A Banner Week for Women's Health

In case any of you happen to live under a rock and have not been watching the news for the past week, women's health was again at the forefront of news broadcasts and publications beginning last week, with Pfizer's announcement that it was recalling 14 lots each of Lo/Ovral-28 and generic Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol birth control tablets.  I really had no concept of how many women this recall would affect at the time, but apparently, approximately 1 million packets were recalled, because some placebo pills were accidentally intermixed with active tablets.  It will be interesting to see what the implications of this grave mistake are (my money is on more than a few lawsuits).

Then, later in the week, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, one of the most visible breast cancer organizations, with a focus on providing care for early detection, and also on honoring survivors, announced that it was withdrawing its significant financial support from the Planned Parenthood organization, which, among other activities (such as providing breast cancer screening or getting access to it elsewhere for women who would not otherwise have access), happens to be the country's leading provider of abortions.  The news spread like a wildfire via the internet, with Facebook and Twitter users and bloggers alike (myself included) voicing their opposition to or support of the foundation's decision.  Within 24 hours, the Komen Foundation's CEO rescinded the decision, but not before the abortion debate was awakened again.

I have discussed abortion, and the pro-choice/pro-life debate with many of my friends, and I think each of us, no matter which side of the argument we fall on, has a problem with the language that is used in the debate.  I personally identify with the pro-choice argument, because I believe that it should be a woman's right to choose how to respond if she accidentally becomes pregnant, whether by consensual sex or by the act of rape.  I honestly do not know what I would do were I to find myself in that situation (and I hope that I never do), but I think it is my right to exercise control over my own body.  I say all of this with a caveat: while I am pro-choice, I also do not believe that women should go around having lots of random, unprotected sex and then, in the event that they do become pregnant, get an abortion. However, going back to how important language is in the construction of this debate, just because I identify with pro-choicers does not at all that I am pro-death or anti-life.  That, I believe, is where the problem lies.
I was just reading responses to an editorial in the New York Times regarding the Catholic Church and its strict pro-life stance (to the extent that Catholic institutions, such as the one I graduated from and now work for will not provide methods of birth control to employees or patients.  This means that, for example, were a woman whose doctor practices in a Catholic hospital be prescribed birth control, she could not fill the prescription in the hotel's pharmacy).  What I noticed, as I was reading these responses, was that all of them came from MEN.  Check it out.  Ladies, whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, I think we should all be able to agree that what we do with our bodies should not be dictated by a man, much less an organization whose entire leadership is MALE.  I am a practicing Catholic, and I certainly do not want my church's leadership, much less my government or my employer, to dictate my reproductive health.

I know that this is WAYYYYYYYY more political than I ever get on my blog, but this issue has really been on my mind a lot in the past week, so I wanted to get my thoughts out there.  I think that it is vitally important for all women, no matter what their political leanings, to be effective advocates for their own health, and the current news items that I have highlighted in this post further solidify that sentiment in my mind.  Please know that I respect any and all opinions that all of my readers have on this subject, because, as many have said, this really is the biggest and most divisive issue in American politics today, and it is certainly not black and white. I fully encourage you to voice any differing opinions that you may have here!