Page 6
December 7, 2016
Your Carpet
Best Cleaning
Choice
O PINION
Martin New Congress Threatens Birth Control Access
May want to get
Cleaning an IUD while
Service you can
o livia a lPerstein
As soon as the pres-
idential election results
were announced, alarm
bells went off for any-
one who cares about
reproductive rights.
Lawmakers around the country
have been moving for years to re-
strict abortion rights. But for mil-
lions of women who’ve taken pro-
active steps to prevent unplanned
pregnancy, there’s a much more di-
rect threat: the next administration
coming after their birth control.
As organizations like Planned
Parenthood put out urgent calls for
resources and support, ordinary
women are asking: What do we
do if we no longer have access to
affordable birth control next year?
For many, the answer could be
to get an intrauterine device, or
IUD.
These tiny devices last either
three or five years, depending on
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they feature a variety of combina-
tions of hormones and come with
a near-perfect guarantee to pre-
vent pregnancy.
After a short proce-
dure, the IUD stays put
for years without any
muss or fuss. No hustling
to take a pill at the same
precise time each day, no
anxiety about missing
a dose, and no worries
about getting a full peri-
od each month.
In short, the IUD is a great op-
tion for many women — and par-
ticularly attractive in the face of a
possible near future without birth
control access.
Thanks to the Affordable Care
Act, most insurance plans are re-
quired to cover the cost of pre-
scription birth control, including
IUDs. That means no co-pays, de-
ductibles, or out-of-pocket costs.
Unfortunately, Republicans have
repeatedly tried to gut the Afford-
able Care Act, and they’ll have an
ally in the next president.
If Congress dumps Obamacare,
some 20 million people — includ-
ing over 250,000 people who have
signed up since the election —
could be left without the means to
access proper healthcare, includ-
ing reproductive healthcare.
Meanwhile, other lawmakers
are attempting to deny women the
right to birth control point-blank.
Laws like the proposed Russell
Amendment would let doctors,
pharmaceutical employees, and
other health care providers claim a
religious right to refuse to provide
birth control. Employers could
even fire workers for using birth
control on their own dime.
With their reproductive rights at
stake, it’s no wonder many wom-
en are hedging their bets right now
and looking for a long-term birth
control option.
Ninety-nine percent of wom-
en of reproductive age have used
some form of birth control.
That includes women of all
religious, ethnic, and cultural
backgrounds, from all walks of
life, and with all sorts of life ex-
periences. From young women
with medical conditions that af-
fect their hormones to teenagers to
mothers of multiple children, we
run the gamut.
It’s not just cis-gender women
— transgender, agender, and inter-
sex people use birth control, too.
And we aren’t about to let any-
one take our access to affordable
birth control away.
“The pill” has been around since
the 1960s — and so, I was sur-
prised to learn, has the IUD. We are
the many, the proud, and we’re not
willing to go back to the time when
back-alley abortions, coat hangers,
and turpentine were acceptable
methods of reproductive healthcare
in the United States.
We’re not willing to go back to
a time when women didn’t have
control over their own bodies.
If you’re considering using a
long-term birth control method
and have any questions, ask me —
or anyone else in your community
who may know the answers. Or
check out bedsider.org, an online
resource recommended by wom-
en’s healthcare providers. There
are millions of us out there happy
to reach out.
If, on the other hand, you seek
to deny us the right to choose what
to do with our bodies, remember:
We have a voice, and we will not
be silent. History is on our side.
Olivia Alperstein is the Com-
munications and Policy Associate
at Progressive Congress. Most re-
cently she worked as an editorial
assistant for OtherWords.
Seeking Reconciliation Post-Election
Democracy
is not
demonization
s aadia a hMad
I am a Muslim-American
and a peacebuilder. In the af-
termath of a polarizing elec-
tion season, the victory of Presi-
dent-elect Donald Trump, and an
onslaught of violent hate crimes
and proposed policies threatening
by
human rights, I am struggling to
simultaneously
maintain my com-
mitment to both
roles and identi-
ties.
I am deep-
ly troubled by
the racist, sexist,
xenophobic, ho-
mophobic, ableist, anti-Semitic,
and Islamophobic rhetoric and
violence that is on the rise. In my
hometown of South Brunswick,
The Law Offices of
Patrick John Sweeney, P.C.
Patrick John Sweeney
Attorney at Law
1549 SE Ladd, Portland, Oregon
Portland:
Hillsoboro:
Facsimile:
Email:
(503) 244-2080
(503) 244-2081
(503) 244-2084
Sweeney@PDXLawyer.com
New Jersey, the school board elec-
tion signs of a respected, Muslim
woman leader were defaced with
the phrases “ISIS,” “Rag Head,”
“Oppressor,” and “anti-American.”
This trend threatens the human dig-
nity that America and Islam seek to
protect and preserve.
But ignoring what lead us to this
point today will not serve any of us
well. Through this election season
and its results, half of our country
is communicating something to
the other half. Unless every person
who voted for Trump is racist, sex-
ist, or xenophobic (which I do not
believe is statistically plausible),
there must have been something
else deeply compelling that moti-
vated their votes for him.
Likewise, those who are expe-
riencing immense fear, pain, and
trauma from Trump winning the
presidency need to be heard and
recognized by those who voted for
him. Continuing to shut our eyes,
ears, and hearts to one another
will continue the polarization that
brought us to where we are today.
The dehumanization of Repub-
licans by Democrats and of Dem-
ocrats by Republicans undermines
the pluralism that constitutes both
America and Islam. As divided,
fearful, and hurt as many of us are,
we all still share in the responsibil-
ity of what happens to ourselves
and one another in the months and
years ahead.
A college mentor of mine com-
mented recently that the price of
being an American is tolerance
and protection of people we have
disagreements with on the issues
that matter most. This is a choice
each of us faces when we encoun-
ter someone whose background,
belief, or ideology differs from our
own.
In no way is this choice meant
to ignore, excuse, or normalize the
hate speech, violence, and pro-
posed policies that threaten the
human rights of our minority and
vulnerable populations. Rather, the
point I hope to get across is that at
the interpersonal level, each of us
has the choice to engage with one
another at a level beyond hostility
and tolerance, and with curiosity
and compassion in its wake. This is
where our empowerment and po-
tential can be most impactful.
I am finding many of my pro-
gressive, liberal, and Democratic
friends unwilling to speak to or
even recognize the other side, as
if having any connection or com-
C ontinued on P age 15