Sunday's Washington Post had a perfect first-person story about a woman who unexpectedly found out how screwed up our laws are regarding both emergency contraception and abortion when her inability to get one directly caused the other. Fascinating reading.
The conservative politics of the Bush administration forced me to have an abortion I didn't want. Well, not literally, but let me explain.
I am a 42-year-old happily married mother of two elementary-schoolers. My husband and I both work, and like many couples, we're starved for time together. One Thursday evening this past March, we managed to snag some rare couple time and, in a sudden rush of passion, I failed to insert my diaphragm.
Thanks to Feministing for pointing to the woman's piece as well as her Monday follow-up chat where she is told repeatedly that she is the one "at fault" for not using birth control that one time . I guess in some people's minds women are supposed to be perfect human beings whose birth control never fails or who never get raped. That's why the FDA doesn't need to approve Plan B because we shouldn't be making mistakes in the first place. Glad we got that cleared up!
--Rachel Joy Larris |
Monday, June 5, 2006 4:32 PM
