GIROUX: Killer compromise

OPINION:

Ominous silence has ruled America for too long on arguably the most controversial and devastating issue of the day, but as is so often seen in history, oppression gives rise to courage.

Many people of faith were devastated over the election of President Obama, and it didn’t take him long to justify the fears of the faithful. Just days after the inauguration, Mr. Obama began an aggressive assault on morality, liberty and women’s health. Foreshadowing the president’s drastic left-wing agenda was the nomination of America’s top abortion governor, Kathleen Sebelius, as secretary of health and human services. She has delivered far beyond the hopes and dreams of the radical feminist movement and Planned Parenthood.

But abortion supporters may have just opened a Pandora’s box through the institution of the birth control mandate, forcing the issue of contraception to center stage. For years, pro-life organizations refused to discuss this topic, despite the fact that free access to birth control increases the number of chemical abortions and predisposes women to serious long-term and permanent health problems.

Supporters of contraception repeatedly claim that “women are healthier on birth control,” but that could not be farther from the truth. Providing free hormonal birth control to women under the guise of “preventive services” and “women’s health” is a lie.

Hormonal birth control methods can enter the body in various ways - through the pill, an intrauterine device (IUD), implants or shots. Whichever way they enter the body, these birth control methods dispense toxin into a woman’s system.

Perhaps Mrs. Sebelius should inform her president of the following before he makes additional statements such as, “It is a lot cheaper to prevent than to treat.” Consider these facts:

• Since 1975, there has been a 400 percent increase in breast cancer among pre-menopausal women. This mirrors the increased use of birth control over these same years.

• A Mayo Clinic study confirms that any girl or woman who is on hormonal birth control for four years prior to her first full-term pregnancy increases her breast cancer risk by 52 percent.

• Women who use hormonal birth control for more than five years are four times more likely to develop cervical cancer.

• The International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, classifies all forms of hormonal contraception as Group 1 carcinogens. This group of cancer-causing agents also includes cigarettes and asbestos. How is it that the Food and Drug Administration can require cigarette manufacturers to place warning labels and photos of corpses on cigarette packages to warn consumers of the health dangers while they take the equally harmful substance of hormonal birth control and force companies to give it away free to women of all ages?

In October 2010, the New York Times ran an article about hormone replacement therapy drugs. It quoted the American Medical Association warning women that these post-menopausal drugs, which originally were marketed as keeping women “young and sexy,” were discovered instead to be causing deadly breast cancer. It stopped short of revealing that the only difference between the hormone replacement therapy drugs and the hormonal birth control drugs now mandated by the Obama administration is that the birth control drugs given to younger women have six times the concentration of the very same drug.

The Obama administration wants to give all women access to these carcinogens free of charge. Will cancer treatments soon be called “preventive,” too? Who will pay for them? Breast cancer is not discriminatory. It attacks women of all faiths, race and age.

Women deserve to be told the truth. According to the American Cancer Society, out of 100 women with cancer, 31 have breast cancer, six have uterine cancer and three have ovarian cancer. Any individual or organization unwilling to sound the warning trumpet on these medical facts is not in favor of women’s health, but against it.

Perhaps Mrs. Sebelius and a representative from Susan G. Komen for the Cure should plan a study group together to review the medical evidence. Birth control does not help women at risk - it places women at risk.

Jenn Giroux is a registered nurse and executive director of the Speaking of Motherhood project.