This Hobby Lobby sitch has me on blast. While I understand that it's not the responsibility of the company you work for to supply healthcare coverage for things they don't believe they should cover, I don't understand why they believe an anti depressant or a diabetic drug should take precedence over birth control used for a medical condition such as infertility. Birth control isn't only taken to prevent pregnancy people; the article below does a decent job of defending this. Furthermore, Viagra is still covered by hobby lobby, so that famous hard rift argument that this promotes promiscuity among women (false) doesn't seem to matter for men because let's face it the purpose of Viagra is to allow people to have sex. INSANE.
Women with PCOS or endometriosis can have menstrual cycles for weeks or months at a time, and I can attest to that. From the get go, I have been on birth control in order to regulate my VERY erratic cycles due to a hormonal imbalance unlike those would argue diabetes have with insulin resistance (which also goes hand in and with most PCOS'ers). I challenge any man behind this decision to have even 6 months of a period like many women have who have this health ailment. They would be poppin BC pills so fast they don't know what hit em. While I'm very PRO LIFE and anti-abortion, it is obvious to anyone who knows anything about the reproductive system that birth control used on a daily basis (unlike the morning after pill) is not anywhere close to the aforementioned. I think that the reason women are so shamed by infertility is because it's not recognized by many as a medical health condition. Clearly if our employers, who we bust ass making money for on a daily basis, don't even recognize infertility nor cover it, what's that telling us? That can make ya feel real alienated real fast. A majority of women who are seeking Reproductive Endo assistance are paying for these procedures and drugs out of pocket. Friends and complete strangers {who are now friends} who come across this blog come to me in private saying that they aren't "out" yet to anyone but support what I'm going through because they too have the same issues. People and employers need to begin to recognize infertility as a MEDICAL HEALTH CONDITION THAT WE DID NOT CHOOSE. We were born this way, arguably even more so than those struggling with other medical issues that ARE covered under your health insurance. My health insurance covers botox for Christ sake but it doesn't cover infertility!! Lets make sense of that, shall we?! Point is, it's not a choice to be in these shoes and some of you face the same struggles & lack of infertility coverage. This isn't even a "women's rights issue", this is an overall infertility/health coverage issue. My dear friend and her husband struggle through infertility because her husband was diagnosed with cancer years ago and had to undergo chemotherapy that literally wiped away every last healthy swimmer he has. My sister and her husband underwent IVF 3 years ago after 5 years of TTC because her husband torched a testicle during a soccer game as a young boy and lost all fertility in that testicle making his sperm count nearly undetectable. I have done everything in my power (low carb, non gluten, non dairy, high exercise, low exercise, gain weight, herbal meds, fertility meds, bla bla bla) and at the end of the day, the only thing that helps my body to respond with a hormonal balance that would warrant conceiving a child is fertility meds. It sucks, but it's real and I'm over the shame and blame and have come to accept the fact that " baby I was born this way" -- {Strikes Lady Gaga pose}.
In short, there are other health issues that warrant medical coverage to conceive a child. Wouldn't these conservative bible beaters who are pro baby making want to support coverage to those in strong conditions to parent a child but physically have been dealt a bad hand? So why spend so much time on stupid topics such as birth control yay or nay? People will go to Planned Parenthood and get the pack of BC for $10 OOP if they really want it! If people don't take a stand and speak out about infertility and medical ailments that should be covered by insurance, infertility will always be associated with shame and guilt.
MAKE YOUR "MESS YOUR MESSAGE" PEOPLE!
*drops microphone.......
No comments:
Post a Comment