Elizabeth Banks: I Thank Birth Control Pills for My Son
Just over a year ago, my son Felix was born via gestational surrogacy. He came out of me nine months early and because of my broken belly, his babycake was baked in a wonderful angel’s oven and now — I can’t believe it — he’s a year old and walking. He has expanded my capacity for joy a thousand-fold.
His life would have been much harder to come by if not for the birth control pill. How’s that, you ask? Well, it’s a simple fact: The pill is used for many situations that have nothing to do with the prevention of pregnancy. The pill was prescribed to me when hormonally induced migraines kept me locked up in dark rooms for days at a time. It was prescribed to me to regulate insanely painful cramps every month — cramps so painful that I often vomited.
And here’s a little secret I am happy to blow the lid off of: The pill is often prescribed during the IVF (in vitro fertilization) process to help MAKE BABIES! That’s right, women dealing with infertility are often put on the pill to help regulate a cycle so that they might have a more successful IVF. The pill is used to manage ovarian cysts, endometriosis and other conditions too. Not to mention, it helps couples plan for wanted children.
Obviously, I’m not a doctor. I’m just a woman grateful for my necessary and very helpful medication. And I’m sure glad I don’t have to discuss any of these conditions, including infertility, with my employer.
A girlfriend and I recently wondered what would be more mortifying: having to tell her male employer she needed birth control to mitigate a heavy flow or just bleeding all over herself in the office?
So with that image in mind, I encourage all women — and the men in their lives — to protect access to birth control, and encourage our politicians to take women’s health issues out of the political process.
For more information, please visit the most comprehensive and willing advocates for women’s health in America: www.plannedparenthood.org.
YES!
(Source: lizcrissplanty)
“So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult… The truth is that male religious leaders have had — and still have — an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter.” - Jimmy Carter
When human cloning is commonplace, let’s start with him.
Yes, yes, and YES!!
MOTHER OF GOD
I have never before lamented my lack of a Tron suit.
This. is. the. most. amazing. thing. Ever. WATCH THIS. WATCH IT NOW.
OMG!!! This is so neat.
(Source: sillysinz)
postcard: IT IS TOTALLY JIM AND SEB AS TIGERS
gyzym: THEY GOT PUNISHED FOR THE TIME SEB KILLED THAT TIGER
gyzym: WELL, SEB GOT PUNISHED
gyzym: JIM ASKED TO BE INCLUDED
gyzym: “CURSE ME TOO, CURSE ME TOOOOOOOO”
gyzym: “I’VE KILLED ALL KINDS OF THINGS”
postcard: AND SEB WAS JUST LIKE,…
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
What a damned fantastic imagination you have Yùu…
Author: Yùu
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: None (Yet)
Summary: AU ‘Did you know, when a star falls, two people go out to search for it? They take the sad, lonely star and bury it. The Earth embraces it and the…
Ooooo…I do believe this is a must read. :D
Of course, look you have to understand that the elite media is in the tank for Obama. They are going to do anything that helps re-elect Obama. They are totally committed to Obama. It is just astonishing to me how pro-Obama they are. Do you think you are going to see two pages on Obama’s Muslim friends? Or two pages on the degree to which Obama is consistently apologizing to Islam while attacking the Catholic Church? Do you see anybody in the elite media prepared to say, gee, isn’t this kind of odd, that we really worry a lot about the Qur’an and nothing about the Bible?
—
-Newt Gingrich
‘scuse me but what?
(via hummytheson)
Do you know what I think is kind of odd? I think it’s kind of odd that we’re listening to rhetoric in this country constantly claiming there is a “war on religion” or a “war on Christianity,” but presidential candidates still feel like it’s acceptable to paint the entirety of Islam as something that is dangerous, as something that should be covered by the news as such, as something that should be considered a negative. I think it’s kind of odd that so much of the political rhetoric in the United States right now is centered around religion, despite the fact that this country was founded on the concept of keeping church and state separate. I think it’s kind of odd that the variety of not-so-subtle religious bigotry displayed above is considered a convincing political maneuver, and I think it’s kind of odd that state-motivated decisions are now considered “attacks” on religious institutions, and I think it’s more than kind of odd that, in 2012, people are still fucking presenting the idea that it would matter at fucking all if President Obama was Muslim.
Mostly, though? Mostly I think it’s kind of odd that no one is noticing the obvious hypocrisy here; if there’s a war on religion going on in this country, it’s definitely not Christianity falling victim.
(via gyzym)
(Source: kurt-sebastian)
This is the most perfect gifset ever.
This is beyond awesome. Totally agree with Marie! :)
(Source: docbrucebanner)
Okay, forget everything I have ever complained about or told you to do, politically. Forget if you don’t read political posts. Stop. WATCH/READ THIS RIGHT NOW.
For those of you who for some reason cannot or do not want to watch the video, allow me to summarize. Right now there is a law that has passed the Virginia legislature that would mandate a trans-vaginal ultrasound for anyone seeking an abortion. No exceptions.
Now that in and of itself does not sound so scary, right? Wrong. A trans-vaginal ultrasound is not a normal type of ultrasound. It is an ultrasound that is taken by sticking a probe into a woman’s vagina. And it is completely and totally medically unnecessary. The Republican legislators who have passed this bill admit to it being completely medically unnecessary. It exists for the sole purpose of discouraging women from getting abortions.
I honestly could care less what your personal views on abortion are, but here’s something we have to get straight right now: no matter how you feel about abortion or why, this is government-mandated rape. Think I’m exaggerating? Let’s look at how rape is defined by the federal government of the United States of America:
“The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”
Let’s re-iterate here: there are no exceptions. It doesn’t matter if you are getting an abortion one week or eight months into your pregnancy. You will be forcibly probed. It doesn’t matter if you are aborting for personal reasons or because it’s a medical necessity for either your safety or the safety of your child. You will be forcibly probed. It doesn’t matter if you are fourteen or forty. You will be forcibly probed. It does not matter if your child is the product of incest or even the product of rape. You will be forcibly probed.
Now, I don’t live or vote in Virginia. Technically, there is nothing I can do about this. But currently this bill is on the way to the governor’s desk, and the only hope there is of it not becoming law is if Virginia citizens contact the Governor and tell him about their opposition to him signing this into law. (Contact information is here. Please note that calling generally carries more weight than e-mailing does.)
Please re-blog this story. E-mail it to everyone you know. Tell them to e-mail it to everyone they know. Eventually, some of these people we all know should be from Virginia, and if you are from Virginia, you need to let your voice be heard now. Regardless of if you think life begins at conception, there is no justification, ever, for the government mandating the rape of women.
As sombody who has had one of these for a valid medical reason, I find this APPALLING. Speaking only from personal experience, it was invasive and uncomfortable on more than just a physical level. This is government sanctioned rape, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.
Fuckin signal boost for this epic fuckery of horrifying levels. Un-freakin-believable.
Totally with Marie on this. What the everliving fuck?
