I don’t want to make this story too politically-charged, so I’m going to really try to not insert my opinions into every part of this story. First, some background. Washington has been in the midst of a massive debate about whether birth control should be covered by health insurance. Religious institutions offering employee insurance wanted an “exemption” from covering birth control, because God hates The Pill or whatever. Various religious experts were allowed to testify before Congress – which led to an utterly tone-deaf photo-op of a group of middle-aged men all gathered around to discuss women’s health.
A reproductive rights advocate and Georgetown student named Sandra Fluke asked to testify before Congress, but she was initially denied by Rep. Daniel Issa, who later had to back down and let her testify on why contraception should be universally covered. Conservatives LOST THEIR MINDS when Fluke testified. Rush Limbaugh called her a “slut” and a “prostitute” because, in Rush’s mind, his Oxycontin would be taxed into oblivion just to pay for Sandra Fluke’s massive birth control supply (incidentally – Rush and the conservatives have literally no idea how The Pill works). Rush “apologized” (not really) and Fluke didn’t accept his fake apology. But now there’s someone else in the mix: Hollywood Republican and long-time anti-choice advocate Patricia Heaton. Heaton went cray-cray on her Twitter feed, insulting Sandra Fluke and any woman who dared to want contraception covered by her health insurance:
[Screepcap of Heaton’s Twitter feed]
Heaton later deleted her Twitter account – some people claim that Disney (who owns ABC, which airs Heaton’s show, The Middle) basically told Heaton to STFU because they didn’t want advertisers pulling their support of The Middle, like Limbaugh is now facing an advertiser exodus. Heaton issued a low-key apology last week on her Twitter, writing:
“Just caught up on all the debater re Ms. Fluke’s testimony. Mea culpa! We have diff opinions but I was too flippant in my attempt at humor… Tweatons: Finally heard all the commentary. I crossed the line w/@SandraFluke. Don’t agree w/her views, but I was not showing Christ’s love.” She tweeted to Fluke, saying, “@SandraFluke I am not backing down on my position: but there is a better way to fight the fight.”
[Via THR]
And now Heaton has re-started her Twitter feed, and she issued another apology: “I apologized to Ms Fluke last week. I may not agree with her views but I didn’t treat her with respect and I’m sorry. I was wrong. Mea Culpa.”
Does Heaton’s lukewarm apology make it right? Or should advertisers pull out of The Middle in droves too?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
That strikes me more as a harangue than any attempt at humour.
I don’t understand. So Americans will PAY for a child for 18 YEARS living off the government (welfare), but won’t help prevent pregnancy? And wtf does religion have to do w/any of it? America is sooo behind Europeans in terms of Health Care etc. This stuff should have been taken care of in the 1980’s, not the year 2012
agreed. america is behind many countries, and not just in health care.
You are right. The govenment should stop the welfare gravy train and implement some serious reforms. Random drug tests, mandatory job training, not giving additional money to people having more babies while collecting government benefits, that sort of thing. And I don’t want to hear any crap about reproductive rights-with rights come responsibilities, such as being responsible for the lives you create and not expecting the government to do it for you.
And government should stay out of the bedroom entirely. Birth control is great, but it is not the role of government to mandate that insurance companies pay for it. It’s a private business decision. If someone wants free birth control all they have to do is visit Planned Parenthood.
…………..
Testify, SamiHami!
😀
And yet, it’s not a problem that viagra IS covered by health insurance. Misogyny much?
*********************
Attention!
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Ms. Fluke was not advocating for the GOVERNMENT to pay for her birth control pills. She pays for 100% of her own health insurance. Georgetown does NOT contribute at all. She was merely saying that if a woman PAYS for comprehensive health insurance, she should GET comprehensive health insurance regardless of her employer. Her discussion in no way involved the government paying for her birth control.
Thank you Tiffany. Nobody seems to be getting this. So much effing disinformation out there. Furthermore, if anyone cared to listen to Ms. Fluke’s testimony, they’d know that a large part of it discussed the health imparting aspects of the pill that have NOTHING TO DO WITH BIRTH CONTROL. I myself took the pill a good 10 years before I ever had sex because I had horrible dysmenorrhea. That was the only thing that helped me.
Preach it, SamiHami!! Took the words right out of my mouth…
Patricia, there was absolutely no need to apologize. Time for this feminist to put her big girl panties on and get over it! I am just wondering how much the Obama Administration paid her?
I agree, what does religion have to do with it. Things get messy when people bring religion into it.
Heard on TV that SF said it would cost $3000 to buy that stuff during college years? Can’t be that much, surely!
I think, people should buy their own!
I’m fine if the government cuts all social programs and subsidies, as long as, it is across the board–meaning that businesses are not subsidized and they, too, lose tax exemptions, benefits, and credits.
If this happened, offshore labor would be too costly and we would be forced to bring back jobs to the US or else their companies would topple.
Its not one easy quick fix. It has to be across the board.
Just like you can’t say that what you do in the bedroom is your own business, but we’ll push for mandatory drug testing.
If you hate socialism and totalitarianism then go hard or go home as a civil libertarian, quit with the cafeteria style Tea Party/Republican crap. Man (or Woman) up and go cold turkey.
Than let me use your thread to “Twitter” back to Patty:
HEY PEE-HEAT! You’ve had too many face-lifts. Your face is pulled back so tight that you are now taking out of your a$$!
Best comment I’ve read today! PS if conservatives can vote their conscience on insurance coverage, can I pull my tax dollars from funding Halliburton’s war machine? We’ll save a heck of a lot more money…..
Maguita! EXCELLENT re”butt”al, LOLLL. What an arse that woman is. Who keeps giving her a platform? Love the rich woman talking shite to the struggling student.
Thanks, although I hope you got my meaning that “her face has been so pulled back that she is now taLking (not taking) out of her a$$.
Apologies for the misspell!
@SamiHami – 58% of contraception users use it “at least in part for purposes other than family planning.”
“Reasons Other Than Family Planning:
31% menstrual pain
28% menstrual regulation
14% acne
11% other medical reasons
4% endrometriosis”
Info from “Doctors For America” @ http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/Beyond-Birth-Control.pdf
&
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/health_stew/2012/02/one_number_to_remember_on_cont.html
And keep in mind that birth control pills are also used for hormone treatments, which is unrelated to usage for reproductive purposes.
*****
So it’s not about just “reproductive rights.” It’s not about “govt in your bedroom.” It’s not about “free birth control” and Planned Parenthood. It’s not about a “private business decision.”
It’s about women’s health in a more expansive way.
It’s also about separation of church and state. The church should not and cannot dictate to the government what policies to have and not have.
You don’t seem to understand the concept of separation of church and state. It’s intended to keep the government from interfering with freedom of worship, not to keep religion from influencing government.
You might want to familiarize yourself with the constitution.
And Sami you don’t seem to understand what Ms. Fluke’s testimony was about. She pays 100% for her health insurance, and she was in no way advocating for the government to pay for her birth control pills. She was saying if she pays for a comprehensive health insurance plan, she shouldn’t have benefits denied to her based on her employer. This had NOTHING to do with wanting the government to pay for it for her.
Actually, separation of Church and State means that:
No matter what the church says, the state would do what is best for the people, not the church’s interpretation of what is best for the people.
That is what our Founding Fathers had intended for the true independence of the United States of America. And most of them were lawyers btw, not robe-wearing church preachers.
@SamiHami: I think you may need to re-read the constitution as well as Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists. Legislation based on religious doctrine, supporting/advancing religious doctrine or even favoring the views of a belief of religion run counter to the establishment clause which is stated to avoid establishment “of religion”, not establishment of a religion.
Madison, not Jefferson, was the primary author of the Constitution. They were from two separate fields of political thought, although both Virginians and friends.
Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Religious Freedom Clause, as well as, our State Constitutional documents.
Madison did not intend only to prevent religion from usurping the role government, but also government from infringing upon freedom of religion.
Now we can as an evolving society place whatever emphasis we choose, but let’s not rewrite history. Every single Constitutional and Founding Father were members of the American Freemasons, all of them believing in a higher power of some kind. They were not atheists, just frightened of theocracy.
Were they atheists as some purport, then they were false and liars too. The most eloquent words of the Declaration are these: …endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
And that means, whether we like it or not, to screw who you want, how often you want, in whatever position you want…but to also not have to compromise your religious beliefs to accommodate the wants and wishes of others.
@ SamiHami – There is no allowance for religious organizations to dictate what the government can and cannot do. There is an independence and separation between the two establishments.
It’s always been this way, ever since the Constitution was created. That’s why we don’t still have town governments run totally by the religious establishment of that town. That’s why we have a democratic process in place with which to elect government leaders as the people please rather than as per the pleasing of the local church. That’s why we don’t have American towns like those you’d find back in the 1600s. That’s why today’s town governments can’t base laws and punishments according to their own definitions of religious scriptures…. think of the Witch hunts, trials, and persecutions…
Also, iirc, just weeks ago, Obama gave the religious establishment an opt-out offer. That these items in question will be between the insurance companies and the benefits receivers/employees, and not paid for by the religious institutions/employers.
Imo, the religious institutions should have accepted the compromise since it kept them out of the interactions between the insurers and the recipients/employees when it concerned such medical issues.
Overall, it is about the freedom and protection of the individual consumers to gain as much needed medical treatments as possible without being limited by the opinions & beliefs of the employers.
What if the employer did not believe in medical treatments at all, as is the case of the dictates of some American Christian sects? Should then the government have to bend to the will of this particular portion of the Christian establishment? Should this make it so that the government have no hand in regulating whether or not employees are allowed healthcare insurance at all?
Again, Obama offered a fair compromise. Items of this nature be between the insurer and the recipients and out of the hands of the employers.
Sami, when a woman has an unwanted pregnancy and puts her baby up for adoption – are you going to adopt it? Didn’t think so. Mind your own business and support a woman’s right to choose her life.
She really is the horrible harpy she played on Everybody Loves Raymond. I can’t stand her. She’s a horrible and creepy person.
Amen to that, Molly. I never for the life of me understand the appeal of that ‘comedy’ she used to be on, every time I saw even 5 minutes of it she would be yelling or just being a bitch to anyone in her path.
Apparently, that wasn’t acting at all.
Ugly skank. And btw, where does divorce fit into her ‘Christ Love’, anyway. Isn’t the Catholic church against that?
I agree! PH is disgusting. And a HORRIBLE actress. I’d be happy to never see (or definitely hear) from her again.
Everybody Loves Raymond was one of the longest running, highest rated shows on tv. You may not like her but the show was very funny & VERY successful.
America is far behind Brazil in this matter.
Patricia Heaton needs to crawl back into her conservative “Ditto-Head” hole and contemplate her navel. Oh, she’s on “The Middle?” They should call it “The Far Right.”
It would be interesting to see Patricia hook up with KFC Kirk Flamin Cameron.
if I remember from recent photos, she hasn’t much of a navel to contemplate.
With all of her plastic surgery and tummy tucks, I doubt she even has a navel.
Rush also have erectile dysfunction problems, he takes viagara… As for Heaton no comment
speaking of that, insurance pays for Viagra…but not for birth control. HOW nice for limbaugh….beyonce was wrong, it’s old, white conservative men who run the world, not girls.
You are exactly right, Viagra is covered, birth control not. It seems rather odd the anti-choice crowd would be against the prevention of pregnancy. I saw Heaton on. Celebrity “who wants to be a millionaire” & she is a straight up idiot. The question was remedial multiple choice math (how many coins in $1) Regis had to talk her into the answer. She just reaffirmed just how clueless she is.
Wow, Sunshine, must be nice to live in your perfect world where the fight for equal rights for women has been won. Where is it?!
Viagra treats an actual medically diagnosed problem. Hormonal contraception typically does not as it’s function is to primarily prevent ovulation (it also thins uterine lining making it difficult for a newly conceived life to implant hence the belief that it may be abortifacient.).
It’s pretty ignorant to say that conservatives don’t know how the pill works. It holds the distinction of possibly being the only prescribed medication to keep your body from working the way it’s supposed to. When your body is healthy and working the way it’s supposed to, you are fertile.
No one is trying to ban contraception and sterilization. They simply don’t want to be required to pay for something that violates their strongly held religious beliefs.
@Girl – birth control treats polymennhoria, severe menstrual cramps, hormone induced migraines, uterine fibroids, and many other very valid, very real health conditions.
And your comment on “it’s the only medication that makes your body not work the way it’s meant to” shows your complete ignorance when it comes to drugs. Example – Prilosec stops your H2 receptors in your stomach. It makes your stomach stop producing acid. Plenty of drugs stop natural cycles in your body. Don’t speak on something you clearly don’t understand.
If they don’t pay for birth control – which isn’t always just used for birth control, but also is used for medical conditions like PCOS – then viagra and vasectomies shouldn’t be covered either. It just proves how much the U.S. government is run by old, sexist men.
@Polysox: what is interesting is that the Pill doesn’t actually treat them but it gives one relief typically while one is on them. Some people are lucky enough to have a sort of “resetting” of their cycles. The vast majoriitu don’t. I’ve never heard of polymennhorea before. Did you mean mennhoragia? The pill doesn’t even give you a true period when it works correctly. It’s actually a withdrawal bleed. I have do doubt that the pill may be a good choice for some people to help them deal with a true medical issue. Would it be better if all these “angry white men” people keep Bitching about actually stick their noses in woman’s medical charts and say this prescription is ok and this one is not?
Separate contraceptive riders can be purchased by employees. Can anyone actually point to any statistic that a big problem in America was women whose insurance didn’t cover contraceptives were going without? Not anecdotes. Numbers.
You’re not really a girl, are you Girl?:-)
@Sunshine: “with the shrill obnoxiousness of women and their constant whining”
Your misogyny is showing.
You actually characterize, in a general and far-reaching way, women as “shrill,” “obnoxious,” and “whining.” Wow.
From your name, I assume you are a woman… the self-loathing baffles me.
polymenorrhea is when a women has cycles shorter than 21 days. Which means for the unfortunate women like me, without BC we have periods every other week. You’re right. Pills dont fix this. But guess what – nothing does. To follow that argument, Viagra doesn’t fix impotence either.
BC DOES treat uterine fibroids. It prevents them from growing. The only other ‘fixes’ (uterine artery embolization, hysterectomy) sterilize the woman. So for many young women this is not an option.
And if you work at a catholic institution, birth control insurance ‘riders’ as you call them, don’t exist. I don’t have stats but I could refer you to many coworkers who can barely afford their meds.
@Polkasox: Birth control pills do help prevent fibroids from growing. But if you’re on an IUD, that can actually encourage fibroids, as I found out to my dismay. And if you suffer from menstrual cramps, fibroids can make them exponentially worse.
@ Jill – agreed. Sorry to hear you have them – they can be insanely painful.
@Polkasox: I don’t have them any more, thank God. Fibroids can cause not only hellaciously painful cramps, they can cause extremely heavy periods which in turn can make you severely anemic. Removing the fibroids doesn’t always solve the problem because they often grow back. In my case, I told the doctor to take out the whole gizmo, which was the best day’s work he ever did. I felt like a new woman. No more pain and no more periods. Who needs that mess every month?
Sunshine said, ” Do you REALLY think that with the shrill obnoxiousness of women and their constant whining that BC WOULDN’T be covered?”
Wow, Sunshine! You REALLY need to read Ms. Fluke’s testimony. Birth control isn’t covered on the plan that she pays 100% for because of the school which administers it. Seriously, read her testimony!
Girl said, “No one is trying to ban contraception and sterilization. They simply don’t want to be required to pay for something that violates their strongly held religious beliefs”
That is the thing. They are NOT paying for her! Ms. Fluke pays for 100% of her health insurance! The school contributes NOTHING! Read her testimony before you start making things up.
As far as an employer not covering BC because of religious beliefs, I have seen no one mention the fact that Jehovahs Witnesses do not believe in blood transfusions. Should they be able to deny coverage for such? What about Scientologists denying coverage for psychiatric drugs? Where is the line drawn between my rights and someone else’s? If you do not believe in BC, then don’t use it. Furthermore, it is FACT that women in this country make only 75-81% of what their male counterparts make for DOING THE SAME JOB. Now I also should have to pay more for my own medical care? That is discrimination.
As to disinformation being out there–the whole point of Heaton and Rush and Faux News supplying disinformation is that their argument has little merit on its own. So they twist the facts to better serve their argument that someone is getting a free ride. That is not the case–but it is about time that women in this country got a fair shake!
Great points, BP!
Girl – dumb argument. If you can’t get an erection, then according to your logic, you just give up. if your body won’t naturally do it, then they shouldn’t be popping viagara. Live and let live – keep your nose out of others’ reproductive choices.
Thanks for posting this – I hadn’t heard about her comments. I occasionally watch that show, but after reading that – never again! Plus, her super jacked face really bothers me.
@sunshine- I have a “real” job as does my husband. We work for a catholic hospital as healthcare professionals. My birth control is NOT paid for, even though my doctor has petitioned the NON-Catholic insurance company that I have very valid medical reasons for being on it (not just preventing pregnancy) The other problem that no one talks about is that this affects men too – this same institution denied to pay for a vasectomy for a co-worker – he had to petition to a priest that he cannot afford any more children – still denied. There are those of us out there that are affected by this. And no, we can’t just go get another job – there are few to none hospital pharmacy jobs in our town currently, so it’s just not an option.
Just because YOU haven’t experienced it personally doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
Ask these questions, but also ask why we need insurance in the first place? Why is everything so unaffordable? 100 years ago people went to doctors, doctors allowed them to pay as they could, and people didn’t go without.
I am starting to get behind concierge medicine.
Rin, 100 years ago life expectancy was 50 years; now it’s 80!
If our health care system was paid for through taxes, we would not need insurance because it would be free. Instead we are paying for insurance to share the risk of having to pay sky-high costs in case we get sick and need expensive treatment (like a heart transplant).
@Rin – Healthcare costs are so high because A – you’re paying for the uninsured people who come in and never pay a bill. B – the pharmaceutical & medical device companies charge insane amounts of money for things, so the cost trickles down to you C – healthcare has turned into a business, which believe me, most of us who are actually caring for patients don’t like either.
Our system is broken. Sadly, a lot of people blame the doctors, who get paid a lot – which yes, they do – but they also work insane hours and train for decades. I’m a nurse and would not trade spaces with them in a heartbeat, even for their $400,000/yr salaries. (which most of them don’t make that much)
I was, uh, being rhetorical. I feel we have convoluted and over complicated everything to appease everyone to the point where nothing can possibly be cheap anymore.
It is the half-assed approach that hurts. Either do the single payer system where the government acts as a large buyer of services or go the no insurance approach.
As it is we still have people who cannot afford cancer treatment, still have people using emergency services, and there is no end in sight to this.
The Obama healthcare plan was just another insurance company snafu. I liked Kucinich’s plan, but…that was too “pink” for some, I guess.
And it was a Catholic MD who created the pill in the first place… how ignorant are these celebutards? Christ would love for you to read up on the subject Patricia.
I hate for the other The Middle actors to suffer, but I say yank the sponsors!
Well, let’s be fair. The pill was originally only given to MARRIED women.
I have to say I don’t remember that ever being the case. I mean I’m Heaton’s age and remember girls in high school taking it for cramps. And why is everyone saying they want “free” birth control, I thought they just wanted birth control to be a part of their insurance package that they pay for. People always bitch about everyone else’s decisions but seldom take responsibility for their own. I would much prefer to give out free health care than support children for 18 years that father’s aren’t. But that’s me.
I said “originally” as in, back in the 1960s. Prescriptions were ONLY given to married women until the early 70s. I’m not saying people didn’t work around this, just that The Pill was developed for the only women “allowed” to have sex and (somewhat) control their reproductive choices — married women.
@Dawn Exactly!! No one is asking for free birth control pills just for them to be covered by health insurance. I don’t know about you but with my health insurance nothing is “free.” Not the health insurance, not the medicine, and not the doctor visits. The fact that a woman would get into this debate and be anti-women is disgusting!
The Pill quite definitely was prescribed for unmarried women in the 1960s. I was in college in the late 60s and knew students who had been on it since sometime in high school for various medical conditions. They were Catholic. Any Catholic institution that won’t allow insurance coverage for such medications is operating contrary to true principles of their own religion. There can be a problem with medications that can be potentially abortifacient, but it is not wrong to use them when not sexually active – and how exactly are they supposed to know that you aren’t? There also is certainly no reason to not allow a vasectomy or condoms according to Catholic principles – they don’t cause sin even if you believe unmarried sex is wrong, because they can’t kill a zygote. But rigid people abound in all institutions and every religion. Eventually things change, but very slowly. Catholics have been using contraceptives for many decades to prevent pregnancy, following their own consciences. After a papal encyclical came out in the late 1960s (not an infallible statement, more of a guidance document) on such matters, the virtually universal feeling at my Catholic college among young women was that the Pope didn’t know what he was talking about. They were quite openly vocal, including in religion classes. They’re all past menopause by now… The Vatican hasn’t caught up with the people yet, that’s all.
Well, Dani, I’ll take the leap and say I want free birth control for any of my patients who want it. I certainly prefer it to abortions….and the stereotype of the lazy welfare mother still lurks out there – I can’t tell you how many times the response to “was this pregnancy planned” was that she was on birth control when it happened. How much preventive healthcare and education would 1 year of military action in a foreign country cover (and maybe we are about to do this again in Syria)? I’d happily vote for free condom kiosks and a Planned Parenthood on every corner. If women had better access to birth control, maybe we wouldn’t have to deal with idiots like Rush Limbaugh!
Another show I won’t be watching because the actor won’t stfu.
I’m really enjoying how advertisers are pulling from Limbaugh thanks to the outcry.
Misogynism has grown again since the nineties, but I’m glad to see that the last year or so, women have started to defend themselves and fight back.
Enough with the slut-shaming, trivializing of rape and silencing of women’s voices of the last decade.
The number of young women I hear vapidly say: “I’m not a feminist!” boggles the mind.
So you are not for equal rights between the genders? good to know.
I think they are scared of looking pushy, or dykey, or angry, or just plain not feminine by admitting that they are feminists. Whatever it is, how that word has taken on a negative context, I’ll never know.
But ladies, you are not doing yourself any favours by denying it. Just allowing a backslide in women’s rights.
The one I hear all the time is “Oh, I believe in women’s rights and everything, but I’m not one of *those* girls, you know?”
Its so pathetic. This country has got us so bullied into believing that if we even fight for even the smallest of women’s rights we’ll be turned into a girl with a shaven head or something in the eyes of everyone.
A story about Patricia Heaton, I once went to a Kathy Griffin stand up show and Kathy talked about two friends of hers, they were two guys who were partners and their kids went to the same school as Patricia Heaton’s. The dads heard that their kids were getting teased in school for having two dads, so they decided to create a play at the school that taught acceptance of all families. Griffin said that once Patricia Heaton heard of the play, she demanded it be canceled, and it was. She’s such a class act, right?
Thank you! I’ve been proudly proclaiming that I’m a feminist for 44 years! My father would joke that I was born with my fist in the air singing Helen Reddy. 😉 And, I DO like men.
It really is disturbing how uneducated many young women are on what earlier women went through to get the rights we have today.I mean women where jailed and force fed, harassed by the police during the fight for the vote. I am a femenist and it’s not a bad thing!
Well, the problem is women are divided over the abortion issue. There are those that believe abortion on demand at all times, those that believe in limited access, and those that believe in no access. There are those that believe a fetus is a fetus and those that believe a fetus is a baby.
Because the dialog has been framed as: Pro Abortion and Anti-Choice, versus Pro-Choice and Pro Life, there will always be division between women. Women who are pro rights in the workplace, pro contraception, pro equality but anti-abortion on demand won’t stand as a “feminist” or with “feminist” on other issues like rape, fair and equal pay, etc.
I almost feel (conspiracy theory coming) that this abortion debate was framed in such a way as to keep women from joining as a “block” and really getting things done.
We’re the majority, 52% all over the world. If we could put aside “abortion” (temporarily)–you know, table it as a dividing line, make that not the main women’s issue…and just came together on other issues we agree on we could change the world for the better.
I’m in the middle and I see both sides of the argument. There is no easy, clear way around it. Women who believe it is the murder of a child simply will not side with women who do not and would rather side with conservative men. Women who believe its a fetus think that women who do not are backwards freaks and would rather side with liberal men.
It’s an impasse.
..and I believe that it will remain as such. I, for one, will never support any initiative that seeks to control a woman’s dominion over her own body.
Rin, for sure. Those in power seek to remain in power. Strangly, capitalism only seeks to serve men. Prostitution is illegal, birth control isn’t considered important or coverable by capitalist insurance companies, and abortion rights are constantly threatened. If you choose to buy into right wing capitalist propaganda, you will lose. They don’t care about you. Women appropriate a male voice to be protected and accepted at the cost of their freedom, integrity, and independence. Speak for yourselves and stop letting men dictate what you say. Its old and lame.
That is not humour, it is slutshaming and it makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. I’ll leave it at that before I go off into a rant.
And really, this is rich creamy shit coming from a woman that’s not known as anything but a professional shrew, and a whiner, Fluke wasnt whinning as Heaton is painting her out to be nor asking for a handout, just exposing WHY this women’s healthcare issue isn’t about sex in a hearing where MEN where trying to make that call
Ugh lemme go too, this humorless cow pisses me off to no end
That’s precisely what it is
Her tweets were incredibly conscending and downright rude. I don’t understand the conservative’s stance on birth control. They don’t want women aborting babies, right? Well, in that case, shouldn’t they be staunch supporters of birth control as a preventative measure against unwanted pregnancy and possible abortion? It’s a puzzler…
It is a puzzler but common sense is not so common, sadly.
It’s anything, but.
Another ‘funny’ thing is that they cry floods of tears over unborn fetuses, but don’t hear them get worked up over the living conditions of poor babies when born.
If they had spend all that money on anti-abortion on fighting poverty instead, it would have made life a whole lot more precious.
THIS!!!!!
Nailed it. I am so sick of anti choicers wringing their hands and wailing over the unborn (and, evidently, unconceived). There’s a big chunk of the children in America who live in poverty. Why not take some of that misspent time and energy and help them out?
That’s not true. It’s just another generalization that divides women. It is the left’s version of Rush’s “all women who want birth control are sluts”–all women who are anti-abortion don’t want to help grown children.
I know plenty of women who are anti-abortion that are out there donating food, money, clothing etc to women and children. Just as I know many women who are pro-Choice and pro-contraception that are conservative sexually.
Why, why, why can’t women get along with each other? We have more similarities than differences, but nooooooooo…we can put aside those similarities in a heart beat to tear each other apart for the differences.
It is no wonder men rule the world. Do you see them acting like that?
A good start would be to quit with the cliche’s, generalizations, and propaganda and then accentuate the positive using the “pro” side when speaking of those that think differently than you.
Liberal women can be “Pro-Choice” and Conservative women can be “Pro-Life”. It’s far more accurate than the “anti” dialog anyway as not all pro-choice women would have an abortion themselves, and not all pro-life women are anti-choice, they believe in birth control and other measures of conception prevention.
Sorry, I just hate that we can’t get together as a group. Can’t we put aside this issue and focus on what we can agree on?
@Rin: Nobody is “pro-abortion”. We are pro-choice, i.e. in favor of women having the right to make their own decision. The anti-choice people have co-opted the phrase pro-life. What does that make you if you’re in favor of choice, pro-death? These same pro-life people are usually overwhelmingly pro-death penalty in criminal cases. They aren’t pro-life; they are anti-choice, period, and have no right to expect to be called anything else.
I think the conservatives like that would say that the issue is whether life begins at conception, not whether the kid has a good quality of life. That it’s the parents’ responsibility to improve the kids’ lives. I don’t subscribe to that view, but I think that is what they probably think.
What I can’t wrap my head around is why pro-life people are not ENTHUSIASTICALLY behind insurance cos. having to provide contraceptive coverage, contraception being a fabulous way to prevent abortions (and unwanted pregnancies). If I were a pro-lifer, I’d be handing out condoms on the corner, seriously. An ounce of prevention and all that.
@Rin, my comment wasn’t primarily aimed at women, but fanatical anti-choice people in general. Actually, it’s the men amongst them who are most judgmental about it, but don’t care a hoot for kids living in bad circumstances.
For them it’s all about the control they crave over women’s bodies, since it’s pisses them off to no end that that is one of the few things they can’t control.
Exactly, this is what I don’t understand. I’m pro-life, so I really don’t understand conservatives who are against the pill and other forms of birth control. So, don’t offer women any reproductive choices, but then harass them for terminating unwanted pregnancies? It’s so stupid and nonsensical. And I’m sorry, Patricia Heaton is sorta kinda past child bearing years. Birth control probably isn’t even an issue for her anymore. Maybe I’m being ignorant, but her attitude upsets me.
Republicans think life begins at conception and ends at birth. What happens to a child after it’s born, they couldn’t care less.
Well said.
Also, the more people that get born, the more competition there is amongst people and they can be kept down.
After the Black Plague hit Europe in the 14th century, labor was suddenly in high demand and a prosperous, reading middle class grew in Western Europe. It’s from there that people started questioning the church and protestantism became possible. They never want something like that again.
ITA-and I’m sorry but how can “conservatives” lash out and call someone nasty and disgusting names like a slut and then say they want to watch them in a sex tape-how is that conservative exactly? So vasectomies are A-Ok to be covered in insurance and if you squeeze out 10 kids and can’t afford them -we’ll pay for your food and other needs but you’re a SLUT if you think having a family plan is acceptble? I really think they are just picking a topic and going nuts on it to create big ontraversy so someone in the Republican party will come out ahead of the others in publis opinion and they won’t loose again to Obmama. JMO
Rush gets away with it the same way that Bill Maher gets away with his comments, by pandering to their base. We live in a polarized country that has been divided by a two-party system, two-party, two thoughts, right/left, good/bad mindset.
If you are in the middle like me…you have no voice at all. I just sit back and think everyone’s nuts.
Patricia Heaton, Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter…they are cut from the same, nasty cloth. They are allowed to say this stuff because from their pulpit they will have an army of crazies tell them how right they are.
The same is true on the left, as well.
The unfortunate part of all of this is that there is no end in sight that doesn’t look like a civil war and a heap of violence. We’re too polarized to find a middle ground.
Thanks Fox and MSNBC. Thanks NOW and AFA. Thanks to everyone who adds fuel to the fire by generalizing and forcing us all into boxes in order to be heard.
I quit.
Rin: I 100000% agree with you. I really think political parties are going to be the downfall of our political system. They are not being used in the context for which they were originally created. On BOTH sides mind you. No matter who is in office-the next 4 years the opposite party is just going to make sure the one in majority will not be in power next term. They will veto every bill and fight every change ESPECIALLY the ones that are good for the country because then ut-ohhhh we might think that term was a success and want them back for another term! I can’t even find the energy to vote anymore. For all of us not submersed in the politcal world…what’s the point? There’s not going to be any changes and if they are-they will never be acknowledged.
They aren’t against birth control by and large. The objection with this mandate is requiring catholics who are against contraception to violate their religious conscience and pay for it. Our own president has said that 98% of all women have used it so it’s puzzling why that isn’t enough. Not to mention that our government gives more than $200 million per year to Planned Parenthood to provide contraception to people who could not otherwise afford it.
And yet every April, they violate my conscience, forcing me to pay for mass murder and mayhem and weapons of mass destruction that make the whole concept of “a just war” a joke.
No Catholic woman is being forced to use or pay for contraceptive devices. And no one is asking for free birth control. Women are simply asking that birth control be covered by insurance, the way most medications are.
When 98% of Catholics are using some kind of contraception, I think birth control for Catholics has become a non-issue.
They are not asking for anyone to pay for anything. Ms. Fluke pays for 100% of her own health insurance plan. The school pays nothing!
I think they want all of us Slutty McGees to stop having sex entirely? Wonder how they’d feel if they stopped getting laid. OH WAIT http://jezebel.com/5888171/virginia-republican-tells-cringeworthy-story-about-how-wife-wont-fuck-him-everyone-laughs-and-laughs?tag=davealbo
VA Assembly is a frat house 🙁
His wife could be onto something. If all the women did a Lysistrata on these azzholes, maybe that would wake them up.
Kind of sheds some light on why my boyfriend told me in great detail that he fully supports women’s rights, access to reproductive health care, etc. Smart guy! 😉
@Jaye and jc126
It would seem logical that birth control helps prevent future abortions (because it DOES), but the conservatives don’t want people having safe sex. They want people having NO sex. In a perfect conservative world, only married couples are “allowed” to have sex. Of course, if you are married, you *clearly* want children so you shouldn’t need the pill or an abortion. Problem solved, except oh wait, people are going to have sex and continue to enjoy it even if they don’t want children. I believe in being responsible for your actions, but should a 14 year old’s life be changed for ever because she had sex ONCE and got pregnant? It’s too easy for some middle-aged man to say “hmm shouldn’t have been such a slut then, too bad for you”. Then we as the taxpayers get to support this child on welfare.
@Jill
and that is my point. The “Pro Choice” people are not pro-abortion, and the “Pro-Life” people are not anti-choice.
The Pro-Choice people feel that abortion is a necessary evil, and the Pro-Life people feel that the choices should be made prior to conception.
Framing the debate any other way only serves to demonize other women and create a larger divide.
I’m all for making choices prior to conception; unfortunately, nature doesn’t always cooperate. Accidents happen. The most effective contraceptives aren’t 100% effective. And when they aren’t, if a woman chooses to have one, abortion should be an available back-up option.
Actually, I can only think of two fool-proof, fail-safe methods of birth control for women: 1) abstinence, and 2) paste Rush Limbaugh’s picture on the ceiling.
@Jill,
there is a very short window where you can get pregnant each month. I’ve used the rhythm method plus condoms — not because I have a moral problem with the pill, but because you have to take it the same time every single day or you screw up the cycle and can get pregnant.
Condoms are important tools in the fight against sexually transmitted diseases. We hand them out in Africa to slow the spread of HIV… if they were as ineffective as PP and other voices would have you believe then we would be committing malpractice and ethics breach to promote them in the gay male community or in Africa.
Yes, they do break in a tiny minority of cases. The pill doesn’t work, and sometimes abortions don’t take. These aren’t the vast majority of cases, however.
I say again, condoms kill two potential birds with one stone.
If we’re truly to empower women then we need to accept that all women’s viewpoints are valid and quit beating each other and forcing the other into ill-fitting labels.
@Rin: I would advocate that people use two methods of birth control: 1) the pill or an IUD and 2) a condom. The pill and the IUD are better at preventing conception but give no protection against STDs. Condoms protect against STDs. Best to be safe all around.
In addition to not understanding how birth control works, they also don’t understand how taxation works.
she should stick to topics of bad plastic surgery and tv sitcoms.
I will have to make a point of watching that show. I’ve never seen it before, but I like that she doesn’t walk in lockstep with the left wing fringe.
No one is saying that women shouldn’t have access to birth control. The question is who pays for it? FREE birth control is not, and should not be, a civil right. That is not the role of government.
It’s great if it is made available through health insurance, but it should not be mandated. Free birth control is readily available at Planned Parenthood and other health agencies. It’s a privilege to have health insurance that covers BC, not a right.
Seriously, do we want to live in a society where government provides everything for us? Once that happens we become nothing more than slaves. Don’t throw away your freedom just because someone dangles something shiny in front of you.
I like your counterpoint here, but the same conservative demographic is trying to pull Planned Parenthood’s federal dollars, too. If they succeed, what suggestion would you make to a woman whose insurance (if she has any) won’t pay for birth control?
World of Warcraft.
That money can go to the health agencies who are not committing fraud. Planned Patenthood is currently being investigated for it. All the conservatives I know want the money to go to the other health agencies like county health departments so that underprivileged people will be served.
Right. Same thing, different venue. Why does Planned Parenthood get special treatment? Most non-profits rely on donors and tax free status to run their mission. I worked with an HIV/AIDS NGO and we were told that Federal dollars had strings attached (abstinence only) so we chose not to take them and survived on donors. PP can do the same.
Hey, I’m just here to clear up some factual errors, feel like I should since BC medically has saved my life and I will be on it for pretty much ever (until menopause). The federal plan would make it so that private insurance companies cannot choose to exclude BC from coverage. Basically, it would regulate them to counteract the reality that much less important drugs are paid for but not BC. The lady that they’re talking about testified before Congress that one of her friends lost an ovary because BC wasn’t covered by her employers policy and she couldn’t afford it. This happened to me and it’s a really painful process. So it’s not so much your taxes paying for stupid things (like me not living in crippling pain) as it is regulating corporations since it’s pretty unethical to be covering Viagra and other non life-saving drugs and denying coverage for a medically necessary one.
Who pays for it? Your INSURANCE company, the insurance you’re already paying for. This is NOT an issue of government ‘providing’ anything, nor spending ANY ‘tax dollars’ on it. It’s just an official classification that birth control is ‘preventative’ and will be 100% covered by INSURANCE, like all other preventative care.
Stop perpetuating the myth that this is the government or tax money buying anything.
Insurance companies actually want this, because all those pills are cheaper than a pregnancy & baby, but the Right has decided to make hay about a new drug classification. They are playing their anti-woman base like a fiddle.
And ‘free’ pills from PP aren’t easy, nor cheap. If you have any income at all, you have to pay at least $30 per month. And Conservatives keep trying to defund PP, so their existence is always in jeopardy.
Thank you for saying this! I was wondering why people keep saying, “Don’t make me pay for your BC.” It’s not the government, right? Or am I misinformed? The issue here is that church or religious-affiliated organizations don’t have to pay for BC for their employees/or in this case students? And that is why Sandra Fluke asked to go before the old white men, to ask that such organizations have to have their health insurance provide for BC along with all other health benefits. Please someone set me straight if I don’t have this right.
Yep, I agree. You’re paying into the insurance, so you should receive all of its benefits–including birth control pills and devices.
@SamiHami:
I think that you should read the debates first. No one is asking for free birth control, people are asking that their employee health plans cover birth control. The gov’t is dragged in because it is also an employer whose employees are on drug plansthrough insurance companies.
And maybe you should follow some debates on human rights – reproductive freedom is definitely an unalienable right. Pioneers like Sangar showed 100 years ago how dangerous it is for women and children not to have access to regulated birth control.
Since right wingers need everything pointed out to them in dollars and cents, I am sure that there are studies that show how expensive unwanted or high risk pregnancies are to society. And if you live in a small town, how do you get to a Planned Parenthood centre? And how are they funded?
It’s hard to believe that this is 2012, and that this is a post-industrial enlightened country – one would expect this debate in a poor theocracy!
That’s interesting because when our own president announced the “compromise” he said “free birth control” repeatedly. I’m not sure who mentioned tax dollars. We pay it via our insurance premiums. We already pay for birth control with our tax dollars. Planned Parenthood alone receives something like $250 million yearly from the government.
Well…this isn’t 100 years ago, either, where women didn’t have access to information. Let’s also treat women as creatures of intellect. Kids today are learning very early about sex education and sexually transmitted diseases.
The fact is that instead of pumping out all of this information about oral contraceptives and abortion we should be acknowledging that unlike 100 years ago we’re now facing epidemic rates of deadly, life-threatening, and life changing sexually transmitted diseases, as well as, earlier onset of sexual activity.
To spend so much money on framing “women’s reproductive” health as the major issue of the feminist movement, we entirely disregard that there are worse things in the world than an unplanned pregnancy. Spend a little time on the African continent and you will see that.
Let’s not talk about alley abortions as though we will someday face a return to that. Its scare tactics. Roe V Wade will not be overturned, even though it might be modified. There is a huge pharmaceutical interest now in emergency contraceptives and abortion pills, their pockets are deep and congressmen and senators come cheap.
We should have an honest debate that accepts the modern reality in all its unpleasant aspects. Falling back on party line dialog allows no compromise and no effective change.
For the record, liberal women don’t want to kill babies, gays aren’t trying to take over the world, and conservatives don’t hate children.
I have no idea where to put this, but since you mentioned employers not wanting to include it in employee insurance plans…This is what I want to sit down and tell all these companies. They don’t own you or me.
If the government was telling an employer, as an individual, that you had to use birth control, that would be a violation of their rights. That’s not happening. They’re just saying that you don’t get to make that decision for the people who work for your company. Because, really, you don’t own them.
Never mind the fact that they aren’t paying for the basic coverage in tax dollars. That’s a red herring.
Girl said, “That’s interesting because when our own president announced the “compromise” he said “free birth control” repeatedly.”
————————
He was talking about insurance companies treating BC as preventative care, and therefore covering the prescription and not charging co-pays. These students pay for 100% of their insurance coverage, the schools and gov’t pay $0. The student should get the coverage she is paying for.
And because kids today are having sex so much earlier, maybe sex education classes should happen much earlier. Is this a freaking breakthrough or what!! I’m genius as fuck!!
To me, equal levels of health care is a right. It’s ridiculous that some people would luck out and others are SOL. But I’m not American, so there you have it.
But what amazes me is how all the liberty-loving right-wingers don’t give any respect to freedom of religion. The institutions have the right to practice their religion freely; the women who happen to work for them don’t have the right to make their own choices in terms of religion?
So all the middle-aged men are weeping and wailing before Congress about how their ability to impose their religious beliefs on others is an attack on religious freedom.
I don’t know how they weren’t laughed out of the city.
Thank you. Exactly.
I hate that people think the Pill is just for birth control. I’ve been on and off it since i was 15-far before i started dating much less having $ex to help curb the debilitating cramps and migraines i get from my period, it has made such a difference in my life, and not because it’s birth control.
And if you don’t want health coverage to cover it fine….but then it shouldn’t cover vi@gra or aids to “get it up” either. You can’t cover and protect a man’s right to $ex and not a woman’s right to be safe and healthy about it.
:end rant:
i heard sandra fluke needed birth control to get rid of her ovarian cysts? if i’m not mistaken, i’m not 100%. but i agree it’s not just about sex…
I think she was telling a story about her friend. AND because she couldn’t afford the B.C. because insurance didn’t cover it, she ended up losing an ovary and started menopause at 32 years old.
and with the republicans working on defunding planned parenthood, and health insurance not covering birth control ( if they succeed) the conservatives will have effectively removed a powerful tool in health care and reproductive rights from the grasp of millions of American’s.
I respect people’s right not to like birth control, but it isn’t just about preventing birth. And i don’t agree with them taking a life changing medication away from me just because they don’t approve of one of the uses.
not until they take a way the little blue pills and penile implants or anything other aids that allow men to get it up and keep it up. fair is fair people.
That $3000 was for her friend with cysts. I have them too and just had an IUD inserted for that reason. The total cost (for tests, procedure and IUD) cost a little over $3000. Luckily, my insurance paid about 60%.
@AudreyS, I also recently discussed an IUD with my doctor (as initiated by him) as a second option to hysterectomy. The reason for both of these options has nothing to do with birth control, but because chemo-induced menopause and the medication I have to take for years for breast cancer put me at an elevated risk for endometrial cancer.
Amen! Though I agree with you 100%, Viagra is not federally mandated-individual companies decide whether or not to cover it. PH’s ignorant delivery completely obfuscated her point.
Thank you. I have to be on the pill due to a pesky fibroid which makes my life hell otherwise. The amount of ignorance that has been revealed through this debate has been astounding and infuriating.
EXACTLY. The woman from Georgetown made it very clear that prescription drugs often used for birth control can also address health issues, and in some cases save lives. That is why they should be covered. It is very common for scientists to discover that a drug advertised to address one ailment also proves beneficial to patients suffering from other illnesses. Certain anti-depressants taken at low doses help with nerve and “ghost” pain, for instance.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. If women are not allowed to use insurance Rx for birth control, men shouldn’t be allowed to use it for impotence.
I’m not against birth control, on principle. I’m very much for it. There are a lot of highly effective interuterine devices now that work quite well with little to no side effects. They are placed in the body and removed by a doctor. This means, you’re not forgetting to take it one day, no added hormones, etc.
Much safer, IMO.
I understand taking hormones for PCOS, but I’m still funny about improving upon Nature using hormone therapy. I worry that we’re inviting cancer. Remember the hormones in Premarin? Thousands of horses producing urine for years and now…it causes cancer?
We women have it rough…such delicate plumbing.
wow…i used to love her everybody loves raymond. i knew she was anti-choice, but this is disgusting…i’m sorry to say this, but it usually seems like its the anti-choice that can’t seem to accept or understand anyone else’s point of view…please, she calls herself a Christian, then proceeds to insult/mock a college student in such a disgusting manner? And also, i’m ashamed…it’s one thing for LIMBAUGH (scumbag of all detestable) human beings to make a comment about it..but patricia is a woman she should maybe know and understand the perspective of a woman. and it’s worse when a woman is misogynistic than a man in my opinion, you REALLY discredit your own gender. RANT COMPLETE.
Wow — I had no idea. Must be a nice view from up on the high horse. It would be easier to swallow except they (uber Christian right) don’t want people who can’t afford them to have babies on welfare either. They don’t want to support any scenario. In short, they want to be rich without responsibilities of being part of a society. I’d recommend going back and reading the parts in the bible about doing unto others and casting the first stone.
Viagra is covered by insurance for all the geezer whore/sluts. We all are paying for old MEN to pop the little blue pill.
Sexism & misogyny much?
THANK YOU! I always have been annoyed by that. Men get whatever they needed covered. I know a lot of people, including myself, that are on birth control for medical reasons. I have insurance, but it barley covers it. Viagra does nothing but get it up… birth control helps with cysts, irregular periods, extremely painful periods, PMDD, acne, etc. It just makes no sense to me.
Thank You! And remember RL was caught with the little blue pills at an airport via the Dominican Republic. Let’s just say, I would never RL near any boy children.
PH is disgusting and a disgrace to women everywhere. Pro-choice for a reason—no one should tell a woman what to do with her body—especially a man pressuring her to have an abortion and/or that she cannot take birth control pills. Insurance companies are run by rich, old white men popping little blue pills….that would probably encourage their young mistress to have an abortion so their Mrs. didn’t find out and take them to the cleaners! Truth.
Really ? Fine celebs I’ll pay for mine own Birth control and Starbucks. When YOU a-holes start paying for for all your shit. No more freebies of ANY kind. I’m so sick of celebs and their effing rants. Eff them. Gee Patricia. Who really paid for all that plastic surgery you had ??
YES! Thank you! I really wish celebrities would STFU already when it comes to politics. Just because they’re famous doesn’t mean they know what they’re talking about, they have the same information as us “regular folks” so we need to stop making it seem like they know it all!!!!
*cheers*
Pull the ads. Open a path for these people to earn a living as pundits.
I wish that I were a fan of her terrible show, so that I could boycott it.
What a tool.
I don’t understand – according to her wikipedia page, she has been married twice, for a total of 25 years, and has four children. So this is a person who herself has almost certainly used birth control…
Just shut up, do your show and cash your check woman. This is getting ridiculous. What do you use Patricia in order to prevent you from having more children. Its official, I hate twitter because it has proven that with 140 characters anyone can be a idiot. I love The Middle, now I have to reconsider this one.
She has had so much work done she is carved within an inch of her life, is that in Christ’s image?
Insurance pays for Viagra and them silly Penile Implants so men can perform to a silly standard, so why not pay for The Pill which treats many menstrual abnormalities.
I am glad she apologized, but it is too late for me. I know deep down what she is thinking and who she is. Therefore, I am personally boycotting anything to do with Patricia Heaton. Sorry to all the actors on Everybody loves Raymond, won’t be watching reruns anymore.
I love her new show, which is an ensemble cast, In The Middle, and I hate to see all the rest of the cast punished because of her idiocy. Since she is only part of a five-member lead cast, I hope the show, which is quirky and good, doesn’t suffer because she is a moron.
I’ve never watched the show but if it is an ensemble cast I say…fire her. Otherwise, yes, pull the advertising.
A long time ago, I heard some other misogynist, right-wing crap come spewing out of her and I just haven’t been able to look at her the same way. I am disgusted by her rants & views. And, I also think it is disgusting how much plastic surgery she’s had…as if the vessel that was created just for her wasn’t “good” enough!!
How stupid is this b/c debate that is still happening!!!! This is such a non-topic and is wasting our time and tax dollars still being discussed!!! We pay an arm and a leg for our family insurance coverage not to mention a co-pay for every prescription that we buy. And, we paid for the College insurance that my son was required to have since he could no longer be covered by ours.
Nobody is asking for anything free!!!!
And, Rush Limbaugh should be fired (just like Imus) permanently and be sent off to never be heard from again!!!
Okay, explain this to me. I see (mostly) MEN screaming about not wanting to pay for birth control…who the f*$% do they think women get pregnant by?!?! Other women? BOTH men and women benefit from the use of contraception. It just happens that nature designed our reproductive systems so that the female has more mechanisms to prevent pregnancy. But, you know, if they don’t think they should have to “pay” for my birth control, fine. All these men can go get vasectomies — do *their* part to prevent unwanted pregnancies. And I, a woman, will *happily* pay for that.
“You can take away my birth control when we can take away your little miracle pills.”
i like it.
what other uses does viagra or cialis provide other than getting it up? none? hmmmmm…..
Thank you! Instead of telling women to stop having sex, tell men to stop having sex with us! We wouldn’t get pregnant without their sperm…and where’s the male birth control pill anyway??
So in other words old Patty is a staunch religious republican with strong, moral convictions until it F**ks with her money flow.
Patty, do us all a favor and stick with your day job.
Not everything thinks republican convictions are “moral.”
What a moron.
I think it’s hilarious when u let these righit wingers loose what they espouse. What are we in the 1800’s when women are supposed to be ashamed of pre-marital sex? The belated apology doesn’t work, we’ve already seen how your mind works…
I don’t think freaky is overstating it?!
No one is saying the government has to pay for birth control. So calm down. And having gone to planned parenthood, birth control isn’t free there either. You get one free month and then they write you a prescription.
It’s all about the mandate that insurance companies will have to provide it. The same way they do certain kinds of vaccines, and other meds. Like others have said-it’s not just for pregnancy. Ovarian cysts run in our family, and it’s the first line treatment for that. Plus it can help with endometriosis.
AND I don’t understand. So they would rather someone either in their words 1) abort the baby or 2) become a welfare mom. It doesn’t make any sense.
Why the uproar? This is private insurance covering birth control, which is used for many reasons anyway: birth control, heavy periods (which I was on it for before), endometriosis, peri-menopausal (hot flashes). Insurance covers Viagra for men to get it up but as a woman I have to go completely out of pocket for birth control even though I have an insurance plan?
And since when did using birth control make anyone a slut?
I think Rush is a pig, but Patricial Heaton, what a Christian, what a role model, calling a college student loose because she chooses to be responsible and use birth control. You have no clue if she’s in a relationship or what. I saw the student on The View yesterday. She was so poised and argued the issues with class and intelligence, unlike these nutjobs. Yes, Patricia, her parents should be proud of her. What a classless remark when you also made a snide remark how proud her parents must be.
Even Joe Scarborough, die-hard Republican, said his conservative Republican wife and her friends were disgusted by Rush and by the Republicans burying their heads in the sand regarding such treatment of women.
AAAAmen-all of this^^^^^^^
Excuse me, but as long as Viagra is covered, so should be the Pill. Not to mention that the Pill is often used to treat HEALTH issues, such as hormonal inbalances and not purely for FUN. Do you wanna bet Rush has a stash of blue pills in his medicine cabinet? Patricia Heaton has always been a raving lunatic when it comes to religion and so-called “values”. I bet she’d also be against maternity leave, screaming “I won’t be paying for this”.
The issue isn’t whether or not you personally agree with birth control. It is whether or not the govt has any right to tell a religious institution what they can and cannot believe. If a religious institution believes (for whatever reason) that the pill is morally wrong, then should the govt force them to go against their religious belief when in so many other cases religious institutions do not have to comply with certain laws (ex:Quakers object to killing during war time so they are not subjected to a draft bc of religious reasons). Does requiring them to cover the pill and other procedures (such as abortion) interfere with religious freedom? You have to take away your personal feelings about the subject. The debate isn’t about why you think that the pill should be covered. It is much bigger than that.
Please don’t yell at me (I’m always afraid of getting yelled at or called a name during certain posts…). Notice that I never said if I was pro or against taking the pill. All I did was point out that the debate isn’t really about the pill.
That wasn’t what Patricia and Rush were arguing. They addressed a student wanting her pill covered by insurance so she could be a slut in those remarks.
YOU HAVE IT TOTALLY BACKWARDS… Religious institutions should not dictate to out government…Did you ever hear of separation of church and state…our founding fathers implemented this for a reason…
Yes Original Lucy I have heard of separation of church & state. & I’ve also heard of religious freedom. When was it accepatable for a church to tell the govt what to do? Since when has it been acceptable for thr govt to tell a church what they can believe? Thank you for yelling at me in caps.
I was responding to previous posts who think this debate is simply about birth control.
If religions want freedom from government interference, they can stop accepting government dollars.
HA! BOOM! Thank you! I am SO sick of the crap churches pull in the name of religious freedom.
Well said. It’s separation of church & state, except when the religious institution takes federal funds and employs believers of different faiths. Don’t want the government in your business. Fund your hospitals off your parishioners’ backs.
There are hospitals that are run off of private money. Not everyone is running their hospitals off of government money, and those that are have every right to object to this legislation. Many Catholic hospitals are not government funded. They take medicaid and medicare money, because that’s what patients bring to them. There are still privately run hospitals in the US, and are the ones that have the biggest objection to this legislation. The government in turn recognizes these organizations are being run by religious groups, and they have that status in regards to taxes and the like.
Bingo. And they can start paying taxes like every other corporation.
Just a point of clarification. While the issue is centered around birth control and religion, the mandate that was put through and ultimately denied by congress allowed any employer who provided insurance to not allow any drugs or procedures they deem unacceptable to them.
And Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe in blood transfusion. So I suppose that their insurance policies shouldn’t have to cover that? Better make sure you check someone’s insurance policy in the Emergency Room before the doctors perform any life saving procedure, some “religious” group might have a problem with it.
You do have religious freedom…you are free NOT use birth control…but you have no right to tell anyone else what to do….and don’t start that you don’t want your money used for birth control…we all pay for things we do not use…like people with no children paying for schools..it is the price of living in a free society…
This is not about religious freedom. This is about a employer not getting to control what their employees do. They don’t agree with birth control? Fine. Don’t use it.
They don’t own their employees.
If the government was telling an employer, as an individual, that you had to use birth control, that would be a violation of their rights. That’s not happening. They’re just saying that you don’t get to make that decision for the people who work for your company. Because, really, you don’t own them. They have the same rights to religious freedom as anyone else. Employers are not the only ones who get special treatment.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/19/1065048/-You-don-t-own-me
This is not about whether or not religious institutions and people should have the right (they should) to abstain from activities that go against their conscience or beliefs–that should be a human right.
It is about disparagement of women and categorizing them as sluts if they choose to have sex.
The problem is how we create the narrative, and the honesty and integrity with which we frame the debate. The issue is whether or not we should be so uncivil and unkind as to publicly shame, demean, and label people who you disagree with. To that, I likewise say “no”.
Thanks, again, Rin, for returning to the real problem and wading through the bs that well-meaning people sometimes get wrapped up in. Thanks for making sense, I mean.
Once and for all…
Religious employers aren’t being required to carry policies that cover BC!!
In the case the employer opts out for religious purposes the employee has the option to go directly to the insurance company to cover their BC at no fee….
The right-wingers were trying to corner Obama on this issue and unfortunately for them, fortunately for women he found away to side step this problem…thereby infuriating the them.
This wasn’t a moral issue for them…it was more of the same…under the guise of religious protection they we’re trying to stick it to Obama and politicizing this issue ( gay marrige anyone?)
The pill is free in the UK but only if you solely need it so you can have lots of fun recreational sex. Bizarrely, if you take it for an actual medical condition like heavy periods or acne (Dianette) you have to pay. Go figure!
Hell, the pill should be free, ground up and added to drinking water, seeing as Humanity’s near future will be first Idiocracy then Soylent Green…
^^LOL at Idiocracy reference. It is seriously our future.
^^^^ THIS EXACTLY, it’s so true its SCARY. Population is already outta control. FREE bc AND vasectomies for men.
I always found the pill to be free in the UK, even when it was prescribed for irregular and very painful periods. Perhaps it’s just certain brands that aren’t covered. Also, prescriptions costs are so heavily subsidized in the UK that most people would not have a problem paying the cost even if they had to. I was very surprised at the commercial cost of the various drugs I take when I moved to Canada, and given how many Americans cross the border for cheap Canadian meds, I can only assume drug costs in the US are astronomical.
You could argue that big pharma shouldn’t be trying to cream such a profit from birth control drugs that anyone would find them unaffordable.
Are you British? If so, someone’s been f-ing with you! If you have an NHS prescription you only pay the prescription charge (currently £7.40/prescription), whether your birth control is for medical reasons or just because you want to go out and have s£x with a different man every night!
I find it so hard to get my head around the American medical system. In the UK we pay National Insurance at the same time as income tax, as a % of your wages, and that’s it apart from prescription charges. Healthcare is universal in the UK, I simply couldn’t imagine not getting treatment for a medical condition because I couldn’t afford it.
One thing I *really* don’t get – do these people who are anti-contraception and anti-abortion not think that by forcing women to have children that they don’t want and may well not be able to afford to care for, those children are probably going to end up on all sorts of state benefits?! Surely, that costs massive amounts more than some pills?!
I won’t comment on her tweets simply because every time I spot her name on the news, I can predict it’s something related to misogynism and/or homophobia and all I can think or see is an image blurred by my hatred towards her.
I know I lack objectivity whenever I talk about her: I hate this woman, I truly hate her.
I’m really confused as to what the problem is? My insurance covers birth control or at least a portion of it. But I also pay out the ass for my insurance.
Why not have all insurance cover birth control? Then you won’t have all the unwanted pregnancies and abortions, which is what they want, right?
I think its because the Georgetown student wanted universities and government health insurances to provide birth control for free? at least that’s what I’m getting out of the argument when I try to look at it from the actual conversation rather than the blog analysis of it. I agree in the fact that insurances should provide birth control as it is far more medically necessary than viagra (which is also covered) if it is a private insurance but if it is a government/school backed insurance and the reasoning is not medical in nature then I think you should still have to pay a copay. I don’t think tax payer money should go towards free condoms or optional birth control. I also don’t think you should call someone a slut (Rush limbaugh should be ashamed) or the C word (as Bill Maher often called Sarah Palin) in political discussions
No, Georgetown University, a Catholic school, will not allow its insurers – insurance paid for by the students – to cover the cost of birth control. She wants nothing for free; she wants a safe, legal and necessary drug to be covered by insurance that she has already paid for.
@seagulls
Actually Georgetown (as a catholic university) DOES have to include birth control as part of their coverage. This is because they are located in the District of Columbia which passed a ‘state’ law saying all employers had to provide it as part of coverage.
I agree with you. I went to Georgetown, btw. I went knowing it was a Jesuit school–in fact, I went because it was a Jesuit school and I could get a good education. Even as liberal as Jesuits are…they are still Catholics. The Catholic Church does not hide its stance on issues, so either you deal with them and continue to participate or you go somewhere more keeping with your own belief systems.
Gays, atheists, and those that are adamantly pro-choice should refrain from working at, teaching at, going to school at, etc. Catholic organizations. It is akin to a former slave going back to work at the plantation and then complaining about all the beatings.
You already know the position before you willingly and actively participate or join…don’t complain later. Take your money and support elsewhere.
This is not politics. This is common sense. We are not living in Rome where every hospital is a Catholic hospital. We are not living in Iran where every University is a religious university. You have choices. Use them and allow the invisible hand of the marketplace to do your talking for you.
Money, whether we like it or not, makes the world go round.
Rin: you must be aware that picking a graduate school isn’t like picking a restaurant.
@ L
Do you have any links to further information about the rules within the District of Columbia?
I’d love to read more about this.
L said,” Actually Georgetown (as a catholic university) DOES have to include birth control as part of their coverage.”
—————-
This is incorrect. Read Sandra Fluke’s testimony. She pays for her health insurance 100%, and the school is the administrator. They will not allow bc to be covered by the insurance that the students are paying for. Her lesbian class mate had to be interviewed by both school administrators and insurance company workers in order to get birth control to control ovarian cysts. She was repeatedly denied coverage for this medication. She had to get her ovary removed as the result.
There is this whole, weird, idea that the powers-that-be *give* things to the regular people. They *give* us jobs, they *give* us insurance. And we should be grateful and humble. Uh no. My employer does not pay my paycheck out of pocket — the money is earned by the institution for the services we provide. Services *I* provide. Sean Hannity: “I’ve never had a poor person give me a job”. Well, actually, poor people pay for the goods and services advertised on your show, and THAT is why you have a job. I pay *a lot* for my company insurance, it is not some gift bestowed on me. As long as an organization is benefiting from the labor of employees they are not “giving” anything.
Amen! Sean Hannity is given a job by poor people. I’d guess the lower middle is the largest Fox News supporters for some bizarre and strange Stockholm Syndrome effect reason.
Sarah, there really isn’t an issue. The government isn’t paying for free birth control. The mandate was to make it available through your insurance plan. The insurance companies would subsidize the costs, instead of putting it all on the patient. The conservatives are trying to make this an issue of the government forcing religious institutions to go against their beliefs. The government isn’t doing that. Religious institutions can’t have it both ways. They can’t accept federal funds then deny its employees (some who don’t share their faith) access to birth control. If their believers don’t want to take BC (which 90% of them do), then don’t. But those that do, should be able to without the church having a say in it.
Birth control is expensive and in many cases denied to women or placed under drug plans that still make it too expensive for women to use. The conservatives would have you believe the government is mandating it be handed out like tic-tacs and that’s a lie.
I wish I could start a political party called “the common sense party” Do not agree with a lot of Republican views, but I also do not agree with a lot of Democrat views…the Federal government should not let any religious agenda factor into its decision making process…seperation or church and state is there for a reason…Nobody is forcing people opposed to birth control to take it…it is their right NOT to…but NOBODY should dictate to those who want birth control…THAT IS THEIR RIGHT… and as for who pays for birth control..we all pay for many, many things we don’t agree with, or don’t use…what about people with no children paying for schools…its the same thing as gay marriage…the government should have no say in two consenting adults marrying…but a religion can decide who gets married in their church…separation of church and state was the smartest thing our founding fathers ever did…too bad we can’t seem to put it to use..
Agreed Original Lucy. The voice of the Republicans have become far right and the voice of the Democrats have become far left. There is no place for the people in the middle and that sucks.
Actually, political science studies show that the right AND the left have moved to the right
Really? I suppose it is a matter of perception. To me, the Democrat and Republican party look pretty much the same, and both are far too conservative and right-wing for my tastes.
Exactly…people like me have nowhere to go, no one to vote for.
Gays have every right to marry. Who to share a life with is one of those choices that all freeborn should have.
I support gay marriage and gay adoption wholeheartedly.
I’m also “mind your own business” when it comes to throwing our military all over the world. The Department of Defense should defend our borders not be the world’s police.
I’m also against criminalization of drug possession. The drug war is incredibly expensive and unaffordable. We waste more money fighting drugs than social services that Republicans like to complain about so much. There’s policing borders, tracking down dealers and users, and then when someone is caught he or she is put into a prison system which is incredibly expensive (armed guards, electricity, food, clothing, medical care, etc). You can’t win a war like this on the supply side, plus there’s the whole issue of dictating what someone does with their own body…
And on that note…I think abortion is the destruction of life and the killing of a child HOWEVER it is a child that is living in and sustained by the mother’s body. She will answer to her own conscience and concept of God for the decision. You cannot FORCE her to use her body as an incubator. If she has no love for that child…what can you do?
I mean, really, you cannot prevent abortion unless you want to make the argument that we do not own our own bodies. So in this case, I am disgustingly, reluctantly pro-choice.
I believe we have the right to make bad decisions, even cruel decisions when it comes to our own lives.
My desire is that we would make informed decisions and have honest debates without the ugliness of our current political sideshow.
To “common sense party” girl and all of the people agreeing… you guys are pretty much describing Libertarianism. We’ve been pigeon-holed as off-the-grid far right psychos, but we’re really not that bad! Come on over… we have sexual freedom, drugs, and guns!
(The last part was a joke. 😉 )
On the matter of Patricia Heaton… never watched Raymond, and as for “The Middle…” I keep it on to kill time before Modern Family. Won’t be doing that anymore. Won’t be that hard to give up, as I find the actors who play the kids creepy anyways. Seriously, what’s wrong with the youngest one?
This woman makes me sick. Of course birth control should be covered. Hell, when I went o NIU the only thing my sorely lacking student health insurance DID cover was birth control because that’s 100x cheaper than paying the medical costs of a pregnancy. Also my boyfriend, now husband, split the cost of the copay with me because even though I was the one taking it, neither of us was ready for kids.
I think the advertisers should pull their support. Calling a woman a whore for saying she wants birth control is no more acceptable than calling a gay person a fag. Advertisers should have zero tolerance for hate speech.
Patricia Heaton doesn’t agree contraception should be covered which is…her opinion, whatever.
But isn’t she part of Feminists For Life? How, as a self-proclaimed feminist – or, you know, as a person – how do you see nothing wrong with what Limbaugh said? How are you not horrified by a wealthy, relatively influential man calling a woman a slut to shut her up?
*rage stroke*
So, I have been a prof at a major Catholic college (think the other major Catholic college in the US that isn’t Georgetown) and as a married faculty member with their insurance, I decided to start a family. When my doctor heard that I have cystic fibrosis in my close family members, she told me that I needed to have a genetic test to determine whether the baby had it–she was not a high-risk OB and if the baby did have CF and was born with a severe intestinal blockage (common for CF babies), she was not qualified to deal with it.
Insurance denied the procedure. My doc was furious, and as a prof (making not so very much $) paying out of pocket was way more than we could come up with. I was ready to tear my hair out.
Here’s why this stuff is about religion. According to mainstream Catholic theology, contraception prevents the possibility of new life, which is something that only God should determine. So, according to this idea, sex should only be procreative (every sperm is sacred, anyone?), only be done within a marriage, and never be constrained in any way that might prevent the possibility of life.
Interesting and infuriating little-known fact: the Papal Encyclical called Humanae Vitae was issued by Pope Paul VI in 1968, and is the definitive statement against birth control for devout Catholics. But he issued it AFTER he had convened a long study group composed of married couples, moral theologians, and Catholic doctors. Their conclusion? That artificial contraception (only within marriage, of course, but still) was a great thing and should be given the papal stamp of approval.
Paul VI rejected their findings and unilaterally issued Humanae Vitae attacking BC instead. In recent decades, many evangelical Christians have been adopting a similar anti-BC stance, which is common ground for them with Catholics.
Sorry for the encyclopedia entry. But I noticed that a couple people were asking about what religion has to do with it. Since that’s what I do for a livin’ I thought I’d chime in and explain.
Also, if you google “Women in Theology” you can find a fascinating blog by progressive Catholic women. They just happen to be running a series of posts by very conservative Catholic women who tried to follow the church’s teaching against birth control, and were left absolutely devastated by the consequences. Interesting stuff.
Heaton needs to STFU. I never thought she had a lick of talent, and I think that her situation as a conservative in Hollywood has given her a persecution complex. Which she takes out on others. Ugly behavior.
I wish we had a “like” button on here. Great, informative, post.
Thank you for sharing your understanding of the matter at hand. I really enjoyed reading your perspective, and you have given some insight into the issue that is likely being overlooked in the media. The problem I have with Rush Limbaugh and now Patricia Heaton is that while they may have a valid point of view (I am still not quiet sure) they cannot express it without insulting Ms Fluke first. Forming logical, sound arguments is difficult; calling people names and making assumptions about their character is easy. I have more respect for people who can articulate their thoughts without first attacking those they are addressing than I do for the ones who throw cheap jabs and expect a pat on the back for it.
And just to be clear: the university’s insurance denied coverage for the prenatal screening because they will not cover ANY fetal screens, out of fear that parents might choose to abort if the result is a bad one.
Really sad set of blinders they are wearing – screening can also pick up conditions treatable in the womb and prepare medical staff for high risk births. There are risks involved for some types of screenings, though, so they shouldn’t be routine.
Were you unaware of the Catholic Church’s position on reproduction prior to becoming a professor? If not, why would you choose to support an organization whose policies you do not personally agree with by accepting a position at Notre Dame?
There are hundreds of state schools, non-religious schools and institutions to teach at, why pick a major Catholic university? Would you work for Bob Jones or Liberty University?
It makes no rational sense that anyone would willingly submit to an authority that you do not agree with and then bemoan the circumstances. You are an educated woman, I cannot believe that you did not know the Church’s position prior to making the choice to teach there.
Is it unfair that the Church takes this position on birth control? Absolutely. They feel however it is anti-life and the Church will continue to support that until they see their numbers dwindle to nothing. That is their burden for taking an unfavorable position, just as yours is to be denied access to the full plethora of women’s health services should you choose to teach at their institution.
My language proficiency has enabled me to apply for jobs at certain agencies inside the beltway that have 3 letters. Because I do not support their policy and activities I am not taking what would be a lucrative, high paying job that would give me the opportunity to travel all around the world and receive excellent benefits. It is a dream job in this economy, but…I just don’t agree with the politics.
Uh, look. Clearly you have no real clue what it is like to try to find a professor gig in the humanities. The very idea that I would simply decide for myself to go get a job at a secular or public university makes me want to die laughing or perhaps run around in circles screaming. “Hi, XYZ State U! You should totally hire me! I’m awesome and well-qualified and a good teacher and dedicated and have a PhD from a top-ranked ivy!” At which point XYZ State U laughs hysterically and tells me to get in line behind the other 739 people who want a job in my field. And then when I try to get hired outside academia, nobody wants to hire me, because really, how useful is ancient Greek on today’s job market, right?
Believe me, if I had gotten any other job offer I’d have jumped at it. But when there are roughly 350+ applicants for every position, and when the politics of where you got your PhD and who your advisor are more complicated than elections in some countries, you take the job you get and work your ass off trying to get someplace that is not run by ultra-conservatives.
Or you do what I do, which is resign in protest at some of the other, even more horrendous practices (racist and misogynist) and walk away from a career you trained for for over a decade, in an incredibly difficult decision that will likely impact your life for years to come.
Any other questions?
The funny thing is that the Church does approve of birth control pills if they are used to facilitate the rhythm method, which is the only form of birth control the Church does approve of. The pills help make a woman’s menstrual cycle regular, which makes the rhythm method more reliable. Why any woman in her right mind who is on the pill would also practice the rhythm method is a whole other issue.
If it had been one stupid tweet alone, you might be able to say she made a mistake. But multiple condecending tweets is evidence that she was trying to shame Fluke… And evidence of the mean spirited person she is.
I agree. She has her pile of money from tv. She doesn’t care about anyone else. Shallow, vapid dolt.
My ultraconservative Catholic friend, who follows the doctrine to a T, finds these remarks tastless. She has her beliefs but treats people with respect and is a lovely and kind and respectful person. She told me judgmental, hateful people like Patricia give conservative Christians a bad name.
Exactly, you can have your faith and beliefs and still respect others.
This is what happens when celebrities think they’re opinions matter. Heaton, you’re an actress, shutup and recite your lines like the overpaid little parrot you are.
Hmm. I always thought she looked like a miserable twat. This confirms my suspicion. Thanks for clearing that up.
Wow, had no idea she was insane. Insane and a mean girl too. Won’t be watching her EVER again in anything. What a loser.
she is annoyingly conservative and hates gays and reallllllllllllllllly bugs me.
word.
she needs to SIT DOWN.
THANK YOU SAMIHAMI!
I’d never even heard of this woman before but she sounds like she needs to crawl back under a rock.
Don’t get me started on Limbaugh.
If I hear ONE MORE PERSON SAYING THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO PAY FOR BIRTH CONTROL…I WILL FRIGGIN’ SCREAM!!! Does this country’s government provided UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE?!?! NO…so the GOVERNMENT i.e. taxpayers are not paying for free birth control!!!
This is a matter between employers and corporate healthcare companies that provides healthcare coverage to employees…in 2013, under Obamacare…female EMPLOYEES who pay OUTLANDISH monthly healthcare premiums (I am a single woman who pays almost $400 a month!) will be able to get b.c. for free…
So…please, stop listening to the lying politicians and talking heads making this out to be a “taxpayer” issue…these politicians are just trying to ensure that rich corporate healthcare companies don’t ante up for the cost of meds…which means less $$$ goes in THEIR executives pockets! This isn’t about morality AT ALL!!! Because if it was…then we wouldn’t have a country that makes its money off of NOT TREATING THE SICK!!! THAT IS IMMORAL TO THE CORE!!!
That being said…I have always enjoyed Patricia Heaton’s acting…after that b.s., she can S–K IT!!!
She should be like Kelsey Grammer…and collect his checks…vote for who he wants…financially supports who he wants…and keeps his pie-hole closed
it makes no sense that people have completely missed the issue. this is all about allowing coverage under a service already paid for by an employee. this ALONE may be the reason i dont vote republican. seriously, nothing better to WASTE TAXPAYER MONEY TALKING ABOUT? its a shame how we are hurtling back to the dark ages.
I know! I’ve actually seen people saying stuff like “I don’t want to have to pay for your condoms!” It’s truly amazing how uninformed some people can be.
Gotta shout it: THANK YOU, LISA!!!!
Insurance companies charge ridiculous rates because of all the stuff they have to cover therefore all of us who pay for health care/US TAXPAYERS ARE paying for birth control for the masses when insurance co’s cover it!
So when you complain about the cost of health insurance/health care, remember why its so high — because of them having to cover the cost of Viagra, birth control and other non life saving medicines. People should have to pay for their own medicines unless they need the meds directly to better their physical health. Not their physical pleasure.
But covering pregnancy and birth costs hugely more than covering contraception. That’s why countries with state health care are so keen to promote contraceptive methods and distribute the drugs/condoms. In my own country, it’s the only drug nobody ever has to contribute towards: because it saves everyone else a fortune.
And furthermore the pill isn’t only used as a contraceptive.
Actually, based on health insurance companies’ OWN studies, it turns out that providing no-copay contraception saves them billions every year, because it’s much cheaper to cover a contraceptive prescription for a woman each year than it is to pay for prenatal care and delivery. This means that YOU and every other insured person gets a lower premium.
That’s why we haven’t heard a peep out of them. They’re fine with this mandate.
Who is she and why are people making her relevant?
i recall she’s a mother of 4 boys – perhaps if she had a daughter she’d think differently. in any case, she’s still a stupid cow
Well,some people could say: I don’t have children, I don’t like children, and I don’t want children. I don’t want my tax dollars playing for your child’s education. You had children, pay for it yourself.
Why ARE DRUG REHABILITATION services covered? I know Rush can relate to that.
There are valid and logical reasons to argue the subject either way. She did it in an idiotic manner.
Wasn’t the whole point that birth control is often used to treat medical conditions, so it should at least be covered in those instances?
That line of reasoning makes me so mad! Okay, weren’t *you* a child? were you educated? who paid for that?
Do you want educated employees? co-workers? service providers? Well, how do you think they get that way? Do you want to live in nice communities with paved roads, public safety and good businesses? Better make sure there are plenty of employable, tax-paying, people around.
That “reasoning” was the reasoning Patricia used. I don’t actually mean that, it was an example. I have a child LOL (although she attends a private academy)
It’s really sad that people like Heaton can’t disagree but remain respectful and decent. Rush’s comments, while not surprising, are appalling. Heaton’s are as well. What is wrong with her that she thought that was OK?
I’m all for Rush’s sponsors leaving, but one a show that employs hundreds, I don’t know. I do think her bosses have the right to tell her to STFU or face professional consequences. She represents them, and she has done some damage here.
This whole debate screams of diversionary tactics to try to make this a “moral” election. It’s insane.
WOW! Never knew this side of her! Well I won’t be watching the middle or anything else she is in ever again! I know people have a right to their opinion, and so do I. It is my right to not watch her in anything else!!!
Hated everyone loves raymond anyway, so really will only have to stop watching the middle.
What is it about people like Heaton that make them froth at the mouth about any kind of socialized medicine like it’s the devil’s work? Making birth control easy and affordable only makes sense, financially and morally. Birth control is only a miniscule portion of their taxes. What about the cost of schools, medical care, and social assistance for unwanted children born into poor families? Heaton, Limbaugh and others cruelly and childishly vilified someone who only posited a reasonable opinion – clearly they have issues about pre-marital S-E-X. They’re acting like moral Nazis. Next they’ll probably demand legislation to prevent single people from buying condoms!
I’m confused. Are religious institutions afraid that if their female employees have access to birth control, they will suddenly ditch their religious teachings and become whores? I feel like this mandate won’t really change someone’s decision to take the pill or not (I am only talking about bc cases not health cases).
I think Heaton’s comments were ridiculous. If she disagrees, that’s fine. But at least be informed and not behave like a Real Housewife.
Don’t forget that the majority of religious teachings have women fulfilling only one thing in life, creating life. Nothing more, so yes, if you provide free BC, then women, who aren’t able to make moral decisions, will go crazy and have sex all the time. This is why organized religions give me hives. As a woman I only have one purpose in life and therefore have no say in anything.
I don’t get these “Show Christians”. They are nothing like the Christians I know in real life, imperfect but they have grace and manners. Being crass and a christian just is’nt Christian.
God is she ignorant. Looks like she needs to read more and not just get her information from the Republican talking heads and Fox News. She should be embarrassed. A grown woman should not be acting like a high school brat.
No matter what your opinion in the debate itself is, Heaton’s tweets and retweets were disgusting. It’s more than being mean, it’s hateful and vile.
I’m not surprised the Georgetown student didn’t accept that pitiful excuse of an apology. If I was Heatons co-worker or an advertiser of her show, I would distance myself from her.
Good that Limbaugh is losing advertisers, its long overdue imo.
I live in the UK and Birth Control isn’t a big issue here. Any prescribed drug is free to those in full time education and contraception is also free, via prescription for all. Not condoms, which will stop any STI (although you can always use a family planning centre for these). I , myself have an implant that was fitted free of charge and although the NHS may get a lot of stick we are doing such things right. Patricia Heaton and all these other celebrities are being nonsensical. The Pill is there to help women and girls for all sorts of reasons and ought to be readily available. It isn’t about being able to ‘slut about’ but having the responsibility of not relying on prayer to stop pregnancies. If you don’t want abortions about at least offer alternatives!
Let me tell you a little secret, as a life long Democratic voter. Birth control wasn’t a big deal here either until the Obama Admin threw women under the bus, yet again.
Mitt Romney, a Republican, even laughed when George Stephanopolis (sp?) tried to make a point of it at a recent debate, explaining that it was a settled issue. The Obama Admin then ran with it to create chaos. It is sad that many don’t realize how much has been lost under Obama, solely for his political gain.
Women have lost more rights under this Democratic president than they have under several Republican presidents.
That said, Patricia Heaton really let her hair down in that Twitter war. I can’t say that I was ever a fan. ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ was a mean show, in my opinion, so we never watched. But without a doubt, someone’s private health history is none of her business. Like you said The Pill is helpful for a lot of reasons, but slut shaming strangers on the internet is such an odd way to try and defend such a lame political stance.
first thing I thought when I read her tweets was “wow, she must have been drunk”
I’m a suburban, church going, station wagon driving, reading tutor, PTA-mom, Girl Scout troop leading, school volunteer, mostly stay at home mom in the south ………SLUT!
That’s right. I’m a worthless whore.
Well, at least if you’re a conservative these days.
I will fully admit my husband of 14 years and I had hot pre-marital SEX for 2 years before settling down. Then I continued my whoredom while working after marriage and using birth control partially covered by my insurance. We had this crazy idea about waiting to have kids until we could afford them. So skip forward to after the birth of our 2nd kid & I’m working PT from home. I’m on my husband’s insurance. His company is bought out and they cut ALL contraceptive care for women. The only things they’ll cover? Pregnancy & vasectomy. So instead of paying $39.99 a month for BC it’s going to double that at least. Mirena? Without insurance the device alone is $750 & that’s BEFORE it’s placed. And where in the heck is all this free birth control other posters keep going on about? There isn’t if you’re middle class. So that leaves condoms. Which can get expensive if you’re it getting more than Patricia Heaton. Plus I worried we’d have an “oops” at a time we were worried my husband might be laid off. Curse my whorish ways for worrying about having a child I can’t afford! Of course we were really broke and according to the conservatives couldn’t afford NOT to have a kid. In the end we went with the vasectomy, although it was a difficult choice. We really thought about having more kids and our financial outlook is brighter than it was 2 years ago. At least we’re back to having morning quickies though! Of course that means my youngest is frequently late to our church preschool.
So maybe we should call this the “Anti-Marriage Initiative.” “Creating sexless marriages in the name of family!” I am very, very tired of wealthy conservatives with their “let then eat cake attitude” trying to dictate to middle class families how we should live at a time when we’re struggling. The fact that you try to mask your contempt for the middle class by calling it “socialism” to help families is repugnant. Yes, an extra $70+ a month would be difficult for some of us peasants to pay.
I’m one PO’d slut.
yeah, Rubenesque, you may be a tired old slag, but you are one MAGNIFICENT writer – love it!! I also really enjoyed Lindy’s post, and Lisa’s, and so many others here, which show me that there are strong articulate and informed women who can take this nonsense on!
Well stated! Also, as I recall, Patricia Heaton had a tummy tuck after the birth of her 4th child. Hmmm….I wonder what was covered – A.K.A. “paid for by ungodly tax payers” – by her benefits insurance?
That’s awesome-yes thank you! I shared some of your paragraph with some friends! I couldn’t resist!
Well said…and it’s too bad you all couldn’t come on over to the dark side here in Canada, where for decades now, through our public health care system (“socialism”–gasp!), any woman can access birth control pills through a prescription from their nurse or doctor. The cost is low, and free at university campuses and womens’ health clinics, and many corporate insurance plans will cover the majority, if not all, of that cost. It’s first and foremost a public health issue, with the priority being health care above everything. All sluts are taken care of here, including myself, married for over 25 years. 🙂
Rubenesque, I LOVE your post!!! I am also a suburban, church going, mom slut. 😀 It seems that far-right conservatives only want us to have sex a couple times a month with the lights off then sleep in separate twin beds. How dare we sluts enjoy having sex with our husbands and want to do it for the pleasure, fun and intimacy instead of merely for pro-creation?! How dare those of us with endometriosis and excrutiating cycles want to take medication to make our lives livable and be able to take care of our kids all month instead of just 3 out of 4 weeks and expect our outrageously expensive insurance to cover it? That’s not as important as their viagra, I guess. I guess we’re just supposed to all live our lives having unenjoyable sex when our husbands decide it’s our duty and spend the rest of our time pregnant, cooking their dinner, and raising their children.
Well stated my fellow slut. I am a married trollop too.
Another married slut here.
And my pills ARE paid for by the taxpayer, because in Britain they figure it saves the NHS a fortune if you just damn well help people who don’t want to conceive extra babies. It’s the only medication you don’t have to pay one penny for, even if you’re a millionaire. (Condoms are free if you go to a healthcare provider and ask, but most people just buy them as you don’t need a prescription. The embarrassment factor, I suspect.)
Ms Rubenesque,
You get down with your bad self…but save some for Mr Rubenesque!!
You’re the right wings worst nightmare. A women who makes sense and OWNS IT.
When women assert the additional reasons why BC is important we surrender or lose the ground that’s important.
We have a right to family planning!!
Beneath all of the rhetoric is the GOP’s secret desire to control the debate by shaming women…they just met their match!!
what a terrible woman. why is it always so personal with the right, they harp on someone and just try to destroy them as human being, instead of just stating why they disagree with their opinions? shame on her and others like her.
I like her haircut.
it is not civilized discourse. Even in her apology, she doesn’t quite meet what I would consider to be the minimum expectation for conversation.
I have no problem with people actin’ foolish about foolish things – sports, tv, Brangelina. But to take the same vacant, flippant attitude toward politics is helpful to no one. I do not wish to see her lambasted in some meaningless way, but I would like for her to learn to be more cautious and respectful when addressing someone she does not know who is in the public sphere. Failure to exercise such caution should result in being called on the carpet by Disney/her bosses/sponsors and supporters. She needed to learn that lesson.
I actually just got in this debate on facebook last night. I NEVER get in political or religious debates with anyone, but a work colleague posted a similar slut-shaming post and I really felt the need to respond. His post basically said, “I was a 39yr old virgin when I got married and anyone who has premarital sex is partaking in irresponsible, risky and immoral behavior and I don’t want to pay for that.” SERIOUSLY. I got sucked into a debate with a ‘minister’ friend of his (I use the term ‘minister’ loosely here) who was pretty insulting and close-minded. It did make me realize tho that alot of the conservatives complaining about ‘paying for birth control’ are really against socialized health care and are just using birth control as an excuse. They don’t wan to pay for anything for anyone but themselves. When I asked if he’d rather pay for women’s pills or support the babies that may be born to mother’s who couldn’t afford them, he said he didn’t like either option and wanted to do neither. Sorry pal, but unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. Both men I debated with–white men in their 40s surprisingly enough–completely ignored my stance that many many women–if not most–are either married/in committed relationships, take it for physiological symptoms, or both. In their minds only single poor sluts want men to pay for birth control out of their pockets. It was absolutely DISGUSTING. And that is exactly why I never talk politics/religion with anyone–people with opinions like that are so far gone and irrational that not enough sensible discussion will do anything to get them out of their tiny little box of close-mindedness.
Yes, but they don’t mind corporatism, ie socialism for companies. They certainly don’t mind corporate entities getting huge financial incentives and tax breaks. They don’t mind the rich receiving bailouts. But you let a poor person need help and they get: get a job…close your legs…etc.
Why didn’t they tell the folks at AIG to go cry them a river or the honchos at Bank of America to live within their means?
How come the Department of Defense isn’t told to stay within budgets or not start wars they can’t afford?
The Bible has over 2000 references regarding caring for the poor and still more about paying taxes. Jesus was eating corn from a field he didn’t work in, living off of the kindness of others, asking people to care for the poor and sick, promoting kindness to women of ill repute. Honestly, if he existed today he’d be a hippie socialist bum to these people. They don’t really like Christ. They don’t know Christ.
Both of you great posts!
Hey P-Gal: Why don’t you go have another facelift, boob job, ass lift and you’ll feel better about yourself and try to accept the fact that you’re a has-been and your career is in the crapper. Wait… sorry, that was mean-spirited and not Christian-like behavior. Please accept my sincere apology. I was wrong. Mea Culpa.
I think I love you.
Ms. Heaton, like a lot of people never read the testimony and then like some people, put on her ‘mean girl panties’ and went on a personal attack. A very sustained one.
What is with people who believe that issues can be solved with pep rally and huddle like responses.
I hope her ‘mean girl panties’ tighten in a bunch and affect her circulation in several ways. As someone on another site said, this is a woman who has become famous by playing shrews. Not a great talent.
One other thought. In the 90’s I had a friend who put together a group of us who proudly identified as SLUTS. For us that meant SINGLE LADIES UNDER TREMENDOUS STRESS…I would be open to seeing this now stand for SMART LADIES UNDER TREMENDOUS STRESS and would wear my SLUT baseball cap again
What a disgusting, petty, ignorant bitch.
The irony of the last name I called her is not lost on me.
Personally, I love The Middle. I don’t care what any actor’s or sports player opinions on anything are, because they are usually not mine 😀
This debate, like gay marriage, is out of control. I am for free birth control and gay marriage and hopefully I’ll see this in my lifetime.
It just goes to show that no matter how many babies you birth, it doesn’t mean you have maternal instincts.
Heaton, a grown-ass woman, has a bunch of kids and still she could see nothing wrong or cruel in adding to the harassment of this young woman. Never mind that she later apologized. The fact that she did it in the first place tells you all about Ms. Heaton and her morals. Clearly not a maternal or kind bone in her body.
Single women were given the pill before the 1970s. Some states made contraceptives illegal for everyone and in the 1965 seminal case of Griswold v. Connecticut the Supreme Court, in siding with the Griswold’s right to be free of government interference in this matter, established the idea that within the Constitution there is an inherent right to privacy.
Well said and thank you for saying it. Now on to Patty Heaton, I don’t buy her apology any more than I buy Rush’s. Both are like little bullies that are being forced to say sorry but can’t wait to do it again.
I’m astounded at the content of Patricia Heaton’s tweets. Initially, I thought maybe – MAYBE – people’s opposition was rooted in some kind of philosophical objection to mandating health care coverage for birth control because of…well, some principle besides “women are whores who want to be paid to have sex”. Being against the government telling insurance cos. what to cover (even though the government of course already does that). SOMETHING besides “women should close their legs.”
But no, PH’s comments, and comments on just about every article I’ve seen are all about slamming women as freeloading nymphomaniacs. What century is this?
Another case of someone with a little information, not the whole story, saying something stupid.
wow. This is so annoying. She wasn’t asking for government issued insurance to pay for her birth control. She was talking about private insurance!!!
Guess what, Patricia, your far right wing buddies who were high-fiving you for calling this young girl loose have probably behind your back judged you for working long hours on TV shows after having four babies and hiring a bunch of nannies. You know family values and all.
I don’t know where to start. Where was ‘Christ’s love’ last week when she wrote her awful uninformed tweets?
And what a weak apology. If she suffers a backlash from this (please!!!) I wouldn’t be surprised if networks start forbidding celebs to use Twitter.
What an ugly, hateful woman.
Wow. Patricia Heaton is an a**hole!
Maybe, The Middle should do a show about Sue Heck asking about birth control now that she has a boyfriend.
Sounds like her name should really be Patricia Hatein’
Zing! I don’t think I’ll be able to get that out of my head when I hear her name!
I knew she was a conservative tool, but The Middle is actually a funny show. Argh!
I agree, it’s funny. We pay actors to be other people on screen and entertain us so why stop watching it because she’s an idiot in real life? I’m going to keep watching it.
You should stop watching because you pay them to entertain you. Period. I get paid to do my job and if I ran around here putting my politcal views in a cruel way out to other coworkers or our customers-I can guarantee I’d lose my job. People need to take personal responsibility for their behavior-especially actors and entertainers because we are always so eager to forgive them so then it creates a monster. Act & entertain but don’t make attacks on random people in the name of politics as part of it or I will NOT tune in.
The point of this whole debate was whether the government has the right to usurp a person’s or an institution’s freedom of Religion with mandated healthcare policies that are contrary to their belief system. I also believe that the government should not have the right to tell a private insurance company what services they should render free of charge.
It all boils down to big government imposing its power on the people or a limited government letting people live freely to worship and live their lives as they wish.
It is so disingenuous for the left to pretend they are upset with Rush’s language when Hollywood,comediennes like Bill Maher,leftist leaders throw the same rhetoric at conservative women every single day.
Rush is a moron and the same goes for all of the lefty misogynistic bomb throwers.
Actually, the point of this ‘debate’ is that an awful lot of people still want to control women, especially their uteruses. (uteri?)
Strip everything else away and that’s what this is.
@Garvels:
Please inform me what services private insurance companies offer for free.
Either I pay a premium, or I have foregone a salary increase in lieu of the benefit of coverage. I imagine my drug plan as a big ole grocery cart: my employer may object to the things that I put in there, but no matter what my employer’s religion is, they cannot order me what to put into it or take out of it. Imagine a landlord refusing to rent to a single woman because she might use contraception, or put a clause in the lease that she can’t use the Pill or would face eviction. Or a vegetarian landlord evicting a tenent because she cooked meat in the premises. All the same thing.
My choice, not my employer’s choice, not my insurer’s choice, not my landlord’s choice.
Contrary to their belief system? Well isn’t that a slippery slope – maybe an employer/CEO hates smokers and thinks they don’t “deserve” to have their asthma, emphysema, or lung cancer treated. Should they be able to deny coverage for those conditions?
The government has always told ins. cos. what is mandated coverage, it varies by state. I’m not going to boo-hoo about stuff being covered.
@ gervals,
Certainly don’t let the facts get in the way of a wildly inaccurate statement!
The insurance companies are in favor of providing
BC which is why they agreed to provide it FREE if the employer had religious objections.
It’s the employer that have religious objections to BC that want to deny women and right wingers are endorsing this for political purposes!!
So Rush Limbaugh had enough prescription Oxycontin to become addicted and 4 wives, none of whom bore him any children. Insurance might’ve covered his addiction/viagra but lets not talk about how his wives avoided becoming pregnant. An idiot who is also a hypocrite…
Patricia Heaton too- good to know.
What a stupid effing bitch. Can’t really relate to the whole birth control not being free because we have the NHS, so maybe I’m biased. But seriously, what the actual fuck? Equating birth control and being responsible to being a ‘slut’ makes me so angry. I always think that most people who hold these types of out dated, sexist, horrible opinions are old and will die out soon, but she’s not that old. I’m disappointed. Someone remove her uterus until she’s less disrespectful to women.
Ugh, these people. I didn’t even know about these tweets from Heaton, though I did read the Limbaugh comments (I’m currently abroad and so a little out of touch with news from home). I don’t know why this guy has his own radio show, or why we even pay attention to him at all. He’s just some asshole who hates women.
I guess my recent Stieg Larsson binge is showing. Is it weird that I find myself thinking WWLD (what would Lisbeth do)?
Anyway…I wish this wasn’t still an issue in 2012. Same with marriage equality. It just makes me tired.
I didn’t realize Patricia Heaton was such a weirdo…IDK if I can watch her show now because it has changed the way I see and feel about her completely. Her attemp at “humor” was really….not funny at all
Welcome back to the Middle Ages.
It might be time for a move north to Canada for me. Shit’s getting scary…and has been beyond unacceptable for a long time now.
Yes middle ages indeed… There is a county in S Carolina whose GOP party just approved a “purity pledge” for their candidates…the state GOP says it is illegal but to believe that this is happening today is crazy:
“At issue is a “purity” pledge – that the Upstate county’s party approved Feb. 28, requiring those who file to run in the June 12 Republican primary to promise they did not have premarital sex, will be faithful to their spouses and will not watch porn while also fighting to protect gun rights.”
http://www.thestate.com/2012/03/06/2179432/laurens-county-gop-oks-purity.html#storylink=cpy
Well they had to do something after all those closeted GOP homophobes were caught with their rentboys. Guess they decided they’d better clean up their act.
I read that all eyerolling, and then I got to the gun rights tagged on the end and was just… WHAT?!
I do not understand how people can at one and the same time claim to be pro-life and then get militant about gun rights. Guns are designed to kill. That’s what they are for. It just does not compute.
For those of you saying that birth control is not covered by insurance, it is. However the US government is trying to stop government funded ins (subsidized) coverage of birth control. From what I have read, Obama does not agree with this. Some private insurance companies do follow Medicare guidelines, but some do not. These religious institutions need to get with the program. Cutting birth control coverage will in no way stop premarital sex. Also, low-income families need birth control the most IMO. Patricia Heaton has the right to free speech therefore, her opinion. But when she lowered herself to childish comments and insulting, her relevance went out the door.
Wanted to make a little correction in case I confused anyone. It all starts with Medicare/Medicaid (government funded ins). But only people 65+, have renal failure or are disabled have Medicare. However Medicare and Medicaid share the exact same laws and covered/non-covered benefits. Anyway, I agree with many that say the US is so behind in regards to healthcare.
“For those of you saying that birth control is not covered by insurance, it is.”
—————-
That is incorrect. Insurance plans and what they cover vary greatly (especially among individual, small group, and large group plans). It also varies depending on the administrator of your plan (in group plans, that is usually your employer).
If you read the testimony of Ms. Fluke, she says that she pays for 100% of her insurance coverage, yet it does not cover birth control pills. She talked about how a fellow student who is a lesbian and needed bc to prevent ovarian cysts had to be interviewed by school officials and the insurance company to try and get bc covered for her non-sexual needs. She was repeatedly denied by the insurance company, and ended up with a ovarian cyst that required surgical removal of her entire ovary (which lead to premature menopause).
I strongly recommend that everyone read Ms. Fluke’s testimony. That way we are all on the same page. (Overall I liked your comments, just had to clarify about coverage).
What a nasty, immature, self righteous old skank. I’d expect comments like that from someone in high school.
Time to boycott ABC and all of their programming. Sandra Fluke was on The View yesterday and Barbara Walters was condemning everyone for boycotting Rush Limbaugh-she said if we don’t like what he said-turn of the tv-I am doing just that-I have blocked ABC from my tv. They are notoriously anti woman and i have had enough. I hope Patricia heaton feels the heat from her hateful un-Christian like attitude.
I didn’t see The View when Barbara was telling people to just turn off the radio if they don’t like Rush’s comments. Ironic that she gives the same advice for Rush that I have practiced for years with her. She has been annoying for years and I avoid her like the plague.
Patricia Heaton’s religious meanderings are interesting. She was raised Roman Catholic and Wikipedia claims she still identifies as Catholic but attends a Presbyterian church (if so, things have certainly changed since my childhood!). But I recall an interview with her back when her kids were young, and she was definitely into Scientology at some level. Maybe it was a phase.
There are ignorant people on both sides of this debate. I usually find Kaiser spot-on with her snarky “analyses,” however this line: ‘Religious institutions offering employee insurance wanted an “exemption” from covering birth control, because God hates The Pill or whatever.’ is every bit as reductive and misinformed as Heaton’s hysteria-fueled twitter bombs.
Umm, how is “because God hates the Pill or whatever” the same as a PERSONAL ATTACK on someone’s character?? I took Kaiser’s comment as a joke in reference to how this whole thing has gotten so complicated it is hard to even figure out exactly WHY people are so against birth control.
Deep down, they probably think sex is nasty. 😆
I never said that what Kaiser wrote was a personal attack. I do think that, like Heaton, she is guilty of getting her facts wrong and twisting the other side’s point of view.
And yes – sex is nasty. Some of us like it that way on occasion. 😉
I had no idea that PH has such a small mind. Well, she is deadtome now.
I have never made it through an episode of that show, despite my love for the Janitor. Heaton and the kids are so unbearable in every respect. It’s like a 10th rate “Malcolm” rip-off. Horrible. And I hated her on Raymond, too.
Another shining example of phonies who invoke God’s name to justify their hatred of other human beings.
I grew up Catholic. I choose NOT to practice it now, but I still believe in God very much so.
And what God does this witch believe in that makes it OK for her to mock and publicly humiliate someone just for testifying to Congress? The God I know and love is inclusive of ALL people and would not condone treating other human beings this way.
I hope she rots in Hell with that other tool Kirk Cameron.
I”m so confused by why someone would be opposed to this, and yet there is no mention of the millions upon millions of dollars spent taking care of children that parents cannot afford? Nevermind the cost of just supporting these children, what about their general well-being as they grow into adults? Statistics clearly show children born into poverty to parents who cannot afford them are at extremely high risk for everything from substance abuse to incarceration to teen pregnancy. Talk about a ton of money in resources!!! Also, thank you to those who pointed out birth control is often used for other medical reasons. I have polycystic ovaries, and because of recurring cysts I’ve lost most function of my right ovary and it was only I until I went on continuous birth control I regained my life back. Conditions like PCOD increase the likelihood of other conditions like diabetes and are extremely debilitating and painful if a cyst forms and god forbid ruptures. Shame on ignorant people like her, it’s absolutely disgusting.
I agree with what Patricia Heaton has to say. I’m not famous, rich, etc. I budget, I don’t overspend my bounds and IMPORTANT things are taken care of first. I think some people need to rethink their priorities. BUY YOUR OWN BIRTH CONTROL. Handle your own business. This is not, but is quickly becoming a welfare state.
Hey! I pay a big chunk of change out of my paycheck every month for my insurance premiums. So do a lot of people. We ARE paying for our own birth control. Maybe YOUR precious money would be better spent on education, because your reading comprehension is lacking.
What you should be saying is you want to stop paying for people who continue to have children that cannot afford to. If anything, I will give more of my taxpayer money for low-income families to stop procreating.
Seriously, what is up with people spouting off without even knowing what Ms. Fluke was testifying about????????
She wasn’t asking others to pay for her birth control. SHE PAYS FOR 100% OF HER HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS. She isn’t asking the school to pay for it, she isn’t asking the government. She is saying that if she pays for comprehensive health insurance, she should get comprehensive health insurance.
How many times are people going to post ‘BUY YER OWN’ Birth Control? Lord, it’s like banging your head against a desk repeatedly. Read the posts here, read the testimony, read SOMETHIHG. It’s not about free birth control. STOPIT.
@ schnauzers,
Please oh please get your facts straight. For the 64th million time ..taxpayers are not being asked to pay for BC!!
I’m sorry for the tirade but it’s ignorance like yours that allow these myths to perpetuate!!
It’s the EMPLOYERS (with religious objections) that are requesting the insurance companies to drop the BC provision. Obama has a commitment from these same insurance companies to then provide the BC free, which is their preference anyway as it is more cost effective for them than paying for pre-natal and the cost of having the baby….so please climb down from that high horse as your giving the rest of us a pain in the neck!!!
Hey Patricia Heaton: I had no idea you had such a sleazy mind. Did you ever heard of attacking the issue, not the person?
I heard about this yesterday, and it disgusted me. I knew Patricia was Conservative, but I didn’t know she was so narrow-minded and sexist. I just love it when women hate their own sex. She obviously should have been born a fat, balding, Republican man. What a useless, mean woman. I hope her show gets cancelled and she never gets work again. She deserves it, and that apology was so fake. She’s not sorry at all. Same with Rush. I’m glad he’s losing advertisers.
I wonder if she supports Viagra like the rest of those idiots do. If she is against this, then logically, she should be against Viagra being covered. But I bet she isn’t…
She’s the same idiot who mouthed off about Terri Schiavo. As other above have said, she should stick to topics that she knows, like bad plastic surgery.
BTW, Schiavo’s brain death resulted from her bulimia. Remember THAT the next time a stick-thin celebrity talks about their “cleanses” or “detox” (i.e., crash diets using laxatives).
And I should have mentioned Heaton’s own kids. I’ll bet insurance paid for the births. But isn’t that her personal choice, to have kids? Why should I have to help pay for it?
Effing hypocrite.
I’m from Canada where birth control is covered. It really doesn’t cost the taxpayers much. The idea that it wouldn’t be covered is foreign to me. Like some other people stated, don’t Rush and Patricia realize that if this woman got pregnant they’d be paying for her kid? I love America, but is find it scary living in a place where a basic doctors visit isn’t paid for. In Canada, that is covered by your provinces health care.
Many of us Americans agree with you. We love our country, but find it can be a scary, scary place.
I thought Hollywood had mechanisms in place that kept idiot d-list actor’s mouths shut…
This woman has always had a huge, opinionated yap – she p*ssed off a lot of people in the past too.
The advertisers should pull out. (Instant heaton control and hella more useful than being the only form of birth control she seems to believe in)
She is an utterly disgusting woman.
Wow, if someone just wailed on Heaton the same way she would not think it’s cool.
BTW, Fluke was speaking about coverage in by paid insurance plans–not the government.
Sandra is a great gal from my small hometown in Pa, so shut it Hollywood. If insurance didn’t cover my daughters birth control, it would cost her $80.00, which she couldn’t afford. Now it cost her $10.00 a month. She has a full time job and works hard. I am a conservative, but a thinking one. I do however have a problem with New York school teachers getting free plastic surgery. But I bet most of Hollywood thinks this is just wonderful. So shut it Patricia or at least think before you rant. Not everyone has an endless bank account.
I just went back and read all those tweets aimed at a responsible young woman. What a disappointment Patricia is. I find it interesting how extremely religious women and/or men like her pick and choose how and when they treat other people. But older adults being vile to a young woman who thoughtfully joined the debate never deserved such disgusting comments aimed at her.
what an idiot p.h. is, she is horrible, i will never watch her again, what a fool.
Morons like Heaton are always lingering around the edges of current happenings, waiting to slip their ignorance into the public eye and ear. Apparently not only men hate women.
Her brother is Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Michael Heaton, I usually enjoyed those columns back in the days when I lived in Cleveland. He seems to be not much like her politically (neither does his daughter):
My oldest, crunchy-granola daughter, Miss Thing, is a second-generation hippie. After high school, she moved to Northern California. She lives in an artsy little town an hour north of San Francisco, nestled in the foothills of the wine country. She is an artist, a jam-band fan and a vegan (except for bacon).
She and lots of other neo-hippies from her town recently occupied San Francisco…
When Miss Thing visited over the holiday, she brought a copy of Time magazine’s cover-story tribute to “The Protester.”
“Dad,” she said proudly showing me the cover. “I’m person of the year.”
http://www.cleveland.com/ministerofculture/index.ssf/2012/01/hair_hippies_and_the_ministers.html
these right wingers remind me of what Sinclair Lewis stated in 1935:
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.”
Her tweets are disgusting, mean and spiteful, there is not need to attack someone in such a mean way just because you don’t agree with their views. Too bad if you work for or go to college at a religious institution, it is there right not to pay for something they don’t believe in.
That is the misunderstanding that the Right Wing Media is trying to promote. In this case no one is asking a religiously affiliated school to pay for something they don’t believe in…they don’t pay a single cent towards Ms. Fluke’s health insurance. She pays for her insurance 100% on her own. She just wants comprehensive coverage if she is paying for comprehensive coverage.
Why should I pay for anyones birth control? Im not a conservative but i dont think its anyones responsibility but the person(s) having sex to cover his/her own birth control. Take responsibility for your actions and cover yourself out of your own pocket.
I have to side with Patricia on this one.
Show me where this involves you paying for anything. I think that once you read the full debate, you will find that Heaton is dead wrong on this.
Ms. Fluke was not asking for the government or her school to pay for her birth control. She pays for 100% of her insurance. The school does not contribute. What she is saying is that if SHE PAYS for comprehensive insurance coverage, she should be getting comprehensive insurance coverage.
I don’t think you understand even the most basic tenets of health insurance. If you pay a premium out of your paycheck you are paying for coverage for medications and doctor visits. All women are asking for is guaranteed coverage of the most common medication a woman will need in her reproductive years in the insurance she herself pays for!!! JEEZ.
will never watch this ignorant reicht winger on that show ever again.
Good God, is the woman insane? Was she high when she typed all that? Twitter is the devil’s workshop
WHO ASKED HER TO CHIME IN?! What a douche bag.
I also heard that viagra is funded under insurance… wtf? Religious organisations are fine with paying pills that help men get it up, but not birth control? What if the people employed by these organisations hold different beliefs (or similar beliefs but to a different degree), surely if you are told you will get comprehensive coverage from your insurance then you should get this no matter who your employer is?
Admittedly I live in a different healthcare system to America where all healthcare is state funded. But people should note that birth control pills aren’t only prescribed to prevent pregnancy, there are other medical reasons to take the pill.
I just don’t think that ‘religious freedom’ is a justifiable reason to call this woman a slut or deny the rights of non-religious members of American society. But I do think that freedom for all Americans and fair access to health care regardless of your employer’s religion does justify the call for equal access to this medicine.
On a side note – someone mentioned that people could go to Planned Parenthood for free birth control – is this true? Or is this a separate debate?
Is it me or are these tweets in the spirit of middle-school bullying? Like really repetitive, nasty bullying?
Just what I was thinking–I wouldn’t have thought these comments came from a grown woman, sounds like a bullying teenage brat.
My concern is every time we add something to health care the costs go up. For someone who doesn’t need birth control the increase in insurance could mean having insurance or not being able to have insurance. When it was required to keep children until 26 years old my insurance went up $1200. I don’t have children. Keep adding to insurance costs many will not be able to afford insurance that they will need to cover things like expensive heart attacks.
There are a lot of prescriptions that are not needed for a lot of people. I feel it is crucial to keep birth control a covered Rx due to the fact that our world is over-populated as it is. The fact that they are wanting to take it away from government funded people is baffling to me. That makes no sense. It is up to commercial carriers/private insurance to follow that lead.
Insurance costs went up 131% during the 10 years BEFORE health insurance reform was passed. It hasn’t been fully implimented at all, so you are attributing increases in costs to things that are unassociated.
This isn’t adding something to health coverage. MOST INSURANCE COVERS BIRTH CONTROL. In fact when compared to the alternative coverage of a pregnancy and you know an extra person there is much less cost which is why across the board in secular healthcare there isn’t an issue with the Pill being covered but there are many insurances that have pre-existing and other clauses to explicitly exclude pregnancy from their coverage unless mandated. Oh and there are also several medical problems which the Pill can treat the alternative is again more costly more invasive methods which aren’t always any more effective.
I don’t mean to be patronizing but I am a bit aghast on the ignorance out there on this issue.
I’m British, and contraceptives are the only drugs completely exempt from the fixed fee contribution (“prescription charge”) towards prescription costs, no matter how well off the person wanting them. That’s because they save the National Health Service a packet.
Pregnancy is very expensive. Birth is very expensive. A few blister packs of hormones a year? A steal, comparatively. Contraceptives are one of the best ways to keep costs low. The rhetoric to the contrary is ideological, and just plain not true.
@ Lisa Marie – What kind of plan are you on that it never went up in price year after year?
Insurance prices has always gone up. They never stay the same price, especially since the insured never stay the same youthful age. And the insurance corp.s don’t care how healthy you are no matter what your age. They’re still going to increase your premiums and deductibles and decrease their services.
And it’s been going up yearly even before 26 yr olds were covered on their parents’ insurance, which is something that just happened last yr.
What is it? The Middle Ages? Below the belt is a big “no no”? Sex? Yuck! Viagra to get a hard on is OK but bless your heart, you’re trying not have an unwanted child… I am so glad we don’t have to deal with this sh… in Europe. Hypocrites!!!
I’m sure this has already been mentioned, but this is a major source of misinformation: The Pill is not just a contraception medication.
It is a very common prescription for ovarian cysts, and Endometriosis, among others.
Oh, and Heaton’s tweets (the underwear bit especially). That woman has NO class. Very degrading speech especially considering she is referring to a bright, young, determined college student. Her and Limbaugh belong together. Hopefully they’ll ride off into the advertisement-free sunset, holding hands and gazing into each other’s eyes as they discuss their mutual love for hypocrisy and hatred.
Patricia is a repulsive human being, if I can even call her that. She behaved like a child.
I can’t believe those twitter feeds were coming from a grown, allegedly mature human being!!
One thing I don’t get with the far right (actually, that’s a lie, there are many things I don’t get with the far right) is how they hate contraception, hate abortion, hate single mothers and hate social welfare…… their solution:
abstinence, Abstinence, ABSTINENCE!
try really really hard to get a job and get one
more abstinence
work really really hard in your job and keep it
maybe a little less abstinence…
I mean, fine, have you’re beliefs, but don’t try and apply those beliefs as if they were a living reality for most people and then legislate them, thereby mandating everyone else’s realities to the whim of these singular beliefs. Hell, the best way to stop abortion – far-right kryptonite (((!)))- is to provide free access to contraceptives…..
Really? Isn’t this kind of a no brainer?
Anyway, Heaton’s apology was crap.
What I want to know is how these celebs go from tweeting about their favorite cup of coffee at Starbucks to cyber bullying. That to me is what she did. I hope her words kill whatever career she has left and they kick her out of Hollywood.
Long ago rumor that Heaton is actually gay and that’s why she is so unhappy and miserable for years. Repressed.
She married late. The perfect husband bam bam bam bam 4 kids. Drank too.
She man enough too.
Anything I would have said has been said. Great discussion. I like seeing women stand up and fight back.
This attack on Birth Control is such BULL Crap let’s get this straight now this isn’t about women on welfare getting coverage for Birth Control(which makes sense and is much cheaper than covering pregnancy, childcare,welfare and/or unwanted children in foster care etc). This is about women who work and pay for their insurance getting birth control which lets face it is the most common prescription a woman has throughout her life.
I can see Rush Limbaugh and those dumb ass Tea Party politicians being too idiotic to realize that the Pill has several medical benefits besides birth control but Patricia is a woman and damn well knows there is more than one reason to go on the Pill.
Oh and you can’t tell me that she wasn’t on the Pill herself provided by her SAG health insurance. She has 4 children not 14.
I have never read so many ignorant comments… Did your Mother’s not teach you, not to speak unless you know what the hell you are talking about? Apparently not!
This is from the Wall Street Journal… At issue isn’t inhalers for asthmatics or insulin for diabetics. Contraception isn’t like other kinds of “health care.” Yes, birth-control pills can be prescribed to address medical problems, though that’s relatively rare and the Catholic Church has no quarrel with their use in this circumstance. And the university’s insurance covers prescriptions in these cases.
Still, Ms. Fluke is not mollified. Why? Because at the end of the day this is not about coverage of a medical condition.
Ms. Fluke’s crusade for reproductive justice is simply a demand that a Catholic institution pay for drugs that make it possible for her to have sex without getting pregnant. It’s nothing grander or nobler than that. Georgetown’s refusal to do so does not mean she has to have less sex, only that she has to take financial responsibility for it herself.
So there you have it! Georgetown University is NOT giving up its religion, which, Ms. Fluke was very well aware of. Maybe a few less Starbucks a month and she be a big girl and pay for her own birth control pills!
You are aware, or aren’t you, that over the past decade the Wall Street Journal has moved farther to the right than Attila the Hun?
Your comments are hopefully included in your assessment. You are ignoring facts. Do some research before denigrating other people’s opinions.
MS:
While the piece you cite was published in the WSJ, you ought to have explored the by-line a bit further. The author is Cathy Ruse, of the Family Research Council. You may know her from her work against the Girl Scouts, including the cookie boycott she is planning. Although there is no proof whatsoever, she is convinced that the Girl Scouts are linked to Planned Parenthood. (and as an aside to all you who seem to think that PP is an option for women who are prevented from using their drug plans to purchase what they please, how long do you think PP can be a viable alternative?) She also is encouraging girls to quit the Girl Scouts because it is pro-abortion and promotes sexual diversity (those pesky gays!)
If anyone can make Patricia Heating look sane by comparison, it is Cathy Ruse, who is hardly an authority in anything except rumour mongering.
Oh my gawd!! We went from birth control to the girl scouts… damn! I could care less who the article was written by or for. It STATES the TRUTH of what took place. Something most of you are having a hard time absorbing. It seems most of you would rather type a bunch of nonsense, not knowing what the hell you are talking about, than read what really took place and why!
Typical Liberal’s! Deflect, deflect, deflect…
It is so obvious Ms. Fluke was a plant. I would so love to know the amount the Obama Administration paid her.
MS, I don’t believe that you can cite an author as truthful without examining what other “truths” she holds. And let’s face it, you were pretty proud of the WSJ connection, so I don’t buy that you could care less (sic) about the pedigree of an author.
Ruse IMO, is a hyperbolic hack for the FRC, a homophobic anti female passel of whackjobs.
But educate me: why do you believe she is telling the truth? Her article barely speaks as to what happened at the hearing. She seems to believe that Fluke was asking the school to pay for her Pill. Nothing I have read or heard echoes that. So why is Ruse right, and everyone else wrong?
It could be that she’s right about the Girl Scouts too. Or it could be that she’s nuts. This is not deflection, this is analysis and coming to an independent decision based on the totality of facts rather than relying on one lone voice with a very bad track record.
@MS—Deflection? The one thing conservative Republicans are very good at is deflection. The US has high employment, we’re in 1 war & a recession, Iran/Israel/middle east is getting ready to blow, the middle class is destroyed, high prices, low paying jobs, increasing health care costs, increasing educational prices, etc..a list that could continue and continue. Our country needs help and the only thing the Republicans are concerned about is sex, my vagina, what goes in it and comes out of it. That is what I call deflection.
Except that Georgetown University’s insurance coverage for its EMPLOYEES covers BC. It is only the students mandatory health insurance which does not cover it.
So the “going against their religious beliefs” argument doesn’t hold up at all.
Ms heatons tweets sound like a very mean 13year old girl.
And trying to further misinformation about the issue is a disservice to all women
Something seems very wrong that such a successful woman could be
so hateful.
Maybe I just need the Supreme court to tell me that churches ( like corporations ) are people too!
I don’t watch Raymond reruns and guess what? I won’t watch “The Middle” any more now that I know how vicious this privileged woman is.
I have PCOS, there is no other meds to cure/regulate it besides birth control. If I do not take it, my cycle becomes nonexistent and over time will cause me to become sterile.
To me birth control is just a side effect of my meds, not the main reason i take it. If my empolyer decides to stop paying for it, then they are just denying me the only form of meds i need. how is that fair? how is that different from if i have some other illness that needs regular medication and they would surely provide?
I’m surprised they haven’t passed a law making it mandatory to put a chastity belt on every female when she’s born. After she’s married, and once she decides that she wants children, it can be removed (but not until then). That would solve the problem of birth control and abortion, and the added bonus of no more r@pes.
/end sarcasm
The ironic thing is that in Britain contraceptives are the only drug anyone and everyone is entitled to get completely free. You pay a fixed fee for any other meds (it’s minimal – $10 a prescription) unless you’re a kid, pregnant/within a year of childbirth, or on a very low income. But the calculation is that unwanted kids cost the state a fortune, and unplanned pregnancies cost the Health Service a packet, too, so making it a slam-dunk for people to avoid crisis pregnancies is just good economics.
If insurance companies want to keep premiums down they should make contraceptives as easily obtained as possible. They’re a cost-cutter.
And that’s before getting into the fact that I had to go on the pill as a virgin, for completely non-sexual reasons. Does this mean you can’t get coverage for PCOS or ovarian cysts or acne or endometriosis or hirsutism or… anything? Because it’s also a contraceptive?
NEVER will I ever watch anything this harpy of a human is in/on again. While I congratulate her for being every bit as ugly an American as Rush; proving that a woman can do anything a man can; I humbly urge Disney to RID themselves of her ASAP. Ignorant, abusive, vicious, asinine replication of a human being that she is.
Paying for birth control is wayyy cheaper then paying for unwanted pregnancies. Her advertisers should pull out, she doesn’t represent the big picture. Maybe all of the Republicans should do a stint in Kabul and see what happens when religion deems “men fundamental and women secondary.” It’s not a joke.
Anyone know how to contact Disney to let them know I won’t be watching The Middle anymore? My Internet searchers keep coming up with Disney World, Land, etc…
This woman has been a intolerant religious zealot for YEARS. I enjoy seeing her out herself & her idiotic views. I hope she loses and job and lives in her car.
why does PH even CARE? How much will this effect her pay check?? A few bucks a year? What a grandiose, selfish tool. Plus her hair just say ” I give up”.
Carbonite stock is falling like a rock.
Actually Carbonite’s stock has been falling since last year August when it first came on the index at over $20. You can see this if you click on the
“year” overview for Carbonite at: http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/carb
Today, it fell only about 80 cents or ~8.74%. Not falling like a rock. It actually started to go up before closing time.
Since the market opened on Monday through its close today, Carbonite stock (NASDAQ:CARB) has plummeted nearly 12 percent, outpacing the drop of the NASDAQ index in that same time period by nine-and-a-half points. It was also one of the biggest decliners on the NASDAQ on Tuesday.
I don’t wanna pay for nobody else’s b/c but I’m not gonna be a bich about it. Whew, Heaton, calm down and take a chill pill!
I’m not getting all worked up about paying for it. I just don’t wanna see something else get cut like Medicare. And I’m plenty mad about Patricia and Rush’s comments. People got a right to say things without being called sluts or prostitutes.
First off Fluke is a student not an employee of Georgetown and of the 332 posts on here today, I have only seen a handful of insightful points made by either side. All the others are nothing but personal rants and raves, reminding me of a temper tantrum of a two year old who missed snack and nap time.
She is a student so HER PARENTS PAY FOR HER INSURANCE through their employers or as part of her college tuition OR PERHAPS SHE DOES HERSELF THROUGH STUDENT LOANS…. AND?
When you are of a certain age and/or independent from your parents, you pay for college, not them. At 30 and in grad school she is absolutely footing her own bill via federal student loans. That’s how grad school works anyway. How silly to assume the parents of a 30 year old woman who is working on a graduate degree would be the payers of either her tuition or insurance.
Gosh the American health care system is in an absolute SHAMBLES!
As an Australian, and a single mother at that, we have an amazing health/education/welfare system.
Basically it works like this:
a) The public school system costs $250 a year.
b) The single parent pension for those who have children under 8 is about $800/fortnight.
c) Those who receive welfare receive free health care. The doctor costs NOTHING, hospital visits cost NOTHING.
We live in an amazing country with an amazing safety net of welfare/health care/free education.
Why can’t the Americans sort our their system and look after your most vulnerable?
The way the Australian government looks after its people goes a LONG way toward stopping intergenerational poverty. I might be a single mother, but my two boys are A grade students, eat a proper dinner every night and receive world class health care.
Honestly it makes me shake with rage, especially when one reads that the US Government has spent a trillion dollars on the war effort in Afghanistan.
IMAGINE what you could do with a TRILLION DOLLARS people??????
It’s not about economics for the Right unfortunately and sadly the American public is at a point of exhaustion. There is very little intelligent discourse in the media and the few places where these issues are accurately examined in depth are routinely marginalized by fear tactics.
It’s pretty scary that in the 21st century american women are having to defend their right to birth control.
No one is talking about taking women’s right (or access) to birth control away. The discussion is around whether religious (or any, I guess) institutions must cover it in their insurance policies. So, it is an economic discussion – women don’t want to pay market value for their birth control. Again, no one is saying that women can’t use it if they are willing to pay for it.
I’m sorry, but I do believe you might have engaged in some scare tactics of your own there….
-From the girl who thinks sex is nasty. 🙂
@kranky
First off yes we as women are having to defend our right to birth control.
Because the Right Wing is framing it as an immoral action to use the Pill. They are using quasi-science to equate the Pill with abortion. We as women are having to justify when, if and why we use the Pill in order to fight the idiocy that the conservatives are spreading.
Second there is so much framing of this by the Right wing as ‘wanting the government to pay for birth control’ which is not what this is about.
This is about wanting the coverage that a woman holds and pays for to cover her medical needs.
Oh and by the way this is also about these so-called religious institutions getting access to FEDERAL FUNDS (YUP that’s right Welfare) but refusing to follow Federal mandates.
@mln76
Sorry – I did not see your reponse until this morning.
The fact is that the bill voted on in Congress at the end of last week sought to turn over the mandate that religious institutions provide coverage for birth control, etc. in their plans. Period. It didn’t pass, so the mandate to provide birth control, etc. still stands at the moment.
Until Congress starts discussing a bill that outlaws birth control,etc., it is – in fact – a scare tactic to state that women are “defending their right” to birth control, when really at this moment, they are arguing that they should not have to pay full market value for the pills, etc.
And no – religious institutions are not receiving welfare. They provide medical services that are subsidized by the government in the form of Medicare and Medicaid (to help patients pay); have non-profit status (tax purposes); and do charitable works (of which yes – some beneficiaries might also recieve welfare).
And no – this is not solely a right-wing issue, though honestly if you only came into the debate via the Rush/Fluke incident, I can see why one would think so. It has been brewing for some time. The fact is that many religious insitutions (Catholic, evangelicals, Jewish, etc.- some of them left-leaning) are against the mandate because they see it is a violation of religious freedom… which is a right guarenteed by our Constitution.
“As many have already uncovered Sandra Fluke she is, in reality, a 30 year old long time liberal activist who enrolled at Georgetown with the express purpose of fighting for the school to pay for students’ birth control. She has been pushing for mandated coverage of contraceptives at Georgetown for at least three years according to the Washington Post.”
“However, as I discovered today, birth control is not all that Ms. Fluke believes private health insurance must cover. She also, apparently, believes that it is discrimination deserving of legal action if “gender reassignment” surgeries are not covered by employer provided health insurance. She makes these views clear in an article she co-edited with Karen Hu in the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law.”
And there you have it! A small snipit from the files of the Media Research Center.
mln76…she is 30 years old she is not on her parents plan…lol
If she is not on her parents’ plan then as a student she is required to take on the Georgetown plan (All colleges mandate you either are insured on your own or take their coverage). So yes she is paying for her health insurance.
Seeing your other posts it’s clear you have an agenda and are trying to confuse the situation and going around in circles.
I have to say it’s great for us Liberals that you crazed conservatives are so willing to shoot your entire party in the foot over issues like this in an election year.
mln… I have read all of your comments on this thread and you don’t have a clue as to what you are talking about! Nada! So seriously, who is actually shooting themselves in the foot here? You are, my dear.
Min, Chatcat’s research consists of quoting Cathy Ruse as an authority. Doesn’t even deserve a response, really, since that woman sees leftist athiest conspiracies behind every tree.
When you insult a woman for using b/c your insulting most of the women of America. I don’t want to pay for it either but you don’t insult these women.
mln76…sorry to dissapoint but I am not a conservative I am a registered Independent and consider myself a moderate. I see both sides of this issue but the more research I have done on Ms. Fluke the more of a “plant” she appears to by your own admission, “us Liberals”…tacky tacky tacky…and it makes us Independents skeptical when the skeletons come out of the closet. So she gets “our” attention and then full story is revealed and I feel like I was misled…no good misleading the Independents in an election year. The conservatives are guilty of the same tactics but not as often and not as nasty as the left.
Susan Fluke was an expert asked to testify in front of Congress due to her viewpoint and advocacy on healthcare issues.
Instead of examining her record and ‘exposing’ her beliefs (which were in the public record before she was called to testify) Rush Limbaugh and Patricia Heaton chose to call her lovely names like prostitute and slut. NOW that it comes to light that she is in fact an expert and an advocate in healthcare as she initially claimed its her fault for forcing Rush to call her a slut and she set this whole thing up????
Wow you are a doozy. No wonder our politicians have increasingly become more and more simplistic.
I had to laugh at you calling yourself a “registered Independent”.
“Registered Independent” is an oxymoron; there is no such thing. An independent voter is one who is not registered in any political party. In many states if you’re not registered in a party you can’t vote in that party’s primary but you can vote in the general election. I’m an independent voter who unloaded my party affiliation 20 years ago.
Sorry Jill for saying “registered” of course there is no registering if your not a dem or rep but using the reference to mln’s slander. Rush and Patricia are complete idiotic extremists as there were many left wing extremists on this thread. I am tolerent of different views when presented up front, opening and honestly. What I will not tolerate is being deceived by left wing loonies or right wing zealots. In this instance, for me, the left used a very thought out plan and plant for national attention on an issue, then if you are truly a moderate which I believe myself to be, you educate yourself on all information available BEFORE taking a position, in this case there was alot left out by the dems about Fluke and that pisses me off. I am entitled as an American to that position, as you are to yours.
Birth Control saved my life. I had the cyst the size of a grapefruit on my left ovary, if it burst the doctor told me I would have died. I had to take an entire pack. And I know others with PCOS and uterine problems that rely on birth control. I am tired of people’s opinions when they have NO idea what they are talking about.
If she wants to take to the same bullying tactics as that radio pig; then, she should want the same consequences that go along with it.
BOYCOTT “THE MIDDLE”:
http://www.change.org/petitions/everyone-who-has-a-heart-and-supports-womens-rights-boycott-abc-s-the-
OR
SOUND OFF ON ABC.COM’s message boards regarding “THE MIDDLE”:
http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-middle/discuss#linkIdAll
Let’s hope ABC’s advertisers vote with their wallets.
@ girl, I have to laugh at your idea that the pill holds “the distinction of possibly being the only prescribed medication to keep your body from working the way it’s supposed to.” We’re all natural beings and we’re supposed to be subject to nature’s law except we aren’t because we have medicine that stops nature at every turn. Erectile dysfunction (if solely age related) is nature’s way of telling humans you don’t need to do this anymore there are younger specimens with better stuff thanks very much. A lot of our diseases even cancer (though that can be environmental too) are perfectly natural yet we pump all sorts of medication to reverse nature’s plan. I’m totally supportive of modern medicine but please don’t single out the pill when it has a medicinal purpose for some.
As for Ms Heaton, she piggy backed on some pretty hateful comments with an ugly tone of her own. Probably lucky for her kids they’re all boys.
Wow…really sad that if you are a celebrity, you abdicate your Constitutional rights….all that PH said was an OPINION.
Everyone has a right to their opinion.
It’s how she said it.
She’s a bully.
Not to me
like a very mean 13 year old bully.
a very mean 13 year old uninformed bully.
Oh!
I didn’t realize you and Heaton were personal friends.
Sorry – my mistake!
I forgive you…peace out
Stating an opinion, is saying what your point of view on the matter is, and moving on.
Bullying however, is finding a very public platform, that is yours where the person you intend on humiliating cannot reciprocate immediately, and publicly bashing the person by making fun of their way of life, and continuously, as well as publicly, humiliate their opinions.
What Patricia Heaton did, with all those continuous Tweets, is bullying.
I forgive you too…..peace out
You forgive us for what exactly?
For your OPINIONS…not facts….peace out….
You are reading this wrong, it is my opinion based on fact.
You know, the fact that trashy twit had sent over 9 tweets in a row insulting a woman she knows nothing about, and most importantly, insulting someone so publicly based on her own misinformed and base-level knowledge of the situation at hand: Insurance coverage, NOT government subsidies.
And no need to apologize for your ignorance, I forgive you.
Oh…boo hoo….whose the bully now???? But, again, I forgive you….peace out….
No need to cry. It’s ok, you can learn from your mistakes. Just learn to better read the stories at hand, and make better judgement.
Oh sweetie…my judgement is crystal clear….it is you I pray for….
Nothing blinds judgement more than religious zeal.
Pray less, read more, become part of civilized humanity. Patricia Heaton should preach a lot less, stop posing half naked, and quit all those face and body lifts. They are obviously not helping with her thinking.
Her face has been pulled so far back, she is now talking out of her ass.
Oh my sweet….such hate….I will pray for you and will end with hugs and kisses and sunshine rainbows…God bless you…..
Her Suzie Ormond-like ‘do and that suit make my gaydar ping.
How sad it is that some people think that their opinion trumps all others. This is the road to fundamentalism and by logical conclusion to violence (whether overt or covert) toward others who do not share their opinions. It is pure narcissism to be so sure that your beliefs are so much more worthy than the next persons. How very sad that some people think that they have the right to run my life. Do these people that have fundamental beliefs not see the correlation between themselves and the very people that they hate with such vitriol? I am genuinely sad and forlorn when I see and hear this garbage causing such horrific violence and nastiness.
I am not an American and was not even aware that this is a debate. I am astonished that in this day and age people could honestly feel that women, and their partners, of all economic backgrounds, should not have a right to control their own health and wellbeing, especially if they pay for it through insurance. As a midwife and educator I see so many sad things occur because of a lack of education or lack of ability to access adequate birth control. From the 13 year old having a baby to her 17 year old partner, to the 48 year old dying of pregnancy induced cardiomyopathy leaving 6 other children and her husband bereft because of religious beliefs prohibiting birth control, to the poor young woman who was barely functional because of cognitive dysfunction having a baby. Don’t talk to me ever about abstinence or the joys of adoption when I saw this sort of thing on an almost daily basis. I find it absolutely fascinating that those that spruik these things talk about adoption from the adoptive parents view, not the birth mothers or the adoptive child’s perspective.
Sorry about this huge rant but I really am very sad about this.
Those “tweets” were personal attacks, and just showed PH is ignorant regarding this particular issue, as it seems most people are.
That hearing was about religious freedom, and the separation of church and state regarding a Federal Mandate. The issue at hand; religious groups are opposing an Obama Care mandate which would require, by law, religiously affiliated hospitals and universities to cover birth control in their insurance plans, regardless of their religious beliefs. Their argument is valid because it’s unconstitutional.
The Dems pulled a partisan scam, and used women’s rights to cloud the issue to further their own agenda; to support Obama Care regardless of Constitutional violations. Sandra Fluke wasn’t asking for the Fed to pay for BC, she was asking that religious groups be forced to cover The Pill at their own expense, regardless of their religious beliefs. Religious groups being tax-exempt, means this has NOTHING to do with taxes either.
Women’s rights were used improperly in this case. They actually harmed the very real rights women are in danger of losing if a person like Santorum ends up in the office of the POTUS. This was a case of typical political bait and switch.
Now the public is angry thinking that women are asking for the Fed to pay for their BC, or that the Fed is trying to limit women’s reproductive rights. Public outcry regarding women’s rights is far more useful when focused on an ACTUAL attack on those rights, like keeping a mouth breathing, cave dweller like Santorum out of office, or the next time they try and overturn Roe V. Wade, which we all know is coming.
It is breath taking that you would call others ignorant on the issue when you write this: “Sandra Fluke wasn’t asking for the Fed to pay for BC, she was asking that religious groups be forced to cover The Pill at their own expense, regardless of their religious beliefs.”
That is incorrect. I suggest you read Ms. Fluke’s testimony. She pays for 100% of her insurance coverage. The school pays $0 for her health insurance. She was not advocating that the school pay for her pills, it was absolutely not the schools expense, as you assert. Rather, she was saying that if you pay for a comprehensive plan, you should get comprehensive coverage regardless of who your employer is.
I wasn’t saying that’s what she was really asking for, but that’s what it would be looked at as. What I meant was that in the context of that particular hearing, which was that religious affiliated organizations had been ordered to pay for BC even if it went against their religious beliefs, her argument would be misconstrued, and it was. And I did read her testimony, I got what she said, but I knew they wouldn’t because the hearing was about freedom of religion, and separation of church and state. And not comprehensive health coverage for everyone, which I would love to see happen. Right argument, but wrong fight.
Also I wasn’t calling the general public ignorant, I was referring to people in the public eye like Heaton, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O’Reilly, who were all publicly attacking this woman, and saying she wanted taxes to pay for her BC, which isn’t true. I should’ve been more clear but I was trying to keep my post as short as possible.
If the Dems wanted to argue the need for The Pill to be covered by insurance, due to the MANY varying uses of The Pill, aside from controlling fertility, why didn’t they invite an expert witness? Why not invite a licensed practitioner/expert on women’s health to give their informed testimony, and true life numbers that hold some actual credence, as to the myriad other uses of The Pill?
I believe there is a war on women coming, and we need to be ready to vote for our own best interests, and have experts on our side to help us fight for our rights as women. This is Super Tuesday, the GOP ticket is being chosen, and there is a man who wants to send WOMEN back to the Stone Age and he is winning!
I’m sorry but this isn’t really about an attack on Ms. Fluke, or what she said, because it wasn’t even close to enough, this is about an attack on ALL women. And if Santorum ever sets foot in the office of the POTUS, we will have a fight on our hands, And it will be about not just The Pill, but our complete reproductive rights as we now know them. I don’t care to argue semantics, and particular situations because that will get us nowhere, as women we need to come together and fight for our rights because there is a movement out there determined to take away what has been viciously fought for, our RIGHTS as WOMEN.
The war on women is here and Obama is the ring leader. Women have lost more rights under Obama than any other Republican president in my memory.
You were right when you said the Dems pulled a partisan scam, but sadly, it seems like more women would fight back against Santorum trying the same things that Obama has already accomplished.
Would we be worse off with Santorum or would we be fighting harder to regain what was lost? Sad that a Democratic president has put us in such a position after fighting for all those gains.
Weird. Most people would argue that his weakness was ineffectiveness and political impotence. I didn’t realize he had enough power to lead another, continuous, ongoing backlash against women. Must take a strong leader to be a bystander in a world that hated women before he got into the presidency!!!
Pirouette,
Obama’s only goal is benefiting Obama. He has been throwing women under the bus since Alice Palmer.
And Obamacare will actually reduce women’s access to abortion even placing them in a separate but not equal status, with separate health exchanges, simply due to their gender. How is that Constitutional?
And never mind the fact Obama has given how many companies and organizations, waivers to Obamacare? A thousand? But suddenly picking a fight with religious organizations, over birth control seems like a perfectly logical policy move? And not being a ring leader to this newest assault on women? Yeah..ok…whatever…lol
You can insult your own intelligence believing Obama cares about women’s rights. I’ve seen and read enough to know better. This is Obama’s MO.
@karma,
That’s quite a statement to make without citing any supporting information. I’m curious to hear what evidence you have to support such a wildly provocative position.
As for the BC debate Obama negotiated with the insurance companies to provide free BC if their employer refused to include this in their coverage thereby insuring access. The freakishly right wing pols are the ones that are raising cane about accessibility because its an “end around” their true
game plan which is to limit sex for procreation only…thereby imposing their religious zeal on the rest of us…ummmm no thank you!
Annie,
How about the National Organization for Women (NOW)? Here is a good article to get you started.
http://www.now.org/issues/health/022310hcr.html
There are several other articles at NOW and sites which discuss in detail what has been done to women’s rights with that health care bill.
Which is a Republican health care bill to start with, in case you didn’t know. Or missed Democratic politicians actually on the cable tv news shows mocking Republicans for not passing their own Republican bill. In an amazing facepalm moment, no less.
Why would Dems even consider passing a Republican written bill as a success? Let alone, mock Reps while Dems are getting hammered by the voters for passing it? The Reps get what they want and the Dems get blamed…ugh! That isn’t a success in my book.
Anyway, Google the Heritage Foundation Health Care bill, Bob Dole, etc. It’s the bill which Reps offered in the 90s and Bill Clinton turned down.
So, I hate to inform you, but they’ve completed the end run around women’s access to health care and Obama helped them do it, just to accomplish ‘health care reform’.
Like I said earlier, he threw women under the bus to pass the historic bill of enshrining health care insurance companies profits, instead of Medicare for all, with their 3-5% overhead. Compared with the health care industry and their 15-30% overhead.
Sorry about that bad editing. Was trying to edit the ending and move a couple of sentences but ran out of time.
However, if you have any other questions I could point you in a few directions.
Would it blow your mind to know that a health care CEO helped the DNC to select Obama over Hillary? Since she was going to actually fix the health care problem instead of enshrining their profit margins. Obama made a bunch of behind closed door deals, just like VP Dick Cheney and his behind closed door energy deals with the oil industry.
The same type of closed door deals that Obama ran against, no less. The fix was in for profits and to toss women’s issues aside, long before that health care bill hit Obama’s Congress.
Patricia Heaton – I hope you’re reading this. Stop shooting your mouth off about things you have no business talking about. You did this during the Terri Schiavo case and you’re doing it again; just STFU. No one cares what a C-list celebrity with half a functioning brain has to say, anyway.
What a dumb, ignorant, bigoted, haggish absurd see you next Tuesday. Thank God she isn’t my mom.
I’m just here to say I don’t take my pills so I could pass free coochie coupons, it’s because I have polycystic ovary syndrome.Thank you
Well I am just shocked at the mouth on her, Patricia that is. I just love her as an actress but this is really over the top! How easy for a mother of 4 boys to harass females for taking responsibility while her boys get to have all the fun. I think if she had a duaghter she might have thought twice before tweeting. Really? turn your underwear around?, Patricia, who are you?
Patricia Heaton is an a-hole. She should jack her boobs a little higher and try throwing herself at the very happily married Ray Ramono again. The really effing Christian.
These right wingers are all hypocrites.
PH vicious personal attacks on female college students were uncalled for and I will never watch another show with her in it; regardless, of the issue.
All taxpayers pay for things they hate or feel is morally wrong. Get over it Repugs! Liberals also pay for things like war, suppressing voter rights, and laws against abortion & women. Like Oxycontin for blowhard hate spewing radio hosts. What they need to remember is women never forget. We won’t forget their attack on reproductive rights, and now I will refuse to watch the Middle. Fark Patricia Heaton!
Two issues here:
1. Separation of church and state. State does not have the right to dictate the beliefs held by the church and should not be able to force the church to go against its tenets.
2. People should not say stupid things that label/tarnish others publicly.
Wow I am really horrified by the way PH attacked this woman. Really ugly comments, she should be ashamed of herself.
No apology was necessary. Geesh. What happened to free speech?
Patricia Heaton has always been a judgmental holier than thou bitch.
Patricia Heaton – what an ignorant b!tch. I hope she reads this site and all these comments and realizes how much the public loathes her and is disgusted by her views. Any way to tell her this more directly??
Has anyone else observed that the people responding in favor of limiting birth control have, without exception, their facts wrong!?
To me this is a clear indication of what’s wrong with this debate. The only reason for the momentum on the right is misinformation ( hellllllo Iraq anybody.,)
Freedom of speech is the right of all of us, even idiots;)
So Ms. Heaton’s dirty little secret comes spilling out on Twitter (or am I the last to know?). She’s a Right-Wing Nut.
They’re such a rare species in Hollywood that it’s always a shocker when they’re outted.
Just like Limbaugh and his diarrhea-mouth problem, Heaton can’t un-tweet what she tweeted. The world knows her dirty little secret now. Not that I was even a fan of hers before this, but I will avoid watching anything she works on from this point forward.
I didn’t read the whole thread…not needed. This woman is a blight on humanity and ironic though it may seem..as Johnny would say…”Sooner or later he’s gonna cut you down” What a repellent creature.
Patricia Heaton is allowed to think whatever she wants. She’s even allowed to verbalize her thoughts. She shouldn’t, however, be allowed to viciously attack a young woman who is simply stating her experience and her thoughts on said experience. I wonder how Ms Heaton would feel if someone did what she did to her child…
Part of being a fully functioning adult is the ability to state one’s opinions and one’s beliefs without resorting to namecalling and personal attacks.
Seems to me that most of the people posting here are intelligent, thoughtful women whose anger may have been triggered by less intelligent propaganda. Thank you for your anger and logic and intesity. Relieving to read.
The hate and misinformation on the right is just stunning. Patricia Heaton is a horrible person and I won’t watch her in anything.
The bottom line, however is that their beliefs should not trump mine or anyone else’s beliefs. This is why our founding fathers believed in the separation of church and state, so that people of all beliefs would not have to worry about being persecuted or forced to follow the edicts of a religion not their own.
Word Katie.
For her to be so hateful over and over, then follow-up with a comment on Christ’s love? What a hypocrite. She’s disgusting!!! I hope her “fans” see her for what she truly is.
What a great thread. Lots of good discussion and no idiots!!!
Heaton..I’m telling you she’s a lesbian, frustrated, unhappy, went the route of traditional female once she couldn’t break out
First off Fluke wasn’t asking for ‘taxpayers’ to pay for her birth control, just requesting that that health insurance that she pays for cover a medication. So Patricia Heaton should spend a few moments actually researching an issue before she shoves her foot in her mouth like a total moron.
Second, I have no problem with them banning birth control (and if women can’t get the pill, and this isn’t just a sexist way to trample on women, then I would think rubbers etc are off the table as well) as long as all the fellas will accept that in turn they can either never bang a woman again or know that every single time they do they may be on the hook for at least 18 years of child support.
Oh and Patricia I speak for many women, thanks for the false apology, I won’t discount your views on religion or your right to express them, but as you seem to spout garbage without knowing of what you speak please just shut up you are shaming all true Republicans with your stupidity.
The women in this country should be really concerned about the battle over contraception. We’re in danger of rolling back the clock to when single women could not get access to birth control. Heck for that matter, a business owner could decide not to cover childbirth, brain surgery, or any other procedure they have “moral” qualms with.
I just thank god for blow-hard Rush Limbaugh. The more he talks and the more the GOP candidates dodge, the more certain Democrats will have huge success in November. Patricia Heaton, thanks for doing your part to help Dems take back the House! Keep tweeting without knowing what you’re talking about, please!
What a bitch. She was going OFF on it. Talk about immature. How old is patricia, anyway? From the way she was tweeting like a tittering teenager, you’d think she was one.
Control yourself, patty.
I’m getting so fed up with the ignorance of the people against using birth control. They don’t want abortions and they don’t want people to be educated about sex/contraception. So everyone, including married people who don’t want kids should be abstinent?? That’s quite the solution.
It’s bad enough when prominent male misogynists start up with this crap. A woman doing it feels like a betrayal. Women often are the cultural enforcers of sexist policies, but I wish this weren’t so. It’s disgusting to see these women complicit in denying rights to other women, and taking part in slut-shaming.
Fantastic issues altogether, you just won a logo new reader. What may you suggest in regards to your put up that you just made a few days ago? Any certain?