Medical Decisions should be Left to Your Doctor, Not Chris Smith

Imagine for a moment that you went to your doctor with a medical issue. Your doctor shares their conclusions and explains there is a medication you could take to treat your problem. Unfortunately, you cannot have it.

The medication is not too expensive. It is not dangerous - it is not subject to mistreatment and addictive, nor is it an experimental drug. You cannot have your medicine because the federal government has decided that they don’t want you to have it.

This should be inconceivable in America. However if Representative Chris Smith and some in his party have their way, this could be the reality for millions of New Jerseyans. Smith’s proposed bills, stances, and voting record show his clear desire to limit a woman’s access to birth control.

Smith has co-sponsored 22 different ‘personhood’ bills that would define a fetus as a person. These bills open a door to banning certain types of birth control. IUDs and the pill can sometimes prevent implantation which, according to these bills, would be tantamount to an abortion. That could lead to the banning of these medications. Smith has been on record saying that IUDs are an abortion tool and has voted to defund Planned Parenthood which would make it very difficult for many women to receive birth control.

If Smith’s bills were to become a reality, it would affect millions of women. Birth control in its various forms are used by 62% of women of reproductive age. Women should have a fundamental right to decide when and if they want to get pregnant. Besides that, the majority of women take birth control pills for multiple reasons beyond preventing pregnancy. Issues like endometriosis, migraines, regulating periods and controlling acne are all helped by birth control. Trying to limit birth control would be overlooking a plethora of women’s health issues and have untold medical consequences.

The fact that politicians who claim to be part of the ‘personal freedom party’ feel the need to legislate everyday medical decisions drips with irony. Those who bemoan ‘big government’ intrusion but want to determine what medication you should have access to are proving themselves to be hypocrites of the highest order. Chris Smith and those like him are making decisions that should only be made by a patient and their doctor. These actions are only tolerated because they are issues of women’s health and there is a misconstrued connection between these medicines and abortion. This archaic line of thinking is dangerous and has no place in our government.