The Viability of My Uterus Determines My Healthcare Treatment, While the TN Legislature Determines I am Only a Vessel

I was going to write on something totally different, and while looking for a recent article in the local paper, I was hit with this headline:

Baptist Health System ceases tubal ligations

And I put aside what I was working on, to address this.

As some know, St. Mary’s and Babtist have merged, and as you may also know, St. Mary’s follows extremist Catholic doctrine regarding women’s reproduction.

Tubal ligation, a birth-control procedure at odds with Roman Catholic beliefs, is no longer being offered to patients of Baptist Health System, which ended the practice as part of its merger with St. Mary’s Health System.

Now, this really pisses me off, first because a hospital has the audacity to impose religious views of contraception on women, and that this imposition is being placed on women through buying up other hospitals. And, here it is in a nutshell — for the people that have health insurance that would otherwise cover tubal ligations performed by their doctor at Baptist hospital, are no longer given the option to make the determination of whether or not they want more children. Which means, if a woman and her husband/partner want a tubal ligation they will most likely have to pay for it at another area hospital, OUT OF POCKET, unless the insurance company approves the procedure at an “out-of-network” hospital.

Now, let’s look at the really offending paragraph, coming from the St. Mary’s spokesperson:

Debra London, CEO of Catholic-based Mercy Health Partners, the company formed when the two health systems merged Jan. 1, said it was always the intent to bring Baptist’s hospital operations in line with Catholic guidelines, which forbid artificial contraception.

“We have always said that we would follow the ethical and religious directives that are part of the Catholic doctrine” London said.

II find the insertion of religious doctrine into the practice of medicine abhorrent, and it seems that by doing this, St. Mary’s has actively discounted what a woman feels is best for her. What happened to the needs/desires of the patient? What happened to being a pro-active patient, and being able to make a decision on one’s future?

But, the archcrone is here to tell you that the viability of your uterus, at least according to hospital boards in east Tennessee, determines the course of treatment for other ailments. Recently, in dealing with extra large kidney stones that could not be passed on their own, with one getting stuck in my ureter, I was again put in the position, because of my age, that my uterus determined my course of treatment. (The previous time was with my oncologist and the course of my breast cancer treatment)

I had one surgery to remove a 6mm stone. Put on meds, and a ureter stent was inserted. When I went back to the urologist after a week, the urologist found another very large stone (5mm) tucked away in my kidney. Lithotrisy, or shock wave treatment, was recommended.

Ah, but wait. I am still under 50, although by only a couple of years! I can NOT have a lithotripsy unless I’ve had a tubal ligation or a hysterectomy. Excuse me?!?!

My uterus is more important that my overall health, because of my age and it’s potential viability???

Well, you can still have children, I was told.

WTF???

Let me tell you, I was livid! And you can bet your bippy I started in on the doctor. how dare he tell me that an arbitrary age limit and the pre-determined belief that my uterus was still viable would determine the course of treatment I may receive.

“Whoa!,” he said. “Please, go tell it to the hospital Board of Directors, I agree with you”

I never thought I’d have to say that I am greatful for having gone through chemo with a combination of toxins that had a 60% chance of throwing me into permanent menopause, and then a subsequent 3 years on zoladex, which has resulted in not having a period in the last 4 years. That, and only that, gave me a pass to get the appropriate treatment that I needed at the time, instead of waiting for this next stone to probably get stuck in the ureter as it tried to pass on it’s own. (Let me tell you, the pain from a stone going down your ureter is unimaginable. I have read men describe it as being like labor, and I am here to tell you the pain from an extra large stone is far worse than any of the three labors I went through.)

Now, this Dr. is with UT medical center. So, really I can tell you that, at least in this area, a women’s uterus determines the course of treatment she will receive for a number of ailments. What we don’t know is what other procedures are determined by an arbitrary age and a pre-determined belief a woman’s uterus is still viable.

If it is not enough that hospital boards are determining a woman’s health care, the Tennessee legislature is also weighing in with their misogynist doctrine that a woman is ONLY a VESSEL and not a HUMAN BEING, otherwise known as SJR127. This is a proposed amendment to the state constitution and states:

Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion.

As Randy notes, an amendment was added to allow an abortion in cases of incest, rape and the health of the woman. The second reading is Monday, and the vote is on Wednesday. As I recall, this bill sat in the Senate Judiciary committee, and was not expected to be moved on until this year. Of course, it was held, because this is an election year, and the GOP has to have it’s “wedge” issue.

Don’t believe me, here is the headline and excerpt from the TN GOP website:

THE REAL EXTREMISTS: TENNESSEE DEMOCRATS DEFEND ABORTION-ON-DEMANDThe Tennessee Democrat Party today continued to defend the culture of death that is today’s abortion-on-demand industry.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the TDP sought to portray Tennessee Republicans as divided on the question of whether abortion should be kept legal in certain cases, such as rape, incest and the health of the mother-to-be.

“While Democrats criticize Republicans for our diversity of opinion on those issues, they have reminded the people of Tennessee that the Tennessee Republican Party is the party that stands firm on protecting life and unborn children,” said Robin Smith, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. “The Tennessee Democrat Party, meanwhile, marches in lock-step with the abortion industry in seeking to protect Tennessee’s status as the mostly liberal abortion state in the nation.”

But, they then have the gall to try to sell this amendment as not banning abortion.

The constitutional amendment would not ban abortion in Tennessee – rather, it would permit the legislature to enact commonsense regulations such as informed consent, a waiting period, and parental notification in the case of a minor seeking an abortion.

Except, whether you like it or not, these so called common-sense measures are bogus. They are designed to entrap women (so-called informed consent), giving extremists a chance to force women away from their decision through misinformation. And worse yet, the TNGOP feels that the state legislature knows MORE about a woman’s needs than the woman herself!!!!

A woman’s reproductive health decisions should be left to the woman and her doctor with NO interference from the state legislature. For the edification of these misogynist creatures trying to push this through, this blog promotes objective and factual information on choice (always found on the right side):

Anti-abortion ideologues beware: I’m promoting objective, factual information on:

• Roe v. Wade
• abortion

I’ve gotta tell you, it really is tough being a woman uterus in a red state.