Commentary on Colleague's Post

I am choosing to provide a commentary on Suzy Gallagher's 4/29/16 blog, "Yes, doctor...I am aware of his dysfunction". Ms. Gallagher wrote about a South Carolina representative, Mia McLeoud, who proposed a bill to the house in April requiring stricter regulations for men obtaining Viagra. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this drug (probably not many of you), this drug is prescribed for erectile dysfunction, or the inability to get and keep an erection. Rep. McLeod was introducing this legislation to show men the hoops that women must go through to obtain contraception and abortions based on current laws. Although I appreciate Rep. Mcleoud's effort to wake up the male audience, it really doesn't compare to what women face in our modern day.

It is impossible to understand the stress placed on females to avoid unwanted pregnancies unless you are female. I know that men are afraid of unwanted pregnancies, of course their life changes forever too, but they don't have to go through the physical and emotional changes that a pregnancy brings to the body. Females still bare the burden of obtaining reliable contraception or undergoing termination of unwanted pregnancies because, let's face it, we have to deal with the physical and emotional toll of pregnancy. Until a man is biologically able to get pregnant and carry a child or until a male contraception pill is invented, the rules of the game are just never the same for each sex. I am not implying that men do not care about their significant other getting pregnant, what I am saying is that women tend to be more responsible to prevent pregnancy because it effects our bodies first and foremost. What makes the playing field so uneven in our country is that most of our Congress and Senate are made up of men so the government's laws on women's health issues are from a male agenda, primarily. The proof is the controversy and fight still around Roe v. Wade and the Texas Bill 2 law that was just passed. We women still have a long way to go in this country so we will continue to try and control in our lives what we can until our society and it's laws fully protect women and their rights.

http://suzygallagher.blogspot.com