Letter to the Editor of the Mount Gilead Ohio local paper. In response to a previously published letter in which the author clearly had his facts about Sandra Fluke, religion, Obama Care, and the Constitution confused. (to say the least)
Dear Editors,
I am a 21 year old college student, and I am on
birth control. I am not ashamed that I am on birth control, because I have
endometriosis and ovarian cysts. I was put on the pill at the age 15 so that my
reproductive organs would remain viable for later in life when I chose to have
children, and I would not have a high risk of an ectopic pregnancy. At the age
of 19 I had a fast-growing cyst rupture after reaching the size of a tennis
ball in just over one month. I could not go into work for three weeks, and laid
in bed in excruciating pain when I was not at the doctor’s office. I was given
a new birth control pill and told that if I stopped taking it, I might have to
have my left ovary removed. Clearly, being on the birth control pill is a
matter of my health, my quality of life, and my ability to be a productive
member of society.
Sandra Fluke testified that as equal citizens in
America, women should be able to access affordable birth control, meaning that
insurance companies should be required to provide birth control coverage in
their insurance policies. The birth control pill that I am on right now, which
is the ONLY pill that I can be on for endometriosis and ovarian cysts without
interfering with my hypothyroidism or pre-diabetes (the pre-diabetes was
brought on after a 40 pound weight gain from my previous birth control pill
trying to control the endometriosis), costs $30 a month because it is
non-generic. It costs $120 a month without insurance. This means that, without
required coverage for birth control, someone like myself might have to pay $120
x 12 months x 4 years = $5,760. Instead, after insurance I pay $1,440.
I am a Christian, I was raised a Southern Baptist.
My NEED for birth control coverage has absolutely nothing to do with religion
or sexual promiscuity or taking anything away from religious institutions. Put
simply, I believe that birth control is part of my health care, and that if I
have health insurance it should be covered. If a woman feels that it is against
her religious beliefs to take birth control, then she has every right to never
ever take or use any form of birth control. I do not think that an outsider, or
any legislator, should decide my fate when they do not know me and my body.
Thank you for taking the time to hear my story and
opinion.
