So, tomorrow is “The Pill Kills Day” among anti-abortion activists. Some of them will even be protesting at the Planned Parenthood here in Nashville.
On the one hand, of course this makes complete sense. Anti-abortion activists do not believe that a woman should have control of what happens to her body. And The Pill gives women a great deal of control over what happens to our bodies.
But on the other hand, it really makes no sense. You could probably get most of America on-board with the idea that a lot of abortions are “wrong,” even if most of America still wants to be able to get an abortion when it needs it. But the Pill?
I can only assume that these anti-abortion activists have never had the kinds of cramps that make you seriously contemplate stabbing yourself through the back with a fork and plucking out your ovaries. Because, if they had, they would know that, when a woman, like any other animal, is scared and in pain, the truth comes down to “What will get me through the next minute?”
And if someone can promise you that, if you take this pill, you won’t feel pain like that again, you don’t really give a shit if someone, somewhere is concerned that, maybe, if you happen to ovulate while on it, even though there’s a 99.9999% chance that you won’t, and get pregnant, there’s a .00000000001% chance the pregnancy might not take.
Are anti-abortion activists really expecting women to be all like “Sure, take away the thing that keeps me from doubling over in pain. Take away the thing that lets me take this other medicine I need to live, because the pharmacist can’t give it to me otherwise. Etc.”
I mean, do anti-abortion activists even know all the reasons why women take The Pill? Are most women even aware that anti-abortion activists are taking on the Pill next?
Anyway, there’s a vigil planned for Dr. Tiller at the Planned Parenthood tomorrow, which you should check out. It goes from 9-11.
Here’s some stuff you can read:
Tiny Cat Pants 
Show up with counter signs that have a picture of Dr Tiller and a caption that say,
Anti-Abortionists Kill!
At least your sign will be saying something true.
I can only assume that these anti-abortion activists have never had the kinds of cramps that make you seriously contemplate stabbing yourself through the back with a fork and plucking out your ovaries.
And if they do, it’s a punishment from God. For original sin or something.
Actually Exador, my sign (assuming that I wake up in time for the protest, which on a Saturday I can never guarantee) is going to say,
“If the Pill Kills, can I carry it into a bar now?”
Take away the thing that lets me take this other medicine I need to live, because the pharmacist can’t give it to me otherwise.
Are you talking about me? ;-p
Because I can’t have my RA medicine if I don’t also take the pill.
My RA medicine, Methotrexate, is also used as…….
an abortifacent.
Yes. The same thing they give me is used in abortions.
I have to take it, because while my disease is called “arthritis” it also, when unchecked, does things like destroy my heart, lungs and eyes. It’s like cancer in that it is something that destroys your body. Which is why Methotrexate is chemotherapy.
Are we keeping score yet?
A drug used to perform abortions is also used to save the lives of cancer patients and Autoimmune patients.
I would never never never never dream of not taking this drug simply because it is also used on a daily basis to give women abortions. (It’s used for ectopic pregnancies.) I hate the drug–I really do–but I hate heart attacks and blindness and deformed hands and feet even more.
And I have to have the “killing” pill to have the other “killing” drug.
It’s ignorant to assume that one drug=one purpose. The only pills I can think of that serve only one medical purpose are Viagra and all the other bonermeds.
So my fellow pro-life people can just choke on their Pill Kills Day.
Let’s not forget those of us that have those horrible cramps that won’t let us move an inch for days at a time because we have a genetic clotting disorder – that, were we to accidentally get pregnant – would also kill us.
Also, they should know that the insurance companies don’t pay for tubal ligations or hysterectomies unless *immediately life-threatening* (i.e. I did accidentally get pregnant and was lucky enough to either miscarry or get an abortion – were it legal) or until I’m “old enough” to “be sure” I don’t “want” children or have already HAD at least 2 children (but, you know, see above). And I can’t pay for it myself either, because the doctor’s insurance won’t cover him to do the procedures for the same reasons they won’t cover me to have them.
So yes, I could decide to never ever have sex because an accidental pregnancy could kill me (if I didn’t kill myself form the three-days of anureysm inducing cramps and migraines) but what if I were raped?
Huh. Maybe their God just wants me dead regardless.
Usually, when ya’ll say something like ‘Anti-abortion activists do not believe that a woman should have control of what happens to her body’, I shake my head thinking that’s kinda stupid since that’s not what I tend to view pro-life folks as about. But then, they protest the pill. And I think ‘maybe you’re right’.
I wonder how they feel about my vasectomy?
The only pills I can think of that serve only one medical purpose are Viagra and all the other bonermeds.
Actually, even Viagra can widen arteries leading to a decrease in blood pressure and is being used to treat some forms of hypertension is being looked into as a treatment for a few other blood pressure related conditions.
I’ve been thinking for some time that oral contraceptives do so many other things besides prevent conception that they ought to be called by some name other than The Pill or birth control pills.
I also long for the day that “I take these pills because I am a sentient adult being and it is my valid choice to discourage the cells of a discrete (and as yet parasitic and nonsentient) being from taking up residence in me” can carry the same weight as “I take these pills because I have to.”
Idle idealism, I know.
even Viagra can widen arteries leading to a decrease in blood pressure and is being used to treat some forms of hypertension is being looked into as a treatment for a few other blood pressure related conditions
I knew as soon as I hit “Submit Comment” that I should have looked into it.
But boy….can you imagine trying to explain THAT side-effect in church?
I wonder how they feel about my vasectomy?
Silly. As long as you have a dick, your reproductive freedom is assured.
I checked their website and the theme this year is…
THE PILL KILLS WOMEN!
ThePillKills.com website lists different ways the Pill is harmful to women:
Increases risk of heart disease
Increases risk of breast cancer
Increases risk of cerebrovascular disease and cervical cancer
Increases risk of plaque buildup in arteries
Increases risk of raising your blood pressure
Increases risk of liver problems
The site also includes footnoted tragic examples of women who have been killed for using hormonal contraceptives, such as:
Julie Hennessey, a 31-year-old Irish woman, who died of a blood clot after taking the birth control pill, which caused her to develop deep vein thrombosis.
Ashley Lewis, a 17-year-old high school junior from St. Louis, MO, who died after developing a blood clot in her lung, because she was wearing the birth control patch for 6 months.
So we must ban the pill because some woman in Missouri got a blood clot. Makes perfect sense.
Wait! This is the year they pretend to care about women?! That’s rich. But again, here’s what I don’t get. One, you can die from trying to carry a baby to term and more women die during pregnancy than die of birth control related issues, and yet, they aren’t trying to stop women from getting pregnant. And, two, yes, indeed the Pill can kill you, as any doctor who puts you on it will warn you.
No medicine is 100% safe. So, what’s the point? You shouldn’t use the Pill because some other woman, sadly, had an incredibly unfortunate reaction to it?
In that case, none of us should ever take any medicine ever.
Say Uncle, I actually believe that they would have a problem with your vasectomy (all feminist snarking about how it’s okay because you’re a man aside). I think this branch of the anti-abortion movement is, at heart, deeply and strongly against sex for pleasure. That that’s what it comes down to for them–sex is for reproduction; it’s not for pleasure and they want to stop you from enjoying sex without the “right” consequences.
They focus on women for two reasons, I think. One, they’re smart enough to know that they will lose a lot of support from men if they come out and say “Um, yeah, you cannot have sex unless it’s to have children.” and two, they know that most Americans already feel somewhat ambivalent about abortion, so focusing on women who have abortions is an easy place to start.
It’s like they’re hoping for a slippery slope. If they can get us all to accept that abortion is evil, then they can get us to accept that birth control is evil, then they can get us to accept that all forms of birth control are evil, and then they can get us to accept that having sex for any other reason but to have kids is evil.
Even most folks who are uncomfortable with or completely against abortion don’t believe that having sex for pleasure is evil, so they have to let the cat out of the bag slowly or they’d lose a great deal of support.
You can get people to say, “Well, yeah, I think abortion is wrong,” but I don’t think you’re going to be a very popular money-making movement if you demand everyone but people actively trying to have kids stop having sex.
That just seems nutty. And yet, it seems to be the truth.
What the hell year is this? What Century? Perhaps it is time to resurrect Margaret Sanger, because I cannot believe that we are going to have to go over this ground again.
Ignorance, stupidity and lack of medical attention and reproductive knowledge costs women their lives and health. How on earth can these people advocate this for their wives, daughters and selves.
How about all those 50+ ladies that suddenly want Hormone Replacement Therapy to mitigate their menopausal symptoms, I do believe that’s another use for the Pill, nowadays.
Just to contribute a random tidbit – sildenafil (Viagra) has also been investigated for persistent pulmonary hypertension in NICU babies.
Now, why aren’t these folks protesting every other place that provides birth control, including county health departments, minute clinics, pharmacies everywhere, including those in Wal-Marts and grocery stores, and a whole bunch of physicians? Because that would look crazy.
Thanks!
Rachel–also because ‘good’ people shop in those places. Every woman who goes to PP is a slutty whore.
Need to clarify for those who don’t know me irl that the preceding comment was deeply sarcastic. I do not AT ALL believe in the concept of sluts let alone etc.
No, Coble, though I think you’re absolutely right about the dynamic. It’s like I was saying to Say Uncle up-thread–this core group’s ultimate goal is no sex except for procreation. They know, though, that you can’t just spring “Okay, well, we’re all going to be celibate except when we’re trying to have kids.” on most people. I mean, even people who wait to have sex until they’re married expect to be able to have sex when they want for the purposes they want when they’re married.
You’re going to tell married folks that the “I don’t care what your boss says, I think you’re the greatest thing since sliced cheese” fuck is out? Of the “Damn straight, you won that ball game and you looked hot doing it” fuck is out? Or the “I’ve been gone for way too long and I missed you like I missed my own heart” fuck is out?
Of course not.
The “nobody have sex, even the married folks” movement would be laughed out of the room.
So, start with the folks who are having sex that society already feels anxious about–women who might need to end a pregnancy–and oppress the crap out of them and then work your way up.
I think, and lord I hope I’m right, that they have over-estimated the positive reception an anti-pill message might get because so many people need the Pill for a lot of reasons not specific to “so I can get away with being a slutty slut.”
I think you can still get a lot of people to feel that having an abortion is a shameful thing, but getting people to feel that taking the Pill is a shameful thing?
That seems like a tough row to hoe.
I actually believe that they would have a problem with your vasectomy (all feminist snarking about how it’s okay because you’re a man aside). I think this branch of the anti-abortion movement is, at heart, deeply and strongly against sex for pleasure. That that’s what it comes down to for them–sex is for reproduction; it’s not for pleasure and they want to stop you from enjoying sex without the “right” consequences.
After you said this yesterday, I went and poked around — there is a ministry devoted to vasectomy reversal, e.g. So it’s probably not all that inaccurate to say this.
That said, you will never see a serious push to legislate away a dude’s reproductive freedom. Therein lies a significant difference.
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True enough. That said, I wonder how much of this has to do with the fact that it’s easier to try to control women’s reproductive choices – due not only to the aforementioned deep cultural biases focusing on women as gatekeepers to sex/babies, but also structural inequalities placing women in positions where they have fewer viable choices, and basic practical/scientific considerations like the fact that it’s easier to stop one thing from moving/changing/receiving a signal (an egg) than stopping thousands of them.
Easy: Women don’t fight back. Look at all the other crap that’s happening to us, even specifically in Tennessee: very few women elected to office; we’re still not making nearly the same money as men for the same work; we still don’t have access to quality childcare as in most other industrialized countries; etc.
Now, before y’all accuse me of blaming the victim, I realize that each of these examples is the product of a few sets of insidious circumstances. I’m just sayin’: I can’t really think of any example in which women have attained true, honest, equal parity. So why should this be any different?
It isn’t like women are equal in every other area of society and this particular issue is just a standout in which we’re inexplicably, not. They do this to us because they can. It’s just about that simple, unfortunately.
2+% of all tonsillectomies end up with a dead patient. When will they preach against that?
2+% death rate for heart valve replacement.
Let’s just go back to leeches………….