I’m not sure what appalled me more: The lack of substance in Keith Fierro’s argument or the inability of a college student to correctly proofread his own opinion piece before submission.
It is obvious our education system is failing us if this type of ignorant and sexist rhetoric is what is floating around college campuses. Fierro’s commentary on what took place at the Feb. 16 congressional hearing about birth control was seriously misguided considering the fact that his argument was full of fallacies and age-old attacks on the sexuality of women. This is not an issue of buying a box of condoms for $9 at the drugstore. This is an issue of personal choice and women’s health. I find it comical that Fierro claims that Uncle Sam will be footing the bill for birth control when women are lobbying insurance companies for the same equal benefits when it comes to their sexual health. How convenient of him not to mention the fact that Viagra is covered by insurance companies! What purpose does Viagra serve when it comes to men’s health?
As for the implication that health insurance covering birth control will somehow evolve into car insurance covering what it takes to fill up his gas tank, I have to say, the slippery slope fallacy sure is getting old. This blatant and distasteful attack on women is lacking so much in fact; I do not know where to begin.
The insinuation that the amount of birth control women are taking is somehow analogous to the amount of sex women are having is erroneous — to the point of idiocy! I can sense the disdain Fierro is experiencing in the way he addresses women. Suggesting that women are lying when it comes to using oral contraceptives for health problems shows just how he views women. That should not even be an issue! The idea that the government should “stay out of the bedroom” was intended to mean that the federal government should not place restrictions on civil and social liberties, not to prevent women from receiving adequate health care service. A recent Reuters-NPR Health poll found that 77 percent of Americans believe private medical insurance should provide birth control without co-pays. That is a not just a majority, but a plurality of Americans speaking up for women’s health.
The Fluke-controversy wasn’t necessarily about women’s contraception. It was about the fact that no woman was allowed to testify to Congress in a hearing on woman’s health care issues, and that the only people who were allowed to testify were men.
Access to health care is a right no matter how Fierro tries to spin it into sounding like a radical leftist agenda.
An Lan Pham
Political Science Major
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