To the Editor,
I would like to respond to the piece written by Harrison Searles entitled, “Economic foibles of mandating contraception” in the Opinion & Editorial section of Wednesday’s paper. While I believe it is our right to express our own opinions in the press and in this country, I have a few issues with this piece. I commend Searles’ piece as it tried to veer away from the overwhelming moral argument that has been the focus of this issue for quite some time. However, it was inaccurate, misrepresented and misinformed.
My first issue is with the title and tone of the piece itself. The phrase “mandating contraception” is misleading, and if more research is done on President Barack Obama’s health care reforms, you’ll find that contraception isn’t being forced on anyone. The thing about the president’s plan for healthcare is that it does not “[force] everyone to purchase health insurance” as Searles’ column will make it seem.
I don’t believe there is one person in this country who can’t say that they don’t want some form of health insurance to cover the costs of their medical needs and phrasing this plan as “forcing” is just more useless rhetoric. Under Obama’s reforms, any American can buy their own form of health insurance. The beauty of his reforms is that those who can’t afford their own health insurance, or the right insurance for their needs, will be provided with it anyway. Universal health care used in this way protects those who can’t protect themselves on their own wages while allowing the more well-off population to still choose.
But this is not the main reason why I’m upset over this piece. This piece is written from the perspective of Searles, a white male, who I’m assuming is middle-class. What is missing from this piece is the perspective from the group of people to mostly be affected by these healthcare reforms: women. And not just white, middle-class women, but all kinds, from every race and class. Comparing birth control to “toothpaste and soap” is an outrage and a slap in the face to every woman who relies on birth control in this country. Giving out the prices of condoms and the pill in the same sentence and then assuming what is “low cost” to everyone is a view which cannot be tolerated when there are so many different people affected by these reforms.
There are people in this country who have to choose between paying their bills and eating, let alone having the extra cash to pay for birth control. And “allowing such pills to be sold over the counter …” is not as feasible a solution as Searles seems to think. The pill is prescribed by a doctor for a reason. Its hormones can alter one’s body, and they have to be prescribed with an understanding of the patient’s body and chemical makeup. The problem isn’t availability, as the pill is manufactured every day and there are a large range of different brands. The problem is what it has always been in this country: access. Women who are less able to afford extras can’t spend money on birth control when they are struggling to pay their bills. The white middle class is never much affected by such things, so maybe Searles has never had to put much thought into this aspect, but it affects a majority of the country. Access has been the biggest hurdle for every minority group to overcome and it is why our system – a patriarchal, white system – is failing our country as a whole.
And we are ignoring the implications of what birth control does for the economy of our country. Searles tries to argue that “…they are taxing gays and lesbians, couples who are trying to have children, Catholics and the elderly … in order to provide services for the rest of society.” But the fact is, we are taxed for things every day that we don’t use. The elderly are taxed for school, people who don’t read are taxed for libraries in their towns and people whose houses don’t catch on fire are taxed for the fire station. When you live in a society that has diversity, you are going to have to have your taxes go far and wide and pay for many things, some of them apply to you, and some of them don’t. Not only that, but the costs of birth control versus the costs of a pregnancy and, as a result, another human, are much easier to deal with. Would you rather have women who can’t afford a child bringing babies into the world, or would you rather women have access to birth control and save everyone money (and heartbreak)?
So I hope that this sheds some light onto what was otherwise a very biased and uninformed article. I know Searles might not mean to be pushing such anti-feminist views, but they came off as degrading and offensive. The next time Searles condescends to call birth control a “nonsensical feature” or tells us to go out and buy condoms on Amazon.com instead, please don’t.
– Cameron Manderfield, University student
David Hunt '90 • Apr 2, 2012 at 4:28 pm
Brian:
Come the revolution, when we the producers decide that we’re sick of you the parasites, and you riot – remember what my hobby is.
Bring body armor, and notify your next of kin.
Brian • Mar 15, 2012 at 11:35 am
Dhunt, you just don’t get it, do you? As long as any kind of organized society exists at all, we MUST and we DO pay for other people to get stuff. Stuff like police protection and the right to a trial, at least (judges don’t work for free, you know). If you think that makes us all “parasites”, then I invite you to move to the one country in the world that has zero taxes and therefore doesn’t force you to pay for other people’s stuff: Somalia.
–
It’s a place where people live in constant terror as armed gangs rule the streets. So, you know, pretty much exactly what you seem to wish for.
David Hunt '90 • Mar 13, 2012 at 6:21 pm
Brian:
If my paying for your birth control is your “right”, what about my paying for your food, clothing, and shelter – which I think most people would agree are even more fundamental requirements than sex.
If yes, there’s a word for organisms that forcibly live at the expense of others: parasites.
In 2012 we either flush you tapeworms out of the system, or this country is headed for a civil war.
I’ll pay for your birth control when you pay for my ammunition. Since my soon-to-be-acquired toy shoots rounds upwards of a dollar each, somehow I think I’ll have the better end of the bargain.
OR… you can be an adult, suck it up, and pay for your own damned condoms instead of being a spoiled little brat whose parents should have slapped “Life isn’t fair” and “You get what you work for” into him early on.
Reality • Mar 8, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Why does it have to be assumed he is a white male? Is that not racist and sexist itself?
Your argument had me convinced til that point, and offended me so I will disagree with you on that principle alone, and I am neither of those things.
I am just confused how someone who parades themselves around as so open minded can be so hypocritical. Does hunger, pain, homelessness know a magical gender or ethnic boundary? No? Then shut up with the “white male” lock-step argument. It makes the rest of us look bad, as we all should be allies. Alienating them is no different then when they alienated us.
Brian • Mar 8, 2012 at 2:49 am
Hey Dhunt, maybe you have a point. Let me follow your line of thinking to its logical conclusion, since you seem to be so big on consistency and ideological purity:
I hereby refuse to pay taxes to support the provision of police protection to you in case someone tries to rob, murder or rape you. After all, following your own logic, why is it OK to TAKE my hard-earned money to provide you with something you feel you have a “right” to? Why should I be FORCED to pay for your bad lifestyle choices, such as walking through the wrong area of town at night? If you don’t want to pay for my health care, then I don’t want to pay for your police. If you tell me I have no right to something just because I need it, then I will tell you the same thing when you NEED someone to rescue you from that guy making you an offer you can’t refuse.
.
To argue that people have no obligation to provide for each other’s needs is to argue against the existence of society. All rights and laws are ultimately based on a human need.
Bigal • Mar 1, 2012 at 10:10 pm
Dhunt
I scanned your rant and you make some sense. But personally, I’d rather live in a world with fewer children that were accidents. Unplanned children are more likely to face challenges that we all pay for. Economically and quality of life.
It’s like I said before, it’s a dime now or a $ later. I guess you’d rather pay the $.
David Hunt '90 • Feb 28, 2012 at 7:50 pm
Bigal:
You mean birth control is not available now? I didn’t realize stores rationed them now.
You can buy condoms by the gross off Amazon, delivered to your door; when I was at the Zoo condoms and other forms of birth control were readily available at the on-campus stores. Has that changed? Every CVS and other drug store I’ve been in has a whole section devoted to condoms, foam, vaginal inserts, and other over-the-counter birth control. Has that changed in Amherst?
You are painting a false choice. Birth control measures are widely available, ubiquitous. What you’re really complaining about is that you want your jollies and for someone else to pay for them.
At the risk of sounding condescending – and I suppose I am being so – having to create a budget and prioritize does not go away after you graduate. In fact, it gets worse. You need to make DECISIONS about what’s more important to you. If sex umpteen times a week is that critical to you, then find some other expense and cut back. That’s the ADULT thing to do… not jumping up and down whining “It’s not fair, it’s not fair, I want I want I want!”
AIDS is supremely costly to “society”. Shall we have the “Protection Police” doing unscheduled inspections of couplers, making sure that those engaging in casual hookups are acting properly to prevent transmission?
Or, just perhaps, you can rise above the animal and, you know, exercise restraint?
Georgetown co-ed: Please pay for us to have sex … We’re going broke buying birth control
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/02/28/georgetown-co-ed-please-pay-for-us-to-have-sex-were-going-broke-buying-birth-control/
My habit, my pleasure, aside from my children, is buying and shooting guns. Should I force you to pay for my ammunition? Or my next acquisition? I’ve always wanted a .50 caliber semi-automatic Barrett rifle. I want. I want. So I guess I’ll get a law passed for you to pay for it.
OR… I can be an adult, start putting money aside, and make the purchase when I can afford it without resorting to legislated theft.
Bigal • Feb 27, 2012 at 8:45 pm
Dhunt
I hear your argument about not wanting to pay for other people’s lifestyle choices. But it’s a dime now or a dollar later. Sorry, but that’s a reality. Unwanted children are costly. The societal costs are HUGE. Much more expensive than birth control. There’s no way around that. If you’re concerned about your wallet than widely available birth control is what you should be clammering for.
David Hunt '90 • Feb 24, 2012 at 6:11 pm
hmm:
First, good to know where you stand on the evolutionary scale. I’m sure your parents are oh-so-proud their money is being spent wisely.
Second, I used logic, not insanity. Something that is a “positive right” – i.e., your RIGHT to have something, a good or a service, means that someone else is OBLIGED to supply it.
Brenda Kellman explicitly stated that sex is a “basic human right.” Well, I’m sure that there are those on campus whose basic human RIGHT is not being fulfilled. Therefore, I’m volunteering people on this board to have to fulfill that right for those whom are being denied that right. See how easy it is to give away things that don’t belong to you?
NOBODY is saying that you can’t have sex. Have sex all day long, with multiple people. Hump yourself silly. But spend your own money for it. The moment you DEMAND someone pay for your jollies, you are COMPELLING them to allocate their resources which they, left to their own devices, would probably put to other use.
When Positive and Negative Rights Collide
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2012/02/when-positive-and-negative-rights.html
Are Americans Pro-Slavery?
http://www.creators.com/opinion/walter-williams/are-americans-pro-slavery.html
Lastly, thanks for the insightful and well-thought through argument “you’re insane” and “dumb garbage” (sic – I’m sure you meant “dump garbage”). I guess that’s what passes for argumentation at the Zoo these days.
hmm • Feb 24, 2012 at 3:55 pm
also i would point out that you’re insane for comparing insurance coverage for contraception to universal government-mandated sex slavery, but i think it’s pretty obvious. it’s kinda funny that comments need to be ‘moderated’ on this site but they still let crazy trolls dumb garbage like this all over it.
hmm • Feb 24, 2012 at 3:53 pm
rutting like an animal in heat is always good. just because you’re ashamed of being an alive mammal doesn’t mean we all need to be.
David Hunt '90 • Feb 24, 2012 at 8:20 am
I am convinced. Sex is a “basic human right”. Which means I’ll be moving to Amherst and press-gang imposing each and every one of you into duty into the great Amherst People’s Free Brothel.
Yes, that’s right boys and girls – boys, you don’t escape your patriotic duty either – if having sex is a RIGHT, then like every “positive right” someone has an OBLIGATION to provide it.
You college students are the 1%. Fit. Young. Attractive. High drive. Do your patriotic duty and spread ’em… spread ’em for the geeky, pimply-faced beanpole two-pump-chump, or the obese guy who has to lift his belly flap to even find his equipment. Don’t they have the same right to sex as you do? And boys, you don’t escape – that fat girl you’ve seen around, well, she has that same right you do. And you get to provide it… as soon as you can figure out which moist, sweaty fold “down there” is the right one. And let us not forget our gay fellows; I’m sure there’s a guy out there tired of being a “bottom” and wants to find out what it’s like to pitch, not catch.
You see, for every positive right to a good, a service, an action you claim, SOMEONE falls under an obligation to provide it to you. And unless the Zoo’s demographics have changed since I was there, there will always be persons who have a need greater than your right to your own body. So shut up, think of how generous you’re being as some person who you’d never thought you’d sleep with is busy filling their “basic human right” with your body.
THAT is the precedent you’re setting by staking a claim on the product of someone else’s labor and creativity.
Wait, you mean your body belongs to you? How selfish, how greedy you are. Come on, you’re oversexed anyway, what’s a little more? You have it to spare. You can feel all warm and wonderful inside knowing that you’re helping your fellow creatures.
THIS is what happens when you decide you have a “right” to something, and therefore obligate someone else to provide it. And sooner or later, someone’s going to decide you have something THEY have a “right” to – and take it from you.
And whether it’s more in taxes, which forces you to give up something you do or want, or my brothel example, or even a rapist holding a knife to your throat… remember, in each situation, they think they have a “right” to it. And you, having set the precedent that it’s OK to TAKE from others what you feel you have a “right” to, will be crass hypocrites for objecting. To the taxes. To the brothel. To the rape. To the homeless guy who decides he has a right to “three hots and a cot” at your expense.
Brenda Kellman • Feb 23, 2012 at 3:56 pm
Birth control is basic health care for women . . . period. (ALL women)
Sex is a basic human right for all (married or otherwise) as is reproductive control. (I’m sure, David, when you need your viagra it will be paid for.)
Bravo Camee!
David Hunt '90 • Feb 23, 2012 at 3:53 pm
One last thing – yes, I was not a virgin when I got married. But I paid for my own birth control… and in a couple of instances, when I did not have birth control available, I REFRAINED FROM ACTIVITY.
David Hunt '90 • Feb 23, 2012 at 3:52 pm
For sh!ts and giggles, I checked out birth control on Amazon. A condom multi-pack has prices with each one less than 25 cents. Add in foam, you’re probably still talking less than a buck a boff.
Unless you’re far, far more oversexed than I give you credit for, that’s… 20 bucks a month? 30?
If you’re THAT close to the edge of financial ruin, might it not behoove you to CHOOSE to make a different lifestyle choice? But you see, that would force you to actually MAKE a choice between genital satisfaction and other priorities. In other words, it would mean you had to DEFER a pleasure until other priorities were settled.
Since you can’t do that, since you can’t defer gratification, it means you’re a rutting animal, not a human being capable of thought and restraint.
David Hunt '90 • Feb 23, 2012 at 3:10 pm
Who is messing with your choices? All I’m saying is that if you want to have sex, PAY FOR YOUR OWN DAMN CONDOMS AND FOAM! Or, practice absinence.
Why is YOUR decision to rut MY problem? I’m tired of people saying that THEIR behavioral choices mean I have to spend money.
Brian • Feb 23, 2012 at 12:47 pm
So if you’re married and don’t want to have any (more) children, stop having sex! Right, David? *facepalm*
JB • Feb 23, 2012 at 12:39 pm
Cameron Manderfield, ALL THE APPLAUSE FOR YOU!
In regards to David Hunt’s comment, how about your get out of my business. I’m sure you’ve been intimate with somebody out of wedlock/in no position to father or take care of a child. And if not you personally, I’m sure you have countless friends, acquaintances, and family members who have had sex even if they *gasp* weren’t married! or monogamous! or weren’t prepared or planning to raise a child!
Drop the “holier than thou” attitude, please, and keep your self-righteous attitude away from me, out of my life, and away from my choices.
David Hunt '90 • Feb 23, 2012 at 9:31 am
Don’t want to get pregnant and can’t afford birth control? Stop rutting like an animal in heat and exercise some self-control.
Brian • Feb 22, 2012 at 11:39 pm
Oh, trust me, Searles DID mean to push anti-feminist views. He’s a fanatical libertarian, which means (among other things) that if something bad happens to you and you can’t fix it without help, it’s all your fault and you don’t deserve assistance. So, for example, if you are a working class woman and can’t afford to purchase birth control and pay the bills at the same time, tough luck. That is the libertarian mindset.