Barack Obama, I am disappoint.
Here’s the deal: I know I’m voting for Obama in the next election. I don’t have any other damn choice. Whoever gets nominated on the Republican ticket is going to be insane on women’s reproductive rights, and Obama will look good by comparison. I recognize that. I am also really, really unhappy about it.
The decision he supported this week regarding Plan B was indefensible. His administration bowed to political pressure in an election year, and sold out some of the most vulnerable women in the country. (Women who are, coincidentally, not old enough to vote.) And that’s really, really not ok. But you know? I understand pragmatism. I understand we live in a sexist, patriarchal society that still has a ton of issues with the idea of teenagers choosing to have sex, especially teenage girls. I get why he thinks this would be hard to live down in an election year. I think it’s sad and wrong, but I get it.
But you know what I hate? That he didn’t stop at making a regrettable but pragmatic decision. That he then went ahead and justified the decision with paternalistic appeals and rhetoric that bows to anti-sex, anti-choice scare mongers:
“I will say this, as the father of two daughters. I think it is important for us to make sure that we apply some common sense to various rules when it comes to over-the-counter medicine. I think most parents would probably feel the same way.”
(Note: The health and human services secretary has NEVER BEFORE blocked an FDA decision in this manner. The president doesn’t seem to have any concerns as a parent when it comes to any other over the counter drug sold in this country today, and Plan B has been proved repeatedly to have less potential for harm than many of those.)
He invoked the daddy thing. He invoked the “I have two daughters, and I wouldn’t want them making reproductive choices that I’m not aware of that aren’t under my control” thing. He did it subtly, but he did it in a way that makes him look good to the people that still think that’s how families should work (Most people, unfortunately). That’s not ok with me. Bowing to political pressure? That I can understand, although I don’t care for it. Actively supporting the anti-sex ideas that those people espouse? Not cool, sir. Not cool at all.
It is not ok that our president, our “woman-friendly” president, stood up and said “I think my teenage daughters should have to go through me to make decisions about their reproductive health and well being.” It is even MORE not ok that he then pulled out the weird scare tactic bullshit that’s been used against this pill from the beginning:
“President Obama said he understood Ms. Sebelius’s reasoning that she couldn’t be confident that a 10- or 11-year-old wouldn’t be able to buy the drug “alongside bubble gum or batteries.”
This is a pill that would only be NECESSARY for a sexually active young woman. The idea that it’s something that kids would buy with bubblegum or toys- the idea that he was trying to get across there- that’s propaganda bullshit of the first order. That’s some Fox News quality propaganda on that one, Mr. President. Infantilizing teenage girls that way, grouping them in with children, denying them their agency- you didn’t have to do that. You chose to do that. You chose to advance the type of rhetoric that keeps young women in this country powerless when it comes to their sexuality.
And I don’t appreciate that Mr. President. Not one single bit. And I especially don’t like that you knew you could get away with it, because once again.. women don’t have a choice.
