By Maria Cortes
Staff Writer
Arizona legislators are obviously living in the 1950s. They are stuck in a time when they could make decisions concerning women’s bodies and rights without their permission or input. How are they doing this you might ask? By passing House Bill 2625, which allows employers to refuse to cover contraception that will be used for contraceptive, abortion or sterilization purposes.
If you want your birth control to be covered, you have to show proof that the pills will be used to cure or treat a medical condition such as endometriosis. Would you be comfortable sharing your medical history with your employer? That is a deep invasion of privacy and although some people would be comfortable with it, those individuals who do have serious health problems probably wouldn’t be.
The worst part of the bill is probably the section that states that an employer is allowed to fire their female worker if she is caught using her birth control pills for pregnancy prevention. Let me ask you something? Who gave them the right to put their beliefs over the rights of their workers? Do they not see that this is a blatant act of sexism?
You cannot tell someone what he or she can and cannot do with his or her bodies. It is a woman’s right to choose what she takes birth control for and firing her for acting on those rights is unconstitutional. “The bill goes beyond guaranteeing a person’s rights to express and practice their faith,” said Anjali Abraham, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union, “and instead lets employers prioritize their beliefs over the beliefs, the interests, the needs of their employees, in this case, particularly, female employees.”
