Pregnancy as a Disease

I wrote the previous post about what I love about being pregnant before I read about the new Department of Health and Human Services mandate that all insurances cover contraception and morning after pills as "preventative health services".  Apparently that post was even more needed than I thought... Or maybe I'm just a crazy uneducated woman who is writing what I love about my "disease"?  Why is contraception preventative?  What are we preventing?  Pregnancy is now a disease, something that needs to be prevented? I find this kind of ironic after seeing on the home page of the HHS website a promotion of World Breastfeeding Week.  Before birth, babies are a disease to be prevented, but their health suddenly becomes a main concern as soon as they are born?  I just can't wrap my mind around that logic.  

Perhaps Cardinal DiNardi says it best when he stated “HHS says the intent of its ‘preventive services’ mandate is to help ‘stop health problems before they start. But pregnancy is not a disease, and children are not a ‘health problem’ – they are the next generation of Americans.”  I encourage you to read the rest of the USCCB press release: HHS Mandate for Contraceptive and Abortifacient Drugs Violates Conscience Rights.

Great.  As if pregnancy isn't already treated as a disease to be treated and managed [instead of the natural (beautiful?) process that it really is] by the medical community¹, now our government is jumping on board.  

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¹ For just a little taste of this pervading attitude, look at this article in USA Today about the increase in Cesarean rates in the US.  Although I don't want to go into detail about my thoughts on this (at least not right now), I want to state that I do believe that some Cesareans and other medical interventions are medically necessary to preserve the health and safety of mother and baby, but as the article states, some of the reasons for c-sections are dubious at best (convenience in delivery timing, fear of malpractice).