Rachel Maddow sums up the original issue, as well as Rush’s personal attacks on Sandra Fluke in this segment on her show. Rush Limbaugh is not only a despicable misogynist, he doesn’t even have a basic understanding of how birth control pills work.
Let’s put aside for moment that his imbecilic rant has nothing to do with the original issue, which was that Sandra Fluke was not permitted to testify in front of a congressional committee about women’s reproductive health care.
Let’s put aside for a moment that we live in a nation where a congressional hearing about women’s health care can be conducted and the only individuals permitted to testify are MEN, many of whom are members of the clergy.
And why shouldn’t they be? Aren’t clergymen world-renowned for their mastery of the inner workings of “the lady parts”? I wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d tried to have the “hysterical women” demanding justice & equality removed because they were suffering from “the vapors”. But I digress.
Finally, let’s put aside the fact that no one, and I do mean no one, ever demanded or even suggested that Rush Limbaugh or anyone else should start writing checks so the government can commence with dropping free birth control pills from the sky ASAP.
The original issue is whether or not an employer, in this case apparently Georgetown University, has the right to demand that your employer-sponsored health insurance specifically NOT cover hormonal birth control pills.
I contend that if this were a case of an employer refusing to cover a male-only medication – like Viagra, for example – that throngs of Conservatives & Tea Partiers would take to the streets, flipping cars and blowing shit up while waving protest signs exalting misspelled buzzwords like “Librty” and “Unconsitutional” and “Socalist”.
Alas, no penis = no outrage. The right is fine with the government controlling a woman’s uterus. Just don’t let that damn tree huggin’, Commie-fied “Big Brother” government try to stop someone from trying to buy that 11th semi-automatic pistol & 33-round clip he’s got his eye on.
That deer is never gonna know what hit him. Why, yes…you do hear a faint chant of “USA! USA!” coupled with the intermittent sound of beer cans being crushed against a redneck’s forehead. That’s the soundtrack to patriotism. Apparently.
Make Way For Some Birth Control Pill Facts
Just so we’re clear, the dosage of a typical birth control pill is 1 pill per day. Women do not take a pill each time they have sex. That’s an important tidbit of information. So, not only is Rush an inglorious bigot, his tirade against being forced to pay for gadzillions of birth control pills so these “Feminazi” coeds can keep whorin’ around & never get pregnant proves, yet again, that he’s also an unapologetic simpleton. And he speaks to millions of other unapologetic simpletons for 3 hours every weekday.
Not that he, or anyone who listens to his show, has even a modicum of interest in the facts, but that 1 pill per day is used to treat a variety of medical conditions, not solely to prevent pregnancy.
Uterus, huh? You’ll Have To Wait Outside
So, to summarize, the man who supports an employer’s right to deny a woman the right to have her prescription medication paid for by her health insurance doesn’t even have a basic, fundamental understanding of how that medication works and what it’s used for. In what universe is it acceptable to give a man operating at such a staggering height of oblivion a public platform from which to spout his lies, his insults and his doctrine of “DUHH?!?” ClearChannel better be paying attention. This is their Susan G. Komen moment.
This the is kind of conversation the “new right” wants to have. These are the issues they care about. A prescription drug solely for women was the subject of a “no penis, no voice” congressional hearing. Not jobs or the economy. Not taxes or how to stop bombing every country in the Middle East. No, we have to discuss why prescription birth control pills should be covered by PRESCRIPTION DRUG insurance. Whether the woman needs the medication to treat endometriosis or to keep from turning her uterus into a clown car is completely irrelevant.
The fact that the modern iteration of the GOP believes it is their right, an employer’s right, and frankly even a pharmacist’s right, to stand between a woman and her prescription medication only illustrates how far the Republicans are from their 3-Card Monte of “small government”, “individual liberty” and “don’t tread on me” propaganda.
There is no more dreadful an affront to our Constitution, no greater infringement on personal liberty and more egregious a denial of human dignity than to deny an individual the right to control his or her own body.
Getting Rid of Rush = Just The Beginning
Yes, we should all be outraged at Rush’s comments. But Rush makes outrageously offensive comments on a daily basis. Getting rid of Rush is a step in the right direction in terms of publicly evolving toward a substantive conversation of real issues, but it won’t really change anything.
Representative Darrell Issa and others in Congress who share his extreme ideology must be held to account for their antiquated thinking by being voted out of office. Only then will our government begin to function as a government of the people, for the people and by the people. Get rid of Rush, but then do what is necessary to get rid of the lawmakers whose xenophobia, misogyny and ideological beliefs are no less extreme.
