Welcome to Gilead
Amanda at Pandagon has linked to a post over at Biting Beaver’s that is just astonishing. Astonishing because for all the talk about how The Handmaid’s Tale is coming true, it’s still difficult to grasp that it’s really happening.
Biting Beaver has been denied emergency contraception. She committed the heinous crime of having voluntary sex while unmarried, and now, by God, she must pay — by getting pregnant.
Friday night the condom broke; Saturday morning BB called her doctor to get EC. The doctor — a female — refused to prescribe it, though at first BB didn’t realize this because instead of refusing point-blank, the doctor blew her off by telling her she needed to go to the emergency room instead. Having never asked for EC before, BB thought this was standard procedure.
Actually, her doctor could have just prescribed the stuff to be dispensed through a pharmacy. I myself once needed emergency contraception, back in 1999 when we still called it the morning-after pill. I telephoned my ob-gyn’s office and they called the prescription into the local drugstore. No big deal. But I lived in a very blue city in a very blue state, and 1999 was a long time ago.
After being told she had to go to the emergency room, BB called the local hospital and the slut-shaming began:
“Well see,” he begins, his voice dropping a little, “the problem is that you have to meet the doctor’s criteria before he’ll dispense it to you.”
“Criteria?” I question.
“Well,” the nurse sounds decidedly nervous as though what he really wanted to do was hang up the phone completely, “Yes, his criteria. I mean…ummm…well, are you ok? Is there any, ummm….trauma?” he asks me.
My face changes expression and I hurry to explain, “No, no” I said, “No. I haven’t been raped. This was consensual sex.”
“Oh…” he trails off.
I wait expectantly.
“Well, ummm….*clears throat*…So you haven’t been raped?” he asks again.
“No. I have not been raped. The condom broke”. I state, becoming very frustrated at this point and wondering what the hell is going on.
“Ok, well ummm….Are you married?” he mumbles the words so low I can barely hear them.
Suddenly I get this image of the poor nurse standing at the hospital reading from a cue card that was given to him by a doctor.
“No.” I state plainly. “I am not married. I’ve been in a relationship for several years and I have three children, I don’t want a fourth.” I respond tersely.
“Oh, I see.” He says and then he hurries on, “Well, see. *I* understand. I want you to know that I understand what you’re saying. But see, the problem is that we have 4 doctors here right now but only one of them ever writes EC prescriptions. But see, the thing is that he’ll interview you and see if you meet his criteria. Now, I called the pharmacy but I also talked to him and well….*clears throat*….you can come down and try to get it. You know, if you meet his criteria he’ll give you a prescription, I mean, there’s really no harm in trying.” the nurse trails off, his voice falters as I realize what I’m being told.
It’s fascinating, isn’t it? Well, actually it’s horrifying, but in a clinical, objective kind of way we can view this as a chance to dissect the godbag mind. Contraception is okay for women who have been raped and women who are married. As Amanda says, “What these two groups of women have in common, at least from the traditionalist point of view, is that both have had their agency taken from them, by force or by tradition.”
I opened the phone book again and called the Urgent Care in my county. Who knows, maybe they’ll do it for me. “No,” the nurse said, “We don’t prescribe the abortion pill here”.
“No, wait I’m not asking for the abortion pill. I’m asking for EC!” I say, “It’s not the same thing.”
“Well, we use the words interchangeably here. Sorry, we don’t prescribe it”. She all but races to get off the phone with me.
I start looking through the telephone book, dialing hospitals from counties all around me. It seems that nobody will prescribe it to me. None of the hospitals are willing to touch me, of the ones that will prescribe it I am asked a series of questions to ‘screen’ me before I come to the hospital. The results aren’t good. I’m not married and wasn’t raped, so there’s very little they can do for me.
Right. Not Married + Not Raped = Slut. And sluts mustn’t be allowed to get away with their sluttishness!
At the end of her post, the maybe-now-pregnant* Biting Beaver asks rhetorically what the moral of the story is. The moral of the story is that the anti-contraception/anti-choice movement doesn’t have a goddamn thing to do with making the world safe for little baby blastocysts. The whole point is to control women. We feminists already know that, of course, but cases like this illustrate it with blinding clarity. If Biting Beaver were married, no problem — the sex happened because a man was in proper legal control of her body (which is how conservatives understand marriage). If Biting Beaver had been raped, no problem — the sex happened because a man physically seized control of her body, albeit illegally. BB’s terrible crime was having sex of her own free will, without being owned or coerced by a man.
In a few months EC will be available over-the-counter, but I see no reason to expect that these shenanigans will stop. The obstructionist techniques will simply shift from the doctors to the pharmacists. It’s my understanding that EC won’t be out on the shelves but will be kept behind the counter, so that customers will have to ask the pharmacist to hand over the goods. Godbag pharmacists all over the country are already refusing to dispense prescribed birth control when the voices in their heads tell them to; there is nothing to keep them from refusing to dispense over-the-counter EC.
A few years ago I wouldn’t have believed that the godbags could gain so much territory and that women could lose so much. But then, I wouldn’t have believed that my country would become a world-leader in legitimizing torture and unprovoked war. I don’t know how much more of this “culture of life” I can take.
*As of 2:00 on Monday afternoon, Biting Beaver announced that she’d finally found a clinic (an hour and half away) that would dispense the pill. I hope it’s not too late.
26 Responses to “Welcome to Gilead”
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will says:
That is an outrage. An absolute outrage. That should not be allowed. I wish the courts would find an equal protection violation in that conduct.
Now is an excellent time to find out the policy of the hospitals and doctors near you. If that is their policy, refuse to use that medical provider.
September 19th, 2006 at 8:06 am EST -
Violet says:
You got that right: it’s an outrage.
What I don’t understand is why BB’s doctor would prescribe regular birth control pills for her but not emergency contraception. She says in her post that she just stopped taking BC pills a couple of months ago, and it’s apparently this same doctor who refused to prescribe EC. Why? Makes no sense.
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liberata says:
And we are so smug and superior because our women don’t have to go around veiled.
It’s like the difference between Jim Crow in the South and the unspoken prejudice in the North. Not officially on the law books, but everyone knows what’s allowed and what’s not.
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will says:
I agree. All women should learn how to use regular pills as the morning after pill.
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love2all says:
I don’t understand either. From what I know, all the morning after pill does is prevent implantation if fertilization does indeed occur. Isn’t it true that other forms of birth control do the exact same thing? I have an IUD, for example. It works in several different ways but one of the ways that it works in preventing pregnancy is it prevents implantion should fertilization ever occur.
IUDs are regularly dispensed by doctors without anyone blinking an eye. Why should the very same doctors have any kind of qualms with EC?
In fact what many people don’t know is.. IF YOU’RE PREGNANT, the morning-after-pill will NOT cause an abortion. So no point in the Pro-Lifers getting all up in arms.
Dumbasses.
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love2all says:
Check this shit out. This is a site run by, as Violet would call them, Godbags… disguised as a medical information site. http://www.morningafterpill.org
In fact, just click on this part to read some of the crap they put on there. Horrendous. Hopefully most will realize that this is not a legit medical site. Hopefully. http://www.morningafterpill.org/mapinfo1.htm
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Violet says:
Jesus. They jumped on that url, didn’t they?
Reminds me of “crisis pregnancy centers” — “Pregnant? Need help? Call us!” Then they whip out the phony pictures of bleeding fetuses.
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will says:
ARRGAGRAGRGARGGRGA I hate CPC!!! Nothing like a little scare tactics and fear to make people do what you want.
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cicely says:
In a few months EC will be available over-the-counter, but I see no reason to expect that these shenanigans will stop. The obstructionist techniques will simply shift from the doctors to the pharmacists. It’s my understanding that EC won’t be out on the shelves but will be kept behind the counter, so that customers will have to ask the pharmacist to hand over the goods. Godbag pharmacists all over the country are already refusing to dispense prescribed birth control when the voices in their heads tell them to; there is nothing to keep them from refusing to dispense EC.
I don’t understand how it came about in the US that a doctor or a pharmacist – a healthcare provider – is permitted to not sell a legal product to anyone who asks for it. How are you not living in a theocracy when someone’s religious beliefs trump your right to access a legal product in the only type of business or profession that can provide it?
I understand that a theocracy is a form of government ‘in which God or a deity is recognised as the supreme ruler of the people’ (from my dictionary), and that’s not the official situation in the US but if your government doesn’t actually and actively *prohibit* these religiously inspired obstructionist techniques – what do you call that?
If I lived over there I’d seriously be thinking about emigrating – but it’s home, eh? And not everyone can do that anyway. Not really a mass solution. I sure hope you good people can turn that ship around, starting in November.
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Violet says:
I don’t understand how it came about in the US that a doctor or a pharmacist – a healthcare provider – is permitted to not sell a legal product to anyone who asks for it. How are you not living in a theocracy when someone’s religious beliefs trump your right to access a legal product in the only type of business or profession that can provide it?
Well, cicely, it’s much like the common situation that arises when a vegan goes to work at McDonald’s and refuses to sell people hamburgers because it conflicts with veganism. You know what a bummer it is when you order a cheeseburger and the server says, “I’m sorry, I don’t believe in eating meat so I won’t sell you that.” Oh, wait, that never happens…
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cicely says:
Yes, well. The nature of the product hadn’t escaped me (not suggesting you thought it had) but I guess I feel so utterly horrified and outraged I barely know how to express it.
I had a long exchange about all this a few months ago on Alas – the rule of patriarchal religious values – how wrong it is for these to be imposed on the women of America who don’t share them – separation of church and state etc.
I suggested that’s it’s starkly patriarchal because if *only* women could have input into laws and rules around their own sexuality and reproduction issues the situation in the US would never have come to this. Around the same time women MP’s from different and opposing political parties in the Oz Parliament had joined together in a conscience vote to pass a private member’s bill allowing an abortion pill to be made available to women in Australia.I wonder how bad it has to get for women in America before there is a groundswell of opposition big enough to have an impact at local, state and federal elections. Maybe I’m being simplistic but, like you, I find it very difficult to believe and deal with how much women have lost in the US – not to mention around the world where the US government provides ‘strings attached’ aid.
How bizarre that we feminists are hotly debating the finer points of the theories of different feminisms all over the place while BB can have this experience. I know the theory is important, crucial even, but it can still feel a bit like fiddling while Rome burns. A united front and some kind of clear strategy could hardly be more urgent.
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Lingual X says:
Hey there,
I wanted to let you know that I featured this post in the 23rd edition of Carnival of Feminists. You can read the Carnival here at Lingual Tremors. (http://www.fervidus.typepad.com)
If I’ve made any mistakes, please email and I’ll fix it as soon as possible.
I really hope you enjoy reading the COF. Thanks for this wonderful post.
Cheers!
Lingual X -
Violet says:
The nature of the product hadn’t escaped me (not suggesting you thought it had) but I guess I feel so utterly horrified and outraged I barely know how to express it.
I was sharing in your bewilderment and outrage. Why do people become pharmacists if they don’t want to dispense pharmaceuticals? To me that makes about as much sense as a vegan going to work for McDonald’s and refusing to sell people hamburgers.
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Violet says:
Hey, Lingual X – thank you! That’s terrific. I’m flattered!
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Mandos says:
Lately I’ve had the opportunity to learn a little more about the nature of people who enter medical professions. Some of them believe that they are entering these professions out of their amour for Helping People and Saving Lives. By doing What’s Best For Others.
So people become pharmacists not to dispense pharmaceuticals, but to Help People by dispensing pharmaceuticals. Obviously, there are people who believe that EC is not Helping People, and it is not Best For Others.
Thus, I don’t think the “vegan McDonald’s worker” analogy really works very well. The McDonald’s worker is hardly joining for any reason other than to be given money to dispense hamburgers. Believe it or not, medical educations and professions are sold to their participants as being a Great And Noble Duty, even a great sacrifice for the benefit of the people.
And if that’s what you’ve been told is your role, then that people will moralize into it is quite predictable. Maybe we need to educate doctors and pharmacists in a manner that gives them less of a sense of status or something.
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Violet says:
That’s a good point, Mandos. I know that doctors tend to have quite the god complex, but I’m not really in the habit of thinking of pharmacists as “medical professionals” with that kind of Great and Noble Duty vibe going. But I guess they are.
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Mandos says:
I mean, they hang up framed certificates and everything.
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Txfeminist says:
I think all of us ought to routinely go and ask pharmacists for EC on a regular basis when we do our grocery shopping. Just like buying Tylenol.
Over and over and over. (I mean, as much as we can afford.)
this will do two things: beleager those who won’t dispense it until they go berserk, and also, when it IS dispensed, will give us a handy dandy supply of EC, to send to anyone we can who goes through what BB just went through.
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Infidel says:
How much does it cost? and can a guy get it?
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Paul Tergeist says:
Yeah. Even I’m up for starting an underground EC network.
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will says:
TXF:
Your idea is horrible!!! How are we going to compete with all of the little Brown people who are reproducing like animals!!! (That counts as an oxymoron in George Allen’s book.)
We need more white American babies!!!
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Violet says:
We need more white American babies!!!
Only illegitimate white American babies.
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will says:
It is easier to sacrifice illegitimate 18 year olds to the military. They need the financial support.
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richard cherry says:
22 – Vi – I had in all the horror failed to think about that chilling little irony, that if you are married they don’t mind you killing the baby, but if you are in a (theoretically) less-stable situation you can’t. Now that’s supporting the family!!! Has anyone told Dawn Eden?
Foolishly I was wasting my time on the minor issue of just how awful it was for BB.
I didn’t realise it could happen because the morning after pill is so available in UK. And of cousre the NHS means we only pay £6 for drugs on prescription, and you can see a doctor for free. Maybe Tony and his mob aren’t that bad… -
gordo says:
Richard–
I wouldn’t be surprised if Dawn Eden said that married couples ought to abstain from sex entirely, and use artificial insemination instead.
She’d probably think that her marriage was much more fulfilling without all of that dirty sex stuff getting in the way.
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richard cherry says:
I think if I was married to the fragrant Ms Eden I might agree with her about the nasty sex stuff…
