Butterfly Cauldron
Monday, October 09, 2006
When does EC go over-the-counter again?
In January, I know. But it seems to me it can't come soon enough. In my endless ramblings around FemiBlogVille, I've been reading over at Biting Beaver. She's got a whole saga up about trying to get EC and, unfortunately, having it fail. She's now in the process of setting up an abortion, because she and her husband already have three children and cannot afford to have any more. A perfectly well-reasoned decision, one that she and her husband made together, and yet she's getting shit for it. Hell, she got shit for just taking the fucking EC and that's just birth control!
What gets to me is that her situation is not all that unique. Sure, there's the stereotype of slutty, single, teenagers having all the wild one-night-what's-your-name-again sex, but that's not the people who need EC the most. (Although, gods bless 'em, those people need it too.) Married women need it. Women who are already mothers need it. Women who have serious illnessess that could kill us if we got pregant need it. Your mother needs it. Your sister needs it. Your girlfriend needs it. Your best friend needs it. You need it. It's not an Us vs. Them situation, really.
And no one is saying that EC works everytime. It doesn't, unfortunately, but it's better than just rolling the dice and not trying anything after a condom break. It's a decent shot at avoiding an abortion. Everyone wants to lower the abortion rate, right? Even those of us who are radically pro-choice want to lower the abortion rate, if for no reason than why should a woman have to go through that when she doesn't have to? Why should a woman have to take time off work, spend several hundred dollars, wade through protestors who call her a whore and murder, when she could spend 40 bucks on a pill she takes in the privacy of her own home?
And still, there's going to be the problem of finding a drug store what will fill your script when it goes OTC. Gods know, some people are just gonna wanna be kings of their little pharmacy and deny women their pills anyway. So how do you get around that? Well, I know how I plan on doing it. Drugstore.com. That's where I will be ordering my pack, soon as it's legal to do so OTC. They've already announced they plan on selling EC online (they already do, actually. Script only, of course.) I don't know how they'll get around the age limits, but they'll probably require you to use a credit card since you can't have those until you're 18. File that address away -- Drugstore.com. Fuck the bastards. Go around them and get your pills.
Birth control is your friend. Don't let anyone tell you different. The ability to plan your family, to determine with who and how many children you're going to have is vital to being a free human being.
What gets to me is that her situation is not all that unique. Sure, there's the stereotype of slutty, single, teenagers having all the wild one-night-what's-your-name-again sex, but that's not the people who need EC the most. (Although, gods bless 'em, those people need it too.) Married women need it. Women who are already mothers need it. Women who have serious illnessess that could kill us if we got pregant need it. Your mother needs it. Your sister needs it. Your girlfriend needs it. Your best friend needs it. You need it. It's not an Us vs. Them situation, really.
And no one is saying that EC works everytime. It doesn't, unfortunately, but it's better than just rolling the dice and not trying anything after a condom break. It's a decent shot at avoiding an abortion. Everyone wants to lower the abortion rate, right? Even those of us who are radically pro-choice want to lower the abortion rate, if for no reason than why should a woman have to go through that when she doesn't have to? Why should a woman have to take time off work, spend several hundred dollars, wade through protestors who call her a whore and murder, when she could spend 40 bucks on a pill she takes in the privacy of her own home?
And still, there's going to be the problem of finding a drug store what will fill your script when it goes OTC. Gods know, some people are just gonna wanna be kings of their little pharmacy and deny women their pills anyway. So how do you get around that? Well, I know how I plan on doing it. Drugstore.com. That's where I will be ordering my pack, soon as it's legal to do so OTC. They've already announced they plan on selling EC online (they already do, actually. Script only, of course.) I don't know how they'll get around the age limits, but they'll probably require you to use a credit card since you can't have those until you're 18. File that address away -- Drugstore.com. Fuck the bastards. Go around them and get your pills.
Birth control is your friend. Don't let anyone tell you different. The ability to plan your family, to determine with who and how many children you're going to have is vital to being a free human being.
Labels: birth control, feminism
4 Comments:
I had no idea! I was almost bummed I missed a sale on tampons, but this makes up for that. I'll have to worship drugstore.com more.
I wonder what would happen if you tried to use a credit card on which you're an authorized user, especially if the name on the card is a man's.
I knew they wouldn't put EC on the shelves, and so I don't consider it being OTC to be a victory. And I think they should sell it to men; not every woman is able to go out and make her own purchases.
Actually, as far as I know there isn't anything in the law that prevents a man from buying the EC. That would be gender discrimination, you see and that's clearly illegal. *smirk*
He'd have to be 18, I think. Or maybe that part only applies to women. I'm not really sure. But no no, a man can buy it if he wants. Not that I think that's a bad idea, but weren't the anti's going on and on about how an older man could get it an force a young girl to take it? Grr.
A 51-year-old friend with several younger female relatives and friends and I intend to have EC on hand for their use until they are old enough to buy it themselves.
We shouldn't have to worry about work arounds, but we do. So, we must.
One of the articles I read when it was approved said that it would be sold only to adult women. The whole tone was trying to calm down freaks who think girls shouldn't have it and men have no business getting it. After all, they definitely know the man isn't getting it for himself.
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