Gender Politics

Sex and Politics are often a pernicious pair. In most instances – especially the scandalous ones – someone loses their head and ends up sorry about what happens down the road, which may be the case with recently passed state legislation.

Seen one way, laws headed onto Arizona’s books (1) relieve employers from the constriction of offering contraception against their religious beliefs, (2) distance the state even further from indirect funding of abortion and (3) see to it that abortions are performed in Arizona only in life-threatening situations. Viewed another way, the legislation individually and cumulatively directs health care outcomes in a way that (a) boxes women, particularly those with low incomes, out of choices to be healthy, (b) compromises the ability of health professionals to act in the best interest of good health and (c) increases the degree of difficulty for ensuring the good health of vulnerable populations.

At another level entirely, one could wonder how it is that morality and health could be clashing, unless it is the case that either the health advocates or the morality proponents are overstepping just a tad.

Or perhaps all we get from this is confirmation of our own human nature: that whenever sex and politics come together, other capacities of being thoughtful and human end up falling apart.

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