The Bucks Underground Railroad

July 4, 2012

They are the Tighty Rightys.  They’ll do everything possible to suppress women’s reproductive rights.  They succeeded in reducing federal funds to Planned Parenthood on the falsehood that only abortions are performed at their facilities.  That was and is a Big Fat Lie.  Nationwide, the procedure to terminate pregnancies at Planned Parenthood agencies is only 3%.

On July 2 a few internet news sites reported that Mississippi was almost close to becoming the only state without a women’s health center.  Seems its Tighty Righty Republican Governor, Phil Bryant had signed legislation to close this last health facility.  Seems he wants Mississippi to be “abortion-free”.  Fortunately a temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan in Jackson will delay the closing.  The Judge has scheduled a hearing on July 11.

An article in the July 3 Intelligencer reports Bucks County Tighty Rightys want to shut down the Warminster Planned Parenthood office.  Tighty Rightys!  Be careful what you wish for.  We got Federal Judges in our District Courts too.

Then there’s Tighty-Righty Rick Santorum.  He wants to ban funding for all methods of contraception.  He along with a chorus of Tighty Righty “commentators” spread the lie that birth control allows women to live a sexually promiscuous life.  That makes about as much sense as believing men swallow penile enhancement pills for the sole purpose of making babies.

With the long-suffering quest by Tighty Rightys for a Constitutional Amendment declaring that “…human life begins in the womb”, when I recall my two pregnancies, I never thought that each time it was a “human” in my womb.  My son and daughter became human when they slid out my birth canal, sucking in their first breath of oxygen before wailing and wiggling in the hands of my doctor.

The more I thought about this human in the womb nonsense, the more I envisioned how their Constitutional Amendment could cause medical technology to change everything we know about civil law and how ”human life begins in the womb” could affect local, state and federal statues.   In a few days The Bucks Underground Railroad will publish a post on my vision of futuristic gestation/procreation.

While Tighty Righty Santorum speaks of banning birth control, women—many without insurance or money—are being denied the right to seek family planning services along with preventive screening procedures, tests, or counseling.  It gets worse.  Late last year Pennsylvania’s Tighty Rightys introduced legislation (House Bill 1077) that forces women to look at ultra-sound images of the fetus before they agree to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

Unconfirmed as I publish this post, there’s talk that a Democrat in the Pennsylvania General Assembly may introduce–as a countermeasure to House Bill 1077–a bill requiring men to seek treatment for Erectile Dysfunction (ED).  They would undergo a full prostate exam,  a cardiac stress test and submit a signed affidavit from a sexual partner stating that the patient suffers from ED.

Nina Turner, a Senator serving in the Ohio legislation has introduced a bill that limits men’s ability to get a Viagra prescription without meeting certain health screening conditions.  Turner’s bill would require men to receive psychological counseling to verify that they have a medical reason for taking ED medications such as Viagra, before they can legally obtain a prescription.  It would also require doctors to inform men, in writing, about the potential risks of drugs like Viagra.

Several days ago an RN shared an incident with me about one of her former patients.  The man, 70 years of age was hospitalized with a heart condition.  The nurse described how after administrating the patient’s Physician-ordered medications he asked, “Where’s my blue pill?”  She replied that there was no ‘blue pill’ on his list of authorized meds.  He was insistent so she checked with his doctor who told her the ‘blue pill’ was Viagra.  Dr. added, “His 50-year old girlfriend is expected in an hour.  Give him the pill.”

 Just as Tighty Righty laws are taking away a woman’s right to control their bodies, it’s about time that men are subjected to the same rules.