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"Birth Control is for Sissies" shirt


FakePigtails

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Oh and concerning "pregnancy is a natural medicine for PCOS" is she aware a lot of teen agers get diagnosed with PCOS? Is she advocating underage marriage and pregnancies in those cases?

Anyway, I have the impression a lot of these fundie women have some kind of pregnancy/baby fetish rather than genuinely wanting a large family to raise properly.

I wouldn't put it past someone like her to expect people to get married at 13, but I'd kind of like to know what this woman would do if she had a teenage daughter who was diagnosed with PCOS. Would she let her go on the pill? Expect her to have a surgery that could wreak havoc on her future fertility? Make her suck it up and live with it until she leaves home?

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Actually, pregnancy HAS caused me a disease. I have gestational diabetes right now. Even though it should go away once I give birth, my chances of developing full-blown Type II diabetes has now increased. And I already had a high risk of developing Type II diabetes at some point in my life because of my family history - it's present in three generations of direct family members. My younger brother is already a diabetic. When I met with the nurse to learn how to test my blood sugar levels, she basically told me that because I've got GD plus my family history, it's probably no longer a question of if I'll develop Type II diabetes at some point in my future but rather when. This is making me seriously consider whether I want to go through another pregnancy, because surely I'll have GD with any future pregnancies, too - do I want to keep tempting fate?

Are you a member of my family? This sounds like everyone in my family. It's part of the reason I'm terrified to go through pregnancy because I don't need diabetes on top of my disorder and another disorder that was recently diagnosed. I've hit the health jackpot.

Efff this woman. PCOS is nothing to just suck up and deal with. The effects of it are bad if left long enough to simmer.

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Are you a member of my family? This sounds like everyone in my family. It's part of the reason I'm terrified to go through pregnancy because I don't need diabetes on top of my disorder and another disorder that was recently diagnosed. I've hit the health jackpot.

Efff this woman. PCOS is nothing to just suck up and deal with. The effects of it are bad if left long enough to simmer.

What's with all the talk of birth control pills being so bad for PCOS? I've always thought the idea of keeping my ovaries from getting taken over by cysts to help me out later to have kids made a lot of sense, plus the other alternative besides metformin (which hasn't been FDA approved for PCOS use) is to take medications that address each symptom separately (uh oh, still not addressing the "root cause" :o, :roll: ) which sounds expensive and while I'm not big on the "ebil chemicals" thing, it does make me a bit leery to deal with all those medications and the side effects of them.

ETA: Info from http://www.womenshealth.gov/publication ... ndrome.cfm

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Don't boobs change size during and after pregnancy? If you can barely afford your child's meds, why would you buy "unbelievably expensive" bras when 4 months pregnant?

Amusing how she rants about those who want taxpayers to pay for their birth control, that's got to be a reference to Sandra Fluke. I've actually read her testimony, and it gives an example of a woman who needed birth control pills for her PCOS, couldn't convince the insurance company they were non-contraception related (even though lesbians aren't at risk for pregnancy), couldn't afford the pills without insurance, lost an ovary to cysts and is now hitting early menopause. This means she'll never have babies, which seems to be what B+P thinks women should aspire to do. Fluke never said the government should buy her birth control, but facts don't really belong on this blog, do they?

If I saw a pregnant woman wearing that shirt, I'd assume it was a joke related to her pregnancy. Reading this blog, the author/shirt wearer had no such humorous intent. She wore that shirt because she wanted to provoke reactions, if not confrontations.

I too own a shirt from Tshirt Hell, but I've never worn it and probably never will - I do not wish to provoke a reaction or confrontation with my clothing, the shirt just made me laugh.

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They might, but people would be staring at her chest all day trying to read that. Though maybe that's what she wants...

Well, what with the new "unbelievably expensive" bras and all ...

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Don't boobs change size during and after pregnancy? If you can barely afford your child's meds, why would you buy "unbelievably expensive" bras when 4 months pregnant?

Amusing how she rants about those who want taxpayers to pay for their birth control, that's got to be a reference to Sandra Fluke. I've actually read her testimony, and it gives an example of a woman who needed birth control pills for her PCOS, couldn't convince the insurance company they were non-contraception related (even though lesbians aren't at risk for pregnancy), couldn't afford the pills without insurance, lost an ovary to cysts and is now hitting early menopause. This means she'll never have babies, which seems to be what B+P thinks women should aspire to do. Fluke never said the government should buy her birth control, but facts don't really belong on this blog, do they?

If I saw a pregnant woman wearing that shirt, I'd assume it was a joke related to her pregnancy. Reading this blog, the author/shirt wearer had no such humorous intent. She wore that shirt because she wanted to provoke reactions, if not confrontations.

I too own a shirt from Tshirt Hell, but I've never worn it and probably never will - I do not wish to provoke a reaction or confrontation with my clothing, the shirt just made me laugh.

Because her husband told her to!

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Because her husband told her to!

That makes sense. He told her to get some lingerie, and she knew that to point out "we can't even afford the kids' medicine" would have hurt him as a man and hindered his ability to lead her family in the ways of Christ. Thanks for clearing that up. :D

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The reason she thinks birth control is for sissies? Her baby "saved" her from drug addiction.

http://barefootandpregnantblog.blogspot ... mment-form

Wow. Where do I begin?

On the positive side, she perfectly illustrates a point that I keep making: the best way to help and protect the fetus is to help the mother. No amount of state coercion will ever be as effective as the actions of a pregnant woman who is bonded to her fetus, and providing her with support may allow her to feel that she can allow herself to bond.

I don't deny that it's possible for some women to clean up their act when they know that a baby is coming. I've had clients who did exactly that.

One thing I learned in my old practice was that a pregnancy wasn't necessarily perceived as a disaster for someone who was already hitting bottom and had nothing to lose. A pregnancy could, for example, be a ticket out of a dangerous homeless shelter and into a relatively cushy maternity home. It could mean that a woman would get services faster. If her life was particularly bleak, it could be a source of hope and potential source of love and family.

That's my problem with this article.

Because on the negative side, it's all about what the baby could do for the mother. Where is the concern for the wellbeing of a child born into this situation?

This is part of my objection to that line about children being a gift from G-d. To me, a gift is an object. In legal terms, it's something that is given free, with no payment or obligations attached. It brings to mind my wedding gifts, which included fugly whathehellisits which were completely unsuitable for my lifestyle or tiny apartment, and which promptly got returned or relegated to my parents' basement. That's not how I want to see children.

Instead, I prefer to see children as being entrusted to us. Legally, receiving something in trust means that it's not truly all yours, and that it comes with obligations.

Sure, it's true that my children were therapeutic for me and have given me joy, but that's not their job. I'M the parent. I'M the one with the responsibilities. They are not responsible for healing me. I am responsible for taking care of them.

If a drug addict is motivated to continue with a pregnancy and uses those 9 months to get clean and achieve stability, great. But let's not play with the lives of children by forcing that process. If marriage and keeping the baby weren't feasible, why push it? Sure, it's great that things turned out, but what if they hadn't? The very fact that children are born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, or testing positive at birth for drugs, shows that babies don't magically cure everything.

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From the comments on her recent 7 Quick Takes, on how we are horrible, ignorant people:

Every other comment is an example of supremely ignorant women, trashing other women, using "facts" that are not those in the least. BCPs increase your breast cancer risk considerably expecially when taken for "medical reasons." There is such a small subset of conditions for which is is the best treatment, that if a doctor is not prescribing it for contraception, he should almost never prescribe it at all - horrible for PCOS (i cannot stress this enough - DO NOT TAKE THE PILL FOR PCOS!!!!), not the best for premenstrual dysphoria, not curative or better than other treatments for endo, atrocious for acne (DO NOT GIVE TEENS BCPs TELLING THEM ITS FOR "ACNE" - 2 friends of mine died due to this bait and switch, in both cases their mothers thought they were sexually active - the one who died from a blood clot at 17yrs old was a virgin, the one who died of agressive breast cancer at 27 linked to her taking the pill wasn't). Almost every non-contraceptive reason for taking it is better treated through other means.

I couldn't stop myself from telling her that she is not my reproductive endocrinologist and has no authority on what medication I can take. Anything more detailed would fall on deaf ears, but I need a place to vent. From the list of treatments in the link above:

Lifestyle modification: Eating right and exercising are things that everybody should do, and can help treat women with PCOS who are overweight. While I could stand to get into better shape (and I have taken steps to do this), I am not overweight. My RE told me specifically that because I was naturally thin, lifestyle changes would probably have no affect on my PCOS.

Diabetes medication: Metformin has had mixed results in trails for treating anovulation in women with PCOS. UK and international clinic guidelines do not recommend Metformin as a first-line treatment except for women who already have glucose intolerance. I am also gun-shy after trying Avandia with bad results.

Surgery: "Ovarian drilling" is invasive, expensive, rarely done, and the effects might only last a few months.

So what is left? Prayer?

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Every other comment is an example of supremely ignorant women, trashing other women, using "facts" that are not those in the least. BCPs increase your breast cancer risk considerably expecially when taken for "medical reasons." There is such a small subset of conditions for which is is the best treatment, that if a doctor is not prescribing it for contraception, he should almost never prescribe it at all - horrible for PCOS (i cannot stress this enough - DO NOT TAKE THE PILL FOR PCOS!!!!), not the best for premenstrual dysphoria, not curative or better than other treatments for endo, atrocious for acne (DO NOT GIVE TEENS BCPs TELLING THEM ITS FOR "ACNE" - 2 friends of mine died due to this bait and switch, in both cases their mothers thought they were sexually active - the one who died from a blood clot at 17yrs old was a virgin, the one who died of agressive breast cancer at 27 linked to her taking the pill wasn't). Almost every non-contraceptive reason for taking it is better treated through other means.

I just laughed the whole way through reading that. How does one get that stupid?

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Did you guys see her latest post? It includes her saying how she's glad to have been called out on her t-shirt's message: barefootandpregnantblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/catharsis-via-crisis.html

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We were taken into the pediatric ER where four nurses swooped in and immediately began strapping Liam to a papoose board and prepping an IV line. Two of them whisked Sienna and Charlotte off, a fact which I registered with the part of my brain that apparently is able to keep tabs on other children while the rest of my mind is wholly occupied with the child in danger. I was actually impressed that my mind had this hidden compartment and made a mental note to reflect on it later.

THat's not impressive. That's called being a parent. Idiot.

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http://www.acceptingabundance.com/mathematical-proof-that-birth-control-fails/

This maybe deserves its own thread, but I ran into it today... Mathematical proof that birth control makes you "more" likely to get pregnant. From a Catholic woman. I'm assuming that she's assuming that if you take the pill, you sleep around all the time. Had a friend send me this link to prove that BC is unnecessary.

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Did you guys see her latest post? It includes her saying how she's glad to have been called out on her t-shirt's message: barefootandpregnantblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/catharsis-via-crisis.html

And now she's going to start in on the Anti-vax stuff because of one child's reaction.

ETA- as somebody with a few allergies, I hope she figures out the real cause of her child's allergy, but if she has an epi pen on hand, they probably are already aware. I get swelling occasionally from my allergy shots, and last time was the worst, so I'm worried that next time will be the bad one, and just keeping my fingers crossed.

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http://www.acceptingabundance.com/mathematical-proof-that-birth-control-fails/

This maybe deserves its own thread, but I ran into it today... Mathematical proof that birth control makes you "more" likely to get pregnant. From a Catholic woman. I'm assuming that she's assuming that if you take the pill, you sleep around all the time. Had a friend send me this link to prove that BC is unnecessary.

Head, meet desk. Clearly, this person doesn't get the difference between "typical use" and "perfect use". According to her own links, the pill has a "perfect use failure" rate of 0.3%. That's pretty good. "Typical use" is a different beast, which includes errors on the part of the user, e.g.: not using a condom every single time, not realizing that a stomach bug or other illness may affect BC pills etc.

And I do wonder where people get the idea from that being on the pill makes you promiscuous. Maybe it's because I got the tail-end of the AIDS scare, and had it drummed into my head that the pill is something you take a) in conjunction with a condom, or b) after both partners have been tested, and you trust him enough to risk your bloody life! In my world, any self-respecting "slut" used condoms for casual encounters (perfect use failure rate 2%), on top of the pill. It just doesn't compute for me.

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There's a lot of people sprouting outrageous medical claims out there. However, I'll bet that if they or their family were unfortunate enough to suffer some debilitating disease, and (surprise!) their natural remedy/prayers doesn't make it go away, they will see a doctor. I've seen plenty of these types of patients. It's easy to say BCP are the evil!!!111!!! until you experience real medical issues with which BCP or other medication may treat......

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Head, meet desk. Clearly, this person doesn't get the difference between "typical use" and "perfect use". According to her own links, the pill has a "perfect use failure" rate of 0.3%. That's pretty good. "Typical use" is a different beast, which includes errors on the part of the user, e.g.: not using a condom every single time, not realizing that a stomach bug or other illness may affect BC pills etc.

And I do wonder where people get the idea from that being on the pill makes you promiscuous. Maybe it's because I got the tail-end of the AIDS scare, and had it drummed into my head that the pill is something you take a) in conjunction with a condom, or b) after both partners have been tested, and you trust him enough to risk your bloody life! In my world, any self-respecting "slut" used condoms for casual encounters (perfect use failure rate 2%), on top of the pill. It just doesn't compute for me.

I don't get it. I took the pill for a few years and never once had sex while I was on it. birth control does not make you promiscuous.

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Yeah, I don't get the "pill makes you promiscuous" either, it's like a left over from the pre-AIDS era (ie 30 years ago?). Anyway I've taken it for several years during which I slept with a grand total of two men. And, bizarrelly enough, when I started taking it I was a vigin and didn't feel the urge to start screwing everything that moves.

Also, given her personal history, you'd assume she'd be very much in favour of some kind of social safety net for women with unplanned pregnancies, rather than just thundering about BC and abortion. I suppose she's also lucky that she had a healthy baby, managed to stay clean, and that her shotgun marriage turned out fine.

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  • 7 years later...

Update on Calah Alexander:

They moved to Ave Maria, FL, had 5 kids, after which her husband became abusive and she left him and took the kids with her back to Texas. She has officially left the Catholic Church and just did a Facebook video for The Church of the Parks. Her daughter was just re-baptized there. She's still writing for the Catholic online magazine Aleteia though. Lucky she had her parents to fall back on. Many women in her situation don't.

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