Re: Viagra versus the birth control pill

[Guest guest]

But viagra is a pill to correct a medical condition!!! -- it's a phosphodiesterase inhibitor that works on the local vasodilator systems to correct erectile dysfunction. In a different form the very same drug is also a treatment for primary pulmonary hypertension and most often, ironically, is used for women in that condition. I say "ironically" because without the drug company developing it for ED it likely never would have been available for the many very sick women who need it for their pulmonary circulation. No misogyny or chauvinism here -- it really is a medial treatment.

Now of course it can and probably often is abused, but that's a different issue right? So are narcotics,muscle relaxants, sedatives, anxiolytics, etc., etc., so we ought not let opponents make silly arguments. If that were the primary objection it would also seem to invalidate for them any recourse to the need for "emergency contraceptives" because that depends on not being "abused" in their minds right? Thomistically speaking, everything is in the details and distinctions, so we need to keep apples apples and not pears. And -- even more irony (is it a full moon today?) -- if anyone wanted to argue that men abuse the drug and that's why the drug company cravenly made it available in the first place, while I wouldn't disagree, I'd have to point out that contraception has been the single most influential factor in the "pornographying" (recreationalizing) of sex in the first place.

The other reason it's a dumb argument I think, is it's not even properly speaking a "feminine" argument at all. Can you imagine all these women out there upset that men are able to have so much sex? Does that even sound rational or womanly?

Sincerely yours,

Dominic M. Pedulla MD, FACC, CNFPMC, ABVM, ACPh

Interventional Cardiologist, Endovascular Diplomate, Varicose Vein Specialist, Noncontraceptive Family Planning Consultant, Family Planning Researcher

Medical Director, The Oklahoma Vein and Endovascular Center (www.noveinok.com, veininfo@...)

Executive Director, The Edith Stein Foundation (www.theedithsteinfoundation.com)

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pedullad@...

Viagra versus the birth control pill

Dear friends, O'Reilly was embarrassed on "The View" because he tried to argue that Viagra was a pill for a medical condition and covered in most health plans. The View commentators rightly tore that argument to shreds. They pointed out to him that vasectomies have long been offered on insurance plans.

Does anyone have any ideas of how viagra IS different from the birth control pill. You see the hook in this whole thing - the pro-choice feminists want to make the argument that if something is for men it gets covered, but if something is for women, it does not.

Could we debate how the viagra vs the pill argument is flawed? Blessings, rebecca