Thursday, August 30, 2012

The real war on women

Okay, too much Kool-Aid has been consumed in this country.  I am so tired of the ignorant, including Jay Leno, claiming the Republicans are waging war on women.  Taking a position on freedom of religion, and the fact that a woman can easily afford a $4.00 a month prescription from WalMart for birth control is not waging a war on women.  Requiring an organization that performs abortions to seek private funding again is not waging a war on women.

What is a REAL war on women is as follows, and has been perpetrated by this administration and its party.

1)  In November, 2009, a Government health panel, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, whose positions influence what is paid under Medicare, and thus trickles down to insurance companies, says women should not get mammogram screenings in their 40s, should only get mammograms once every other year between 50 and 75  ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33973665/ns/health-cancer/t/new-mammogram-guidelines-raise-questions/#.UD9hfNZlTno ), then after that, well, who the hell cares - when you are a woman over 75 you are only a drain on the system, right?  The same government panel also claims breast self-exams are worthless.  I personally know several women who saved their own lives with breast self-exams and finding lumps, but hey, that just can't be true, can it?  After all, the government panel says breast self-exams are worthless, and the government must be right.  This task force's guidelines, released under the Obama administration (and in conjunction or as a prelude to Obamacare, it seems), will result in higher death rates down the road, if followed.  Fortunately, not many doctors are following it.  And, if women have to pay out of pocket for regular mammograms (far more expensive than $48.00 a year for BCP), many will forego the needed exams.  To me, this equals a war on women.

2)  In March 2012, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, again, that pesky government task force, under the Obama administration, released new cervical cancer screening guidelines, again reducing the amount of screening women will ultimately get.  You can read the guidelines here http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/uspscerv.htm but in a nutshell, screening is to take place every 3-5 years for women between 21 and 65 (women are sexually active outside that age range) , and, more importantly, in the "throw grandma under the bus" theme, "The USPSTF recommends against screening for cervical cancer in women older than age 65 years . . . ."  Because, once again, older women are only a drain on the country, so let 'em die of cervical cancer for lack of adequate screening.  Again, PAP and HPV tests cost way more than $48.00 a year prescriptions for birth control pills at WalMart, so let's pay for the BCPs and not the screening that can save women's lives, right Mr. President and the Democratic Party?  More war on women thanks to those who claim the Republicans are waging a war on women because, they don't want to pay for BCPs for recreational sex or pay for abortions.

People, open your eyes and educate yourself.  Don't listen to party rhetoric.  I know that people like Jay Leno (who claimed the Republican party was waging a war on women earlier this week when he was interviewing Dennis Miller) won't read this, but I hope a few people will and learn what a real war on women entails.  A war on women allows women to die from lack of adequate screening - it does not result from asking women to take responsibility for their own recreation and pay less than $50.00 a year for birth control, or if they decide to take the life of the child they conceived, to pay for that choice as well.  Women can choose, but choices have consequences and costs, and those costs should not be borne by American taxpayers who had no hand in the woman's choice to have sex, become pregnant and terminate the pregnancy.

No comments: