So I need to rant here for a minute.
I've been in the hospital twice in the past 2 weeks with my Crohn's disease (hence my lack of riveting new blog posts). Every time I go to the ER, they ask me if I'm pregnant or not. When I reply that I'm not, they ask me if there's a chance I could be pregnant. When I reply that there's not, they ask me how I know that there's no chance that I'm pregnant.
Now, I understand that they need this information. For one thing, I'm presenting with severe abdominal pain. So obviously, it would be good to know if a pregnancy is contributing to or causing the pain. Also, they generally want to do an x-ray, which I've heard is a no-no if you're pregnant (although that didn't stop them from doing one anyway when I was actually pregnant).
My problem is this: How do I know I'm not pregnant? Well, let me see. For one thing, I've been pregnant twice, so I have an idea of what the symptoms are. For another thing, I've been in possession of this female body for 34 years and have some idea of how it functions. Oh, and there's all those birth control pills I take. Which leaves only one matter up for discussion: sexual activity.
Now, I'm married, and I don't think my sexual habits are anybody's business, least of all some nurse I just met. But after I've given them my last menstrual period date and the knowledge that I'm on a strict contraceptive regimen, they still prod me as to how I know I'm not pregnant. If they want to know when the last time I had sex was, why don't they just come out and ask me? Maybe the fact that it's a Catholic hospital makes them squeamish to mention the word "sex;" I really don't know.
But my main beef with this whole process is the fact that they even have to ask me how I know I'm not pregnant in the first place. It implies that most women don't know how one becomes pregnant. If I could just answer them that yes, in fact, I know there's no chance I could be pregnant, and they could trust me at my word, that would mean that women are fully educated about how and when they become pregnant. But sadly, this is not the case in America. Too often, women have very little idea of how the actual reproductive process works.
When I worked at Planned Parenthood, we had many teenagers that would come in for pregnancy tests who had no idea what their period had to do with pregnancy. In some cases, the girls had not yet had their first period, but were scared they might be pregnant. And to me, the problem is plainly that we discourage education about sexuality and reproduction. As if, should we mention it to kids, they will get the idea to do it (because we all know that kids don't think about sex until someone suggests it to them).
Maybe, if we actually let the schools educate the masses about our reproductive systems, then I wouldn't have to answer personal, patronizing questions every time I have to go to the emergency room in excruciating pain. I once had to tell the doctor that I hadn't had sex in "X" number of months, in front of my poor mother! No mom should have to hear that kind of thing.
So America, lets pull our heads up out of the sand about sex, and let me go to the hospital in peace for once.
Rant finished.
