More attacks on women's reproductive health rights: Several days ago, the Wisconsin State Assembly narrowly passed a bill that would ban the University of Wisconsin system (which consists of 26 schools, including the one at which I teach) from prescribing and dispensing emergency contraception (a.k.a. the morning-after pill). To become a state law, the bill has to pass the state Senate and be approved by Governor Jim Doyle. Doyle has said that if the bill comes to his desk, he will veto it. If the bill does eventually does become a law, it will be the first of its kind in the nation.
The bill was introduced by Representative Dan Le Mahieu (R-Oostburg) after he learned about the UW-Madison Health Center's efforts encouraging students going away for spring break to bring this pill with them. The Health Center's goals were to prevent unwanted pregnancies that could arise from condom breakage, date rape, and other alcohol-induced sexual mishaps. In contrast, LeMahieu believed that the Health Center's efforts promoted promiscuity by providing students with a way to have lots of sex without having to face the consequences. This logic is similar to the logic used by religious conservatives opposed to the HPV vaccine: If students know they can take a pill to prevent unwanted pregnancies, then they will just make like bunnies the whole time they are away on break. And given that most of these students are unmarried, LeMahieu believes it is morally wrong for the UW system to promote immoral behavior such as premarital sex.
The second reason why LeMahieu and other Representatives support the bill is because they believe that emergency contraception does not simply prevent pregnancy but instead ends pregnancy. This misguided belief is based on the controversial claim that pregnancy begins at conception rather than at implantation, which is when most medical professionals view pregnancy to begin. Although the morning-after pill can in some instances cause an implanted embryo to become disimplanted, the pill was developed to prevent implantation--and even conception itself --from occurring in the first place. This is why a woman is supposed to take the pill up no later than 72 hours after unprotected sexual intercourse, because it takes about 24 hours after sex for conception to occur, and another a 5-7 days after that for implantation to occur.
In a recent edition of the sex column Savage Love, columnist Dan Savage argued that the religious right is attacking not simply gay rights anymore but also--and perhaps even more so--heterosexual rights. His evidence? The recent efforts by religious conservatives to block plans to make emergency contraception available without a prescription, to limit access to abortion, and to speak out against an HPV vaccine for women. Savage argued that these recent efforts demonstrate that the religious right is not simply against gay rights per se, but sexuality and sex more generally.
Although I do not disagree with Savage, I think the religious right's attacks on heterosexuals is not aimed at heterosexuals in general but instead at heterosexual women. For instance, you don't hear about the religious right trying to block insurance coverage of viagra for fear that promoting its use may encourage promiscuity and premarital sex among men. Nor do you hear about state representatives trying to block universities from dispensing condoms. As I stated yesterday in my post on the HPV vaccine for women, all these recent measures seem to be primarily geared at controlling and limiting women's sexuality and sexual autonomy. And this is not good.
No comments:
Post a Comment