In the wake of the Supreme Court decision discussions exploded all over Facebook. My husband Jeff's and my feed was flooded with debates about how this is just another blow to the rights of women citizens. How it will open up an entirely new can of worms. It is just a small rock in a pond that will cause a ripple effect that makes me truly terrified for this country, my family, my friends, and for my personal well-being.
In the last few months I have been ecstatic over the process this country has made to give marriage freedom to the LGBT community. I was thinking this country might be finally taking a step forward for the better of its people. As each state fell to the decision that limiting marriage to just a man and wife was unconstitutional, my heart swelled with liberal and humanist pride. This was what the USA was about, this is what happens when citizens speak up. Of course I felt this way until lately when a blow was committed to my own gender.
On the morning of Monday, June 30th, 2014 I had to check three different sites to make sure that the decision by SCOTUS was actually real. I was so shocked, I could barely speak. I finally was able to say the words to Jeff, “The Supreme Court ruled in Hobby Lobby’s favor.” It was barely a mumbled sentence. My mind could not comprehend what just happened. Jeff looked over and said “No”, as if this could not be possible. I just answered “well shit.” The whole day was lost from there. I was confused, sick, and wanted to cry. I have never felt so betrayed by my own government. I am a patriot, I have always believed in the equality that this nation can and would provide, but my faith in this country has been wavering in the last few years. With states taking away abortion and reproductive rights little by little, my heart sank each time. I still held out hope that everything will come through alright, that there is no way that everything woman have fought for would actually truly be in danger. Each year that passed, with many other blows on women going unanswered, I have felt disheartened, but still I was holding out hope. Monday jerked me into a reality I never thought would come. I reality of women in this country being treated as second class citizens.
From all I could read yesterday on Facebook, from my conservative and liberal friends alike, I have seen many responses to this outrageous ruling, giving Hobby Lobby the right turn down all kinds of contraception because it put a substantial burden on the family that owns the companies religious beliefs. Of course many were outraged. I have got to know many strong women over the years and they felt just as betrayed as I did. The commentary from some of the male acquaintances and friends have been mixed at best. Jeff has been a feminist since I have known him and probably one of the larger reasons why I married him. He wants a partner in life, an equal, not a submissive woman that wants to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. He is a California liberal all the way and proud of it. Some of my other male friends were also just as outraged, many with friends, mothers, daughters, girlfriends, and wives that they were concerned for. These men are the men that look beyond how the masses think and have empathy for people. Even my own husband, who is on the autism scale, could see the implications behind this decision. Now here comes the bad part, many people, that were mostly men, were trying to make this out to be a small decision. They were trying to say that it was being blown out of proportion. Some were even agreeing with the decision and debated it most of the day. Some people were saying that just because the ruling was made about contraception towards women, that it was not sexist. Nobody got much work done that day because Facebook was too hard to ignore or, like me, people were just distressed. I am going to go through a little bit of what I saw and tell you why a ruling like this is dangerous to personal freedoms and why all women have not gone crazy all the sudden or were not crazy in the first place.
Women are upset, angry, and most women my age and younger felt like this could not be happening. I am thirty, I grew up with knowing that I have basic freedoms in this country and believing that I would have them and more all my life. It is not unreasonable. Most countries in the civilized world have progressed to gay marriage, equal pay rights, anti-discrimination laws, and have many women in office to make sure their interests are being included. This is where the United States would go for sure, right? In the last few years my “crazy feminist” rage has been burning. My eyes opened wider and I saw the true consequences of the direction this country was going and all of what I believed was slowly deteriorating. That is the worst part, is that just when you think it is getting better, it all the sudden gets much worse.
The Women’s Health Amendment, which was added to the Affordable Care Act, requires preventive services specific to women’s health with no increase to the cost of the insured. Contraception falls under this category of course. For many reasons other than pregnancy prevention, as if that is not enough to lower the abortion rate in this country, it can reduce very painful cramping, excessive bleeding, and prevents pregnancy that could cause a life threatening situation. For example I have an IUD, which prevents me from getting pregnant, which in turn allows my Oncologist to keep an eye on my liver for two years to make sure I remain cancer free. Pregnancy is not in the cards for me right now, but of course why would I want to have sex besides to procreate? That is all my lady parts are used for anyway, it’s not like I get any sort of pleasure in making love with my amazing husband, which is just unthinkable. Here is a couple of quotes from the dissent to the ruling written by Ruth Ginsberg.
It is a statistical fact that “women of childbearing age spend 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men. “
“This bill has expanded health insurance coverage to the vast majority of the 17 million women of reproductive age in the United States who are uninsured. This expanded access will reduce unintended pregnancies.”
This is why “women be so crazy all the sudden.” That was me being sarcastic of course, not Ginsberg.
A direct quote from the dessent is, “no individual decision by an employee and her physician, be it to use contraception, treat an infection, or have a hip replaced- is in any meaningful sense her employer’s decision or action.“ Not only will this ruling be a drastic measure in the face of women, but this breaks down the barrier that gives corporations the ability to deny many other health care options, or hell if serving black customers is against someone’s religion, then what? This has larger implications and breaks a small line between a corporation and the laws that are supposed to keep everyone in a safe working environment. The corporate vail has been pierced and as defined in good old Wikipedia as a “legal decision to treat the rights or duties of a corporation as the rights and liabilities of its shareholders.” So wait this could really come back on the corporation to actually take responsibility as an individual would? Cross your fingers everyone, this might blow up in Hobby Lobby’s face.
I would also like to point out there is overwhelming evidence that Hobby Lobby not only provided free contraception to female employees before the health care act, but invested in the same products and services they are so “religiously burdened to provide.” Did your mouth drop right then, it better have. This has absolutely nothing to do with religious freedom people and everything to do with the powerful trying to assert power over the powerless. Let me also point out that Jesus was against such actions. Even if the true reason is the lines between church and state have been blurred, which they shouldn’t be, this just hurts the overall view of the Christian faith in this country. Taking away a person’s free will is not taught in the Bible, so don’t even try to pretend that this is being a good Christian.
Three days after the fact this topic of Hobby Lobby hypocrisy is not a story on the CNN’s front page. In fact the only hint of these facts have been from liberal news site like Think Progress or Mother Jones. These following are the stories today.
Front page stories.
"44 kids died in hot cars in 2013. Seven years ago, Lyn Balfour drove to work and forgot her 9-month-old, Bryce, was in the backseat."
"What life is like for Casey Anthony. Three years ago Casey Anthony was acquitted of murder charges in the death of her daughter, but public hate still keeps her from leaving her home."
Top Stories List:
"Barber shop by day strip club at night."
"Woman runs over men at a gas station."
"Did US woman try to help Isis?"
"Mom: Sitter gave my tots melatonin."
"Waitresses here carry loaded guns."
"Lohan sues over video game."
Wait, wait the two top stories today are showing women making mistakes or they are mental. I am not going to deny that these are important, but the story about babies in cars leads with a story about a women leaving her child in a car seven years ago. The Casey Anthony piece, also horrible, but it happened THREE YEARS AGO! What is the recent news then? Oh Lindsey Lohan sues GTA over a character the looks like her in the game. shaking head in disgrace CNN, what have you done? I come to you for news, not to give me this crap. I have to turn to BBC and NPR for news today, because it is NEWS! It is not infotainment and it certainly is not deliberately looking for stories to slap on their front page about how women are incapable of doing anything themselves.
I am coming to my conclusion now. The most disturbing part about all of this, is people’s reaction to it. Not just the media, people I thought I could at
least trust to not make light of the situation, is doing exactly that. I am seeing more of “bitches be crazy” or “you don’t have to work for Hobby Lobby” or my personal favorite “feminazi’s getting upset of something little.” These attitudes out way support right now. Where are most of these coming from? You guessed it, straight white men. I have people saying that this is move is not blatantly sexist, or worse yet, people trolling on the internet trying to be the devil’s advocate FOR FUN. I agree there are two sides to every debate, but to purposely make light of a very serious situation that can have very damaging consequences for everyone, is not only rude, but outright wrong. Gather around the women you love, speak out for the powerless. Feminist is so often used as a cuss word or an unwanted title, how about proclaiming that you are one. Stand up for true equality, not pretending this it is about religious freedom. These are the things that not only make you a true citizen of this great country, but a real man. Women, we must stick together. We have to speak out and fight. There is no exception. If we don’t stand up for ourselves then we sure can’t expect anyone else to. Stop attacking each other over little things that are pressed on us by society. Encourage each other to succeed and to make a real change in this country for the better. It has to happen now, not later. We have to make a stand, not depend on others to do it for us.
- Sarah Hale Pierce