Free

I know that mostly we talk about sex but we also talk about health. Today is a huge day for women's health so let's talk about it a little.

As of today women's preventive health services are free. Not even a co-pay, ladies. That's contraception, breastfeeding, and domestic violence counseling among other things. This info graphic I saw at Feministing outlines the good news and points out how important it is. Please take advantage of this wonderful thing. I've been putting off getting my annual screenings so long I can't really call them annual and it's time to fix that. Please join me! If you need convincing let's spend a minute for this short video at Shakesville outlining the benefits of contraceptive use by women. We're all better off if we're well informed, right?

Now, some people, of course, think this is a terrible idea (women's health care in general and contraception in particular). To be clear, I agree that the Affordable Care Act isn't perfect. On the other hand no one plan could possibly be perfect for everyone in such an enormous country. I do believe that making sure that our citizens are healthy is a top priority and that prevention is cheaper than cure. This, to me, is one step in the right direction.

The past weeks have brought stories of rape apologia, declarations that women aren't funny, denigration of women who don't look like Maxim magazine models, sexual harassment ignorance,  and a host of other bad news. It's heartening that this one little step forward is happening right now. It doesn't fix everything but it makes me feel a tiny bit better.