To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
No contraception? No Viagra!
If the plan to revoke routine coverage for contraception, with clear religious overtones, passes into law, then agents used for erectile dysfunction should be similarly not covered. If contraception is in defiance of God's will, then so too are erections made by artificial drugs.
Why is this important?
The debate surrounding women's healthcare, specifically related to reproductive rights, continues to focus on moral and ethical dilemmas unrelated to actual health outcomes. To this end, the current efforts to repeal ACA, and the contraceptive coverage mandate espoused within, without a clear plan to replace with equivalent coverage serves to leave women with a substantial increase in their annual health costs. Contraceptive coverage should be routine. The research supporting routine contraceptive coverage is clear and overwhelming (http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/17/509734620/u-s-abortion-rate-falls-to-lowest-level-since-roe-v-wade). For advocates of abortion restrictions, to simply ignore this evidence is foolish, despite being in contrast to their views. In 2017, it is time to fully endorse this routine coverage for women without the potential to revoke in the future. If congress cannot see to this, we propose a full ban on coverage of agents for erectile dysfunction (Viagra, Levitra, Cialis, etc). Surely, if contraception is in conflict with religious beliefs, then so too are artificial erections induced by modern day pharmaceutical agents. If women have to pay for their birth control, men have to pay for their medicated erections. To our congress: be consistent in your ideology and demand coverage of all routine women's contraceptive care, or revoke coverage for erectile dysfunction drugs. You pick!