You had one job…
This super fancy ketchup is on our table at the awesome small-town diner we are dining at presently. This place actually has excellent food. Come check out the Park-Et Restaurant if you’re ever passing through Perryville, MO.
Seriously? Many employers already control their employees’ social schedules by dominating their waking hours during the week and then requiring overtime hours as well. Now they’ll get to shove their noses into what method Their employees choose to prevent pregnancy too?? Even though this has nothing to do with the employees’ work performance? Ya’ll need to review your decision here.
I presently have Paragard, the copper IUD, one of the contraceptives that Hobby Lobby has an issue with. Why do I have it? Because medically, I cannot use hormone-based birth controls. Also, condoms are pretty hit-or-miss. I don’t have to worry about my IUD breaking during intercourse and resulting in a pregnancy that I am not ready for, and having a child as the result that I am not financially stable enough to provide for. Not to mention, it’s difficult to find condoms that I can use as I have very sensitive skin and latex, spermicides, lotions, and many soaps cause a lot of skin irritation.
If it were my employer, I’d be seeking another job ASAP.
As it is, my employer is pretty cool and to my knowledge is not planning on limiting our insurance. Kudos to them. They’re not being dick faces and trying to impose their personal OPINIONS into other peoples’ personal, non-work-affecting lives.
So, since I’m not affected, you may be asking why I’m so upset about this. Aside from the obvious fact that I’m a woman, and I care very deeply about women having equal rights, I’m also a pretty big activist about the quality of life of the children who already exist in this world. You know, the ones getting swept under the rug. Foster kids, the many children registered as wards of their respective states while awaiting adoption.
Pro-lifers, who dominate the anti-contraceptive side of this argument are so adamant that every baby should be born, with few or no exceptions depending on who is talking.
Do they bother to think about the kind of life that these children will have post-birth? What about the thousands of children across the US being bounced around foster homes, waiting for a family to care enough to adopt them? What about the thousands more who fall between the cracks of the child services?
There are kids in high school struggling to take care of their younger siblings because their parents are too busy doing drugs to be the adult.
I am by no means saying that these kids would be better off if they didn’t exist. Many of them, however, think that things would be better if they could just disappear.
My question for anyone trying to limit women’s access to birth control and reproductive health resources is: If every child being born is so important to you, what are you doing to ensure that these children have the best quality of life possible?
Until you’ve made certain that there are no children in need of a caring family atmosphere, keep your opinions to yourself, and do something positive to alleviate their problems.
For those of you actually interested, here are some links you may find useful:
Hope Children’s Home- an orphanage in Tampa, FL rescuing neglected, abused, and abandoned children.
Child Welfare directory offering resources by state
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption- Finding Forever Families for Children in Foster Care
Adoptive Families- a great information source through all stages of the adoption process
There are thousands of resources like these, but these are my favorites.
Oh, and until there’s no need for organizations like these, kindly keep your religion out of my vagina.
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