No Such Woman: Can't Afford Pills, Boyfriend Can't Afford Pills, Works for Catholic-Affiliated Employer, Etc.

This deserves a Instapundit, "Heh."


From Rhymes With Cars and Girls:

There is something fundamentally wrong with the insurance/contraception discussion.


For this discussion to have any meaning, there needs to be a woman at the relevant margin. What margin?

There needs to be a woman who is sexually active, does not want to have children at this point, and is on the pill (or, about to go on the pill). This needs to be true of her: she cannot possibly afford the $11/month or $32/month or whatever onerous sum it costs to buy these things. Like, there is literally no way she can spend money on these little pills, and still be able to pay her rent and buy food. It’s pills and live, or no-pills and die.


Meanwhile, due to some mind-boggling circumstances I cannot even begin to fathom perhaps involving a magical curse of some sort, her sex partner is physically/financially unable to obtain condoms. 

And oh yeah, she works for a Catholic-affiliated employer.


If there is such a woman, then sure, this discussion is pivotal to her – her life outcomes and behavior hinge on it. Because if insurance covers her pills then she can have pills, and be sexually active without undue risk of getting accidentally pregnant, but if insurance doesn’t cover her pills, the only way for her to avoid risk of being pregnant is to abstain from sex. In order words, this discussion tangibly affects whether she (given her circumstances and preferences) can have sex altogether. 

That’s the person this discussion is all about then.


I’m going to go out on a limb and say: there is no such person, anywhere.