store that my insurance didn’t cover birth control. And I was getting it so that I could be a responsible slut. I was so happy to learn that I could get my meds at the college infirmary at a much lower cost, and the NP there took it upon herself to chew out the pharmacist for me (she knew who he was).
Spadizzly
@harlana:
I found the garbage bags to be too tight to the point where they cut off the circulation.
ABL
@Schlemizel: awesome.