Bitch. Ph.D.: Clarification
Yes, my blogging vacation is extending indefinitely. I'm enjoying my vacation (and trying to find a job) and, in theory, the glorious Chicago springtime (it was 60 and overcast today ... could've sworn I was back in Tacoma). Until I get off my ass and ... well, sit my ass down and write ... read those two posts of Dr. B's. This Hager guy is virtually a textbook example of the relationship between patriarchy and opposition to contraception. She makes an excellent point about conscience clauses:
And I think that's the whole problem with this whole argument over pharmacist's rights. The argument hinges on their "right" to hold private opinions--a right which we all surely agree they have--and to make those private opinions have public weight, even to the point of usurping the private opinions of other people. People who, not coincidentally, happen to be women. And the flip side is that our private opinions, unlike theirs, are supposed to remain private, not to have public weight. We can think, but we cannot act: the exercise of our private opinions (about sex, about birth control, about abortion) is a matter of public concern, and therefore our own private consciences must succumb to the private consciences of pharmacists, of politicians, of powerful men.
I also wanted to comment on a story quoted on feministe. The health insurance I will have at Notre Dame is crappy, clearly designed to cost the university as little as possible, with a huge premium, huge deductible, and crappy coverage. The quality of care for women is, unsurprisingly, particularly atrocious. For example, a yearly physical is covered, or a yearly gynaecological exam, but not both. Viagara is covered (to the extent any drugs are covered by this insurance), but not birth control. Oh, and all non-emergency medical care must be done through the university's hospital, which is obviously Catholic-owned. The doctors aren't even ALLOWED to talk about birth control methods other than the 'rhythm method', much less abortion or emergency contraception.
And thanks to the National Labor Relations Board's ruling last year, the ND grad students aren't even guaranteed the right to unionize and get better health coverage. You see, the NLRB doesn't consider us actual employees of the university: we're students first, which means students only.
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