Once again the conservative movement finds themselves mired in distorted comments regarding women’s health. In what appears to be a political veteran making a rookie mistake, Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee provided the liberal media machine some sloppy comments regarding contraception. Huckabee in a speech to the Republican Annual Winter Meeting stated, “Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control, because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of government”.
What Huckabee got wrong in this statement is that the provision of contraception within health care for women is not about a libido roaring out of control or a reproductive system on overdrive, but rather women being sexually responsible and offered equal health care. It is not whether women can obtain birth control for themselves, but whether it should be considered under the umbrella of general medical care and thus included in average health insurance. For many women their birth control usage is for hormone regulation and all that encompasses, not simply a contraceptive method. Regardless of the motivation women have for their pill usage, they do not need to justify it to ‘Uncle Sugar’ as Huckabee so saucily put it or to anyone.
What was correct in the former Governor’s statement was, “woman are far more than Democrats have made them to be” in that women’s rights are about far more than woman’s hormones. Considering female health and the methods used to maintain said health as a woman’s personal choice and not up for ideological debate is but one step in the journey towards female equality. Both sides of the aisle have at different points and from different perspectives diminished a woman’s role in the political debate to woman’s biological health. The Obama re-election campaign infamously posted the comment, “Vote like your lady parts depend on it” in an effort to scare up women voters. As a woman I will vote like my country depends on it, because I am more than my lady parts, more than my estrogen levels, and certainly more concerned with modern society treating me equally than attempting to pacify me by providing birth control.
A number of today’s women and feminists in the liberal sector have become short sighted on their pure sexuality. The debate over healthcare provided birth control is a microcosm for woman’s sexuality not being regarded in the same light as men’s. When this issue is viewed with a wider lens it becomes an evaluation of American patriarchal society that contributes to rape culture, unequal pay, the rampant sexual objectification of women, slut shaming, and many other women’s right’s issues. Lady parts are just that—a part of the discussion on modern gender roles but certainly not the whole.
The true issues needing attention are those previously listed. Providing birth control thus allowing woman more sexual freedom should they choose it will not hurt society. The beginning of a healthier and more equal culture will begin when the female body is no longer viewed as dangerous, as something that elicits sin, or as a battleground on which sides of the political aisle can score points by recognizing as important and equal.
Whitney Greer is a sophomore English major from Medford, Oregon.
