Rebuttal to Alison Therriault - No, there is no extreme jeopardy to women’s right to control their lives in NH - Granite Grok

Rebuttal to Alison Therriault – No, there is no extreme jeopardy to women’s right to control their lives in NH

I submitted this in rebuttal to a Letter to the Editor in the Laconia Daily Sun (P. 7, March 23, 2012) (slightly expanded here):

It used to be that becoming an adult meant becoming independent and being self-responsible for their own well-being. Economic dependency on family was left behind along with the toys of childhood. It meant sober realization that what one wants, one earns. “Deserves” becomes relegated to childhood status;”earned”, its mature replacement.

Ms. Therriault shows her wish for maturity in stating “I control my body”. True enough; that’s what adults do – exhibit self-control. You have the ability to decide, within the statistical limits of reliable birth control and human discipline, how many children to have, when to have them, and when to start that family (it seems, too, that marriage is becoming more and more optional in today’s society. No wonder single moms are becoming the biggest proponents of “Government that gives you more with other peoples’ money” but that is grist for another letter).

Truth-telling becomes more important as one becomes more mature; here, I find your words lacking. The Legislature is not limiting any such “right” of women – you still have the right to the timing of your family and children. No one is saying “no” unless you are having a cognitive dissonant moment that you are both “independent” but still being dependent on others to provide for your needs.

You are suffering a consequence, young lady, but not the one that you think. You’re suffering under the delusion, spouted by Progressives / Liberals for decades, that society owes you everything as signified by your own words: “I have simply assumed”. Your claim is essentially “I should have others providing for my most intimate moments” even I keep hearing “hands off my body” – a most curious dichotomy. Your assumption is that you are free in demanding things from strangers simply because you believe a “right” is being violated – yet, aren’t you violating their economic freedom? This, I find rather curious at best and at worst, a rather selfish attitude.  You are not asking for a Right – you simply want an entitlement; again, a mentality engendered by Progressives that you can have what you want on someone else’s dime.

Becoming an adult, Ms. Therriault, means that you provide for yourself.  The travesty is that Progressives, in manipulating the power of Leviathan government, have created the false equivalence of “access”  really means “someone else pays – and you can take that for granted”.

It is true that women are breaking glass ceilings based on their hard work, determination, motivation, and smarts. They have shown their independence by doing it on their own. It is unfortunate that you equivicate that with demanding having someone give you something – it shows your continuing dependence. The bottom line is that you should be responsible for yourself – and if one employer does not offer the benefit mix you want, go work for someone else.  You don’t have a right to demand it.

A “right” to birth control? I must need new glasses – I can’t seem to find those two words in either the NH or US Constitution.

Selfishness boils down to “I want what you want for my desire”. That’s not a mature attitude.  Oh, I’m quite sure the Progressives and feminists are going to be all over me for this but I really don’t care.  Ms. Therriault complains that she wants Govt to force private companies to supply for her needs.  Instead, I see Progressives all too willing to use the levers of power within Government to give stuff to people and essentially turning companies into de facto social services organizations and / or subsidiaries of Government (which, being highly dependent on tax monies, most social service organizations nee charities have already become).  She has run up against adult theme – how moral is it for you, as an adult, for you to demand that others provide for your needs?

Go earn it – it’s only two or three Grandees at Starbucks.  You don’t expect your car insurance to pay for your gas, do you?

Alison Therriault’s Letter

Women’s right to control their lives now in extreme jeopardy in N.H.

To the editor,

This is an open letter to State Senator Jeanie Forrester:

As a female young adult, I have taken great care with my social life and choices in dates and male companions. At the same time, I have simply assumed that choices in contraception would be available to me when I chose to become sexually active. In fact, I have always credited the women that came before me for the effort they put forward to achieve the status quo that exists for all women today in terms of being able to make plans about when to start a family, how many children to have and so on.

So it came as quite a shock to me to learn that the N.H. State Legislature is attempting to limit the rights of women — young and old — to control their own reproductive lives. What I had taken for granted, that women were in charge of this facet of our lives, now appears to be in extreme jeopardy in this state.

Please, Senator Forrester, vote to preserve N.H. women’s right to reproductive freedom.

What is especially troubling to me is that I am currently covered under my parents’ health insurance and will be until I can land a job with benefits. What if my parents worked for an employer who — under the N.H. Legislature’s proposal— decided he (or she) had a religious antipathy to birth control? Then I would be the one suffering the consequences, several steps removed.

Women are breaking the glass ceilings all over the place. It would be a massive step backward to deny them the right to manage their reproductive lives and I hope Senator Forrester will vote on behalf of N.H. women.

Alison Therriault

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