Viagra is Health Care?

 

We all know that cosmetic surgery is considered elective surgery, right? It is having a chosen surgical procedure which is not lifesaving in most cases. We are clear about ELECTIVE surgery, yet it is not regulated or focused on as an individual right in the way MEDICAL abortions are.

Women's health care has become a hot button topic. Defining what is and is not acceptable health care for women has been put up for public debate without a woman's voice having any more sway than any other voice.

Medical reasons which make it necessary to end a pregnancy are varied and the majority of the public are unaware of these reasons. A woman may be offered a termination for medical reasons (TFMR) if tests show that your baby is not developing as expected. This may be due to a serious genetic or structural condition. A woman may also be offered a TFMR if she has pregnancy complications that risks her life or to the baby’s life. 

The feelings a woman has when she needs to end a pregnancy for medical reasons are no less painful or valid than any other type of baby loss. Being told that you or your unborn baby are at risk is a painful and traumatic experience. Parents tell us that the guilt linked to making the decision can make it even harder. It is made even harder when the parents AREN'T allowed to make the decision.

The MOST common situation where a pregnant patient would need a procedure to terminate their pregnancy is a miscarriage. In medical terms, a miscarriage is called a spontaneous abortion, which can be confusing to patients. An estimated 10% to 20% of confirmed pregnancies in the US will end in miscarriage. The majority of these will complete without intervention; but some patients might require medication or surgical intervention, using the same procedure performed during an abortion.

The other large category of pregnancies where a physician might suggest or recommend an abortion is when the pregnant patient has a pre-existing disease that's associated with high maternal morbidity and mortality. This category includes a number of conditions, including cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, Marfan syndrome, lupus nephritis, cardiomyopathy, and pulmonary hypertension. So just in that context, think of someone who has severe cardiac disease. By the time they make it to the third trimester and then at the time of delivery, they might not be able to survive delivery. 

Another key consideration when it comes to pregnancy and pre-existing disease is the use of teratogenic medications, such as medicines for Rheumatoid arthritis. These are medications that can cause birth defects or abnormalities in the embryo or fetus, and they include some of the most effective treatments across medicine. Unintended pregnancies occur even when someone is using highly effective birth control. And when physicians prescribe teratogenic medications to patients with reproductive potential, it is usually with the understanding that in case the patient became pregnant, abortion would be available to them as an option.

For some conditions, like lupus nephritis, there may not be any alternative, non-teratogenic therapies available. A disproportionate number of lupus patients are female, and lupus tends to manifest during childbearing years. And if they develop renal complications of lupus, which about 40% will, carrying a pregnancy to full term would be dangerous. The best evidence-based medications we have for that entity are both teratogenic, which harms the fetus.

With pregnancies indicating a clear need for medical intervention to end the pregnancy, the Republican party has decided that a pregnant woman and her doctor does not have the right to make those decisions.

Yet, when it comes to elective medical INTERVENTION to restore an ERECTION, only the man and his doctor has this delicate private discussion.

I know you're saying, "Wanting to have an erection after the biology of a man's body says its over is not equal to the death of a fetus," and you are right. But whether you believe the two are equal or not, what IF someone said WE DON'T CARE! We say no to YOUR medical need/desire/ What if your most FACT-based reasoning proves you, as a man, under a physician's care can still be told, sorry, WE will be making THIS decision for you.

As of June 2005, over 23 million men had been prescribed Viagra (sildenafil citrate) by more than 750,000 physicians worldwide. In 2022, ClinCalc DrugStats estimated that 1,127,720 patients in the United States were prescribed Viagra. Viagra is one of the most commonly prescribed and abused pharmaceuticals and is considered the most well-known treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED). it's abused! Isn't that a valid reason for it to be denied? Can you IMAGINE 23 million men's voices being ignored when it came to THEIR health care? Can you imagine 750,000 physicians being criminally charged for prescribing a medication? It IS crazy, right?

What makes the availability of certain types of health care for men be stamped as fine when LIFE THREATENING medical care is denied for women? Why isn't here an evaluation of ALL medical care to determine which should and should not be determined between a patient and a doctor? Let's put some more health care choices on the ballot.

Many feel justified in saying NO to select medical services offered to women. They say, "We are saving lives," with pride. But what are you DESTROYING in the process? The life you MAY be saving - you have NO investment in or future care of. IS THIS AN EGO TRIP by those who believe they are doing a good thing? What good have you done if a mother dies? 

The thing about health care is it BELONGS to an individual. I doubt any man, as he consults with his doctor, would want me there as he describes his erectile dysfunction, how long it has been a problem, and how he is suffering because of it. If there was another person in the doctor's office with men seeking Viagra, many would not do it. That is why there are so many Viagra commercials saying men can order the medication, without a doctor's prescription and it's mailed without a label so no one will know what they have ordered. Erectile dysfunction is as private as private can be.

The sad thing about this double standard of medical care is, there are millions of people who will fight for the right of MEN to have access to medical care THEY BELIEVE they need and are ENTITLED to.

It is hard to believe we live in a time of rampant cosmetic surgery just to get more likes online, and erectile dysfunction medication being mail order, and a woman can die or be criminalized for a medical abortion. But women have been here before.

An online magazine reached out to me years ago after reading a blog post I had made. This is that post they later printed in their magazine below.

My MoJo Online Submission in Issue 11

MEMOIR/SOCIAL COMMENTARY:

I NEVER THOUGHT I’D SEE THE DAY

By Dorothy Guyton

I think it was four-no five years ago I went to visit an elderly friend. Oh, that’s not a good description of this lady whose eyes and ears have seen and heard more things than most young minds could contain. She was a lady but was never ashamed of the hard labor she did with her dark palmed hands. These were hands that picked astonishing amounts of cotton and the same hands that slipped bail money in coffins from up North to Mississippi during Jim Crow for those imprisoned under made up charges with high set bail. Now, you get it. Now you know I was visiting a fountain of courage and wisdom who spoke in a paced, low alto, authoritative voice.

“Yes, Dorothy I would have loved to have more children, but I couldn’t. The doctor told me when I was in my thirties, I needed to have a hysterectomy, but my husband told the doctor no.”

Stunned for a moment, knowing I just misunderstood what had just been said; I asked the woman who spoke like spun silk to repeat what she just said. With a smile at my naive youth her skin color perked up and began to flush with undertones of renewed blood flow.

“Oh, yes Door-ah-they (I loved how she purred my name), a woman had to get her husband’s permission to have a hysterectomy back then even if her health was in jeopardy like mine was. It wasn’t until we divorced that I had the surgery. I think I suffer now for waiting so long.”

I left her presence haunted by the thought. I drove home swiftly with a new idea for a book swirling in my head aching to be released and jotted down on paper. I had grand plans for a four-part novelette.

It would begin with a slave woman and progress to the 1950’s, to 2009, and end in the year 2065, all dealing with the same core issue with different women linked to each other one way or another. 

(The story would begin) Aunt Addie was used to produce babies for her Master to sell. Her children all went for high prices, and each had an identifiable birthmark on them somewhere that looked like a star. Her prized off springs began to be known as a ‘Star Child’ and every slave owner wanted one. This was fine with Addie until she became pregnant by the love of her life who promised not to sell their love child, the master’s son.

Of course, the child was sold, love was lost, and it turned out she would never have another ‘Star Child.’ Years go by and the new Master (her old love) purchases a beautiful young girl who worked hard and now was the one counted on to birth the money children. When it comes time for the baby to be born old Aunt Addie was the midwife. The young girl pushed and pushed and then Aunt Addie saw it, the birthmark on the inside of the new young girl’s thigh in the shape of a star.

I can’t tell you the entire story, but not to be able to recognize or ever raise one of your children had to hit Old Aunt Addie hard. What had to hit even harder was that more ‘Star’ children were being birthed for market, with no say in the matter. Great little story of a past era we strive to leave in the past and move towards our future.

My, how time flies. The title of the book is going to be I Never Thought I’d See the Day. But I have lived to see the day. I live in a world where there is a debate whether a woman can have contraceptives, safe abortions, a place for breast exams, and procedures in a hospital that would save her life, but not if it endangered the unborn child’s life.

    Men are debating women’s issues without even asking for a woman’s advice. What a difference four or five years can make. I did not believe I would see a day, a time like this. My fictitious character, Aunt Addie, did not have any control or choice of her reproduction wishes, her own body. “How far have we come as women—or is the question —where are we headed as women?”

Say what you will, give reasonings as you will, but as long as Viagra is healthcare, so should medical abortions without interference from the public.

Birth Control means Controlling Births

Whenever people talk about pregnancy it is always in a warm, loving, gushy, feelings kind of way. The thought of a new bundle of joy arriving soon delights those in proximity to the expectant mother. Everyone loves a baby. Or do they?

In early history of the family, children were not always viewed as a godsend. Oh, they were needed and necessary for various reasons, but there was not the joy and delight experienced by modern expecting parents. Male children were extremely important. They would inherit the families wealth and carry on the family name. Boy babies were desperately wanted. And if a woman failed to deliver the 'man' child, there could be consequences. 

In many early cultures, men could dissolve a marriage or take another wife if a woman was infertile. However, the early Christian church was a trailblazer in arguing that marriage was not contingent on producing offspring. The early Christian church held the position that if you can procreate you must not refuse to procreate. But they always took the position that they would annul a marriage if a man could not have sex with his wife, but not if they could not conceive. Pregnancy has always mattered to men. Pregnancy for women, or the inability of, could be a time of anxiety and fear.

In modern society, it is almost tabboo to say you don't want to have any children. People can not fathom why someone would prefer to be childless. Some research found a negative relation between these variables: parenthood was associated with decreased marriage quality, increased marital conflict, more severe symptoms of depression, and decreased marital satisfaction–especially when pregnancy was unplanned. Having children is not all fun and games. 

Children are hard on a marriage. Not only is raising children time-consuming and tiring, it is also related to a frequent exposure to stressors. With each added child there is added stress taking time and attentian away from the married couple as they manage the stressors of child rearing. The stressors may outweigh the resources the couple has at some point. Even if partners are fulfilled as parents, their relational wellbeing may be threatened due to parental distress. 

So, throughout history, ways to decrease the number of children conceived has been practiced. People knew the number of children they had affected the entire family in varous ways. How many children were people having in the days when they were not successfully able to control births?

Who gave birth to the most children in history? Between 1725-1765, Valentina Vassilyev was apparently rather busy. According to a local monestary's records, the prolific Russian mother popped out 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quadruplets, ove 27 separate lobours. The grand total: 69 children. There are many skeptics regarding this record. But, if controlling births is not practiced, there is a probability of having a large number of children. Sixty-nine children may seem like far too many. For some, 3, are far too many. It all depends on the ability of the parents to be able to care for the children. Finances are important, but emotional and mental stability to raise a large number of children is a must.

The verified record holder for most births is a Ugandan mother named Miriam Nabatanzi, who has a rare genetic condition called hyperovulation, and gave birth to 44 children across 15 births from 1993 to 2016. She is a single mother to her 38 surviving kids.

For men, and the number of children they conceive are off the charts. While records are difficult to confirm, it probably is true that Genghis Khan has fathered the most children in history, as estimates range between 1,000 and 3,000 direct offspring from his enormous harem. A 2003 study estimated that 16 million men alive today are direct descendants of Genghis Khan. Similar studies have shown a Y-chromosome lineage linked to at least ten other extraordinarily prolific dads, including the Qing Dynasty ruler Giocangga. Why haven't science come up with an oral or injectable contraceptive for men?

More recently, a court case in the Netherlands exposed an alarming fact. A Dutch musician in his early 40’s named Jonathan Jacob Meijer, had fathered between 550 and 600 children through sperm donation. Meijer is a bit of a Dutch lion, with “a mane of curly blonde hair.” In online ads promoting his suitability as a sperm donor, Meijer has described himself as a “musical Viking donor.”

When we think about whether or not to have children, we believe it should be the sole decision of the future parents. But, that was not always the case.

In Ancient Rome the law provides too much freedom to householders whether to admit a newborn child or not. In order to make a decision, all family members including relatives and neighbors give their opinions. Because during that time unwanted and disabled children could be left to die on the streets. Law gives the father, who has whole authority on the family, the right to choose the life of his child. The accepted child would be welcomed by a ceremony in the family. There are several symbolic scenes such as the oldest man in the family putting the child to the ground and hanging a flashy crown outside of the house door to welcome a child. During the first 3-4 days, they hang a chain of amulet to the girl’s neck and bulla to the boy’s neck. Girls and boys get their names after 8 and 9 days of their birth respectively which is a day after die lustrous, a time period when it is no longer feared the infant would die. 

As we continue to travel through time, children are still not viewed as a gift. The medieval society was primarily an agrarian one (community whose economy is based on producing and maintaining crops and farmland). And the family unit made the agrarian economy work. From an economic standpoint, nothing was more valuable to a peasant family than sons to help with the plowing and daughters to help with the household. To have children was, essentially, one of the primary reason to marry. Children were valued for the labor and production they could add to a poor family. Poor people had many children and did not practice controlling births.

Among the nobility, children would perpetuate the family name and increase the family's holdings through advancement in service to their liege lords and through advantageous marriages. Some of these unions were planned while the bride and groom-to-be were still in the cradle. Children were still used to increase wealth and status of a family. They were born with a job to help their family.

In 1325 and the outbreak of the first plague epidemic (bubonic), testators (a person who has made a will or given a legacy) had on average 2.8 live children. Between 1350 and 1375, the average dropped to 1.9 and continued to decrease, reaching a low of 1.4 children per testator between 1400 and 1424. To acheive this low number of children within a marriage, before the invention of reliable birth control, there must have been abstinance. Currently, there is a turning tide against the use of contraceptives, IVF, and abortions. The 1300's proved conception can be controlled without medical intervention. You just may not like how it is accomplished though.

During the 1300's when births were more than likely controlled through abtinance, life was not easy. Life was harsh with a limited diet and little comfort. Women were subordinate to men, in both the peasant and noble classes, and were expected to ensure the smooth running of the household. Children had a 50% survival rate beyond age one, and began to contribute to family life around age twelve. In 1300-1400, the life expectancy was 45.4 years of age.

Until about a century ago, many spouses died by their mid-forties, and many babies were born out of wedlock. Many children became orphans or were abandoned due to an inability to care for them. In medieval Europe, for example, people died early from disease, malnutrition, and other problems. One consequence of early mortality was that many young children could expect to outlive at least one of their parents and thus essentially were raised in one-parent families or in stepfamilies.

During the American colonial period, different family types abounded, and the nuclear family was by no means the only type. Children in colonial families were numerous and averaged between seven to ten in each household. The number of children at home varied, however, for a variety of reasons. The most common of these being (sadly) early death of children. Roughly half of the off-spring would not reach maturity. Nomadic Native American groups had relatively small nuclear families, while nonnomadic groups had larger extended families. Because nuclear families among African Americans slaves were difficult to achieve, slaves adapted by developing extended families, adopting orphans, and taking in other people not related by blood or marriage. Many European parents of colonial children died because average life expectancy was only 45 years. The one-third to one-half of children who outlived at least one of their parents lived in stepfamilies or with just their surviving parent. Mothers were so busy working the land and doing other tasks that they devoted relatively little time to child care, which instead was entrusted to older children or servants.

In 1800, most women in the U.S. had 7 children but that number has steadily decreased over the years, with the exception of the Baby Boom (when the U.S. fertility rate jumped to 3.62). In 2018, U.S. woman had 1.7 children on average.

By the 1900s, parents began to treat children more like little people and dressed them like kids, not mini adults. It was the custom to pose in front of a photographer's backdrop for family photos. Since there were no color photographs, artists sometimes painted over the black-and-white photos. This must have been the start of the wam fuzzy feelings towards having children. They were no longer viewed as bargaining chips for lucrative marriages, or free labor. Children were just children. Now a precious gift. So no need for trying to control births. Bring on the babies!

Moving much forward in US history, an important change in American families occurred during the 1940s after World War II ended. As men came home after serving in the military in Europe and Japan, books, magazines, and newspapers exhorted women to have babies, and babies they did have. People got married at younger ages and the birth rate soared, resulting in the now famous baby boom generation. Many families during the 1950s did indeed fit the Leave It to Beaver model of the breadwinner-homemaker suburban nuclear family. Following the Depression of the 1930s and the war of the 1940s, the 1950s seemed an almost idyllic decade. Life was easy and good. Why would anyone want to control births?

The pill was first prescribed exclusively for mestrual regulation, and only to married women. The emergence of the women's rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s was significantly related to the availability of the pill and the control over fertility it enabled. This capability allowed women to make choices about other life arenas, especially work. It reduced the risk of unintended pregnancy in the context of the sexual revolution of the '60s and established family planning as the cultural norm for the U.S. and in many other countries of the world. The first pill was effective and simple to use. The theory was that the risk of pregnancy and the stigma that went along with it prevented single women from having sex and married women from having affairs. Since women on the Pill could control their fertility, single and married women could have sex anytime, anyplace, and with anyone without the risk of pregnancy.

This sounds absolutely retched doesn't it? Women having sex free willy-nilly and dodging the consequences of pregancy. THOSE WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE, John 8:7-11. Men have always had the ability to decide when they wanted to engage in the duties of fatherhood. Notice I said men chose when to enter fatherhood and not when to become a father. There's a difference. 

Nearly half (46%) of men ages 15 to 44 with biological children report that at least one of their children was born outside of marriage, and 31% report that all of their children were born outside of marriage. There are also 2.9 million men (2.4%) who are living with an unmarried partner and have biological children with that partner. Nearly one in ten men have children with more than one person. Of the 72.2 million fathers, 5.9 million (8.2%) have never been married. Nearly half (46 percent) of fathers with multiple-partner fertility had at least one child within a marriage and one child outside a marriage.

A new Child Trends study estimates that 15 percent of men, or more than one in seven, will father children with more than one woman by the age of 40. According to the study, Men Who Father Children with More Than One Woman: A Contemporary Portrait of Multiple-Partner Fertility, five percent of men will father children with more than one woman by age 25. This increases to eight percent at age 30, to 12 percent at age 35, and to 15 percent at age 40. Moreover, these men have more children than men who have multiple children with the same woman: More than one-third of men (36 percent) who had children with multiple women had four or more children. 

These numbers could be higher, but men have the luxury of not being tied down by an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy. They do not even have to acknowledge a pregnancy. The child being born may not ever have an impact on his life. 43% of U.S. children live without their father. 90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes. 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. maybe this is one reason women say my body, my choice. 

I hate to say this but, women want to control their number of births, and men are not so concerned about controlling births. Sadly, women who want to be in control of births are viewed as promiscuous and careless. While throughout history, men have not been labled as permiscous and carless for having unplanned and unwanted pregnancies.

By the 1900's we entered a period where children were not seen as a burden or just another mouth to feed. People welcomed a new life into their home. Sexual freedom for both men and women, led to an increase in pregnancies. To solve the problem of controlling pregnancy, it will take both the man and the woman. just as it takes two to make a child. Taking away the freedom of one, while the other has no accountability is not a balanced solution. There are so many alarming statistics about pregnancy, such as teen girls are usually impregnated by an adult male. Teen girls are unable to give consent, but the adult fathers are not prosecuted. Pregnancy is complicated in many cases.

Birth control means controlling births. It has been practiced for centuries in various ways, some in not so pretty or kind ways. The life of the child planned or unplanned, can be beautiful or the substance of what tragic movies are made of. The ability to control births aids in the health of society.

Women's History Month

March is Women's History Month. The national theme for 2024 is "Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.” Throughout 2024, we acknowledge the example of women who embrace everyone and exclude no one in the common quest for freedom and opportunity. The list of women who made an impact on history is long.

The Christian view of women has been limiting to say the least. Their contribution as a created being is to be in a 'supporting' role to her husband. He body, even though miraculous, at times is only applauded as an incubator for new life. Her VALUE is as caretaker and nurturer of home and family. Recently, there has been fear stoked with the possibility of women being returned to the supporting role by a plan drawn up by Republicans named Project 2025. Established in 2022, the project seeks to recruit tens of thousands of conservatives to Washington D.C., to replace existing federal civil service workers it characterizes as the "deep state", to further the objectives of the next Republican president. Being backed by Evangelicals, people fear their biblical views will also be incorporated/legislated into Project 2025.

There has always been a time when women were needed in more than just a supporting role and that will always remain true. Attempts to teach history in schools, is an attempt to keep people from knowing their individual contributions shape a country and world. Women must remember, no matter who the world 'tells' them thy are, they were created for a reason and purpose. First, lets look at some women who had a PURPOSE and then look at the REASON for their creation.

1. Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888). Alcott worked to support her family through financial difficulties at an early age, and managed to write “Little Women,” one of the most famous novels in American history. Her other famous writings include “Little Men” and “Jo’s Boys.” (Recommended biography here.)
2. Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906). Anthony played a pivotal role in the women’s suffrage movement. In 1878, she and co-workers presented an amendment to Congress that would give women the right to vote. In 1920, Sen. Aaron A. Sargent, R-Calif., introduced the bill and it was ratified as the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. (Recommended biography here.)
3. Clara Barton (1821-1912). Barton founded the American Red Cross and served as its first president. She was a nurse during the Civil War for the Union Army. (Recommended biography here.)
4. Nellie Bly (1864-1904). A journalist, she launched a new kind of investigative reporting. She is best known for her record-breaking trip around the world by ship in 72 days. (Recommended biography here.)
5. Amelia Earhart (1897-1939). Earhart, the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for her accomplishments. Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared in 1937 over the central Pacific Ocean while attempting to fly around the globe. (Recommended biography here.)
6. Jessie Benton Fremont (1824-1902). Fremont was a writer and political activist. She was considered the brains behind her husband, John C. Fremont, and his famous exploration westward. She turned his notes into readable books and made connections in Washington, D.C., that eventually made him famous. (Recommended biography here.)
7. Marguerite Higgins (1920-1966). Higgins was a reporter and war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune during WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. She advanced the cause of equal opportunity for female war correspondents and was the first woman awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Foreign Correspondence in 1951. (Recommended biography here.)
8. Grace Hopper (1906-1992). A computer scientist and Navy rear admiral, Hopper played an integral role in creating programs for some of the world’s first computers. (Recommended biography here.)
9. Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910). Howe was a poet and author, her most famous work being “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” She was also a social activist for women’s suffrage. (Recommended biography here.)
10. Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897). Jacobs, a writer, escaped slavery and later was freed. She published a novel, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” credited as the first to highlight the struggles of rape and sexual abuse within slavery. (Recommended biography here.)
11. Barbara Jordan (1936-1996). Jordan was a lawyer, educator, politician, and civil rights movement leader. She was the first southern African-American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and the first African-American woman to give a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. (Recommended biography here.)
12. Coretta Scott King (1927-2006). The wife, and later widow, of Martin Luther King Jr. played an important role in preserving the legacy of the civil rights leader. Following his assassination in 1968, she founded the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. She later lobbied for her late husband’s birthday to be recognized as a federal holiday. (Recommended biography here.)
13. Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987). Luce was an author, conservative politician, and U.S. ambassador to Italy and Brazil. She was the first woman appointed to an ambassadorial role abroad. Luce served in the House of Representatives from 1943-1974. (Recommended biography here.)
14. Dolley Madison (1768-1849). Madison was the nation’s first lady during James Madison’s presidency from 1809-1817. She helped to furnish the newly reconstructed White House in 1814, after the invading British burned it to the ground, and is credited with saving the Lansdowne portrait of George Washington from the flames. (Recommended biography here.)
15. Sandra Day O’Connor (1930-Present). A lawyer, O’Connor became a celebrated judge and eventually the first female justice on the Supreme Court, serving from 1981-2006. President Ronald Reagan appointed her. (Recommended biography here.)
16. Rosa Parks (1913-2005). Parks was the most prominent female face of the civil rights movement. In December 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat in the “colored section” of a bus to a white man and was charged with civil disobedience. She is known as “the mother of the freedom movement.” (Recommended biography here.)
17. Sally Ride (1951-2012). A physicist and astronaut, Ride joined NASA in 1978. Five years later, in 1983, she became the first American woman to go to outer space. (Recommended biography here.)
18. Sacagawea (1788-1812). Sacagawea was a Lemhi Shoshone woman best known for her expedition with Lewis and Clark through the territory of the Louisiana Purchase. The Native American traveled from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean with the explorers. (Recommended biography here.)
19. Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016). Schlafly was a constitutional lawyer and conservative political activist. She is best known for her critiques of radical feminism and her successful campaign against ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. (Recommended biography here.)
20. Muriel F. Siebert (1928-2013). Known as “the first woman of finance,” Siebert was the first woman to head a firm traded on the New York Stock Exchange. (Recommended biography here.)
21. Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995). A Republican politician, Smith served in the House of Representatives from 1940-1949 and the Senate from 1949-1973. She was the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress. (Recommended biography here.)
22. Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896). The abolitionist and author’s most well-known work is the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which portrayed the impact of slavery on families and children. Its impact led to Stowe’s meeting with President Abraham Lincoln. (Recommended biography here.)
23. Sojourner Truth (1797-1883). An abolitionist and women’s rights activist, Truth was born into slavery and escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. She became best known for her “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech on racial inequalities in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention. (Recommended biography here.)
24. Harriet Tubman (1820-1913). Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849 and became a famous “conductor” of the Underground Railroad. Tubman risked her life to lead hundreds of slaves to freedom using that secret network of safe houses. (Recommended biography here.)
25. Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814). Warren was a writer and propagandist of the American Revolution. She published poems and plays that attacked the British empire and urged colonists to resist Britain’s infringement on their rights. (Recommended biography here.)  

The list goes on and on. There have always been great men in history, but contributions from both sexes were needed in the world. If it were not so, God would have stopped when he created MAN. In Genesis 2:7 we read, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed life into his nostrils, the breath of life and man became a living soul. AND YET GOD CREATED WOMAN. Women have always been necessary.

In Genesis 12:1-3 we read, "The Lord had said to Abram, leave your country, your people, and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse and all people on earth will be blessed through you."

Abraham was given a promise of nation, land, and seed. AND YET GOD CREATED WOMAN. The promise was given to Abraham, but his wife Sarah had her part in the promise. She was the one who would carry and deliver the first generation to take part in the promise. She was the mother of the promise fulfilled.

We are all familiar with Samuel, who is known by Bible scholars as a king maker. In I Samuel 9, Samuel anoints Saul as the people’s king and in I Samuel 16 he anoints David, who is God’s king. YET GOD CREATED WOMAN.

Before Samuel was a kingmaker, he was a deep yearning within his mother, Hannah’s heart. God granted her petition in prayer for a son whom she named Samuel, because, as she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.” And this one thing, a child, she desired so much for such a long time, she gave back to the Lord with gladness as we read in I Samuel 1:27-28. Here, the role of mother goes a step farther to sacrifice. This is a sacrifice where a mother loves God enough to let go.

Now let’s look at a man’s man named Samson in the book of Judges. Samson was a man who tore a lion’s mouth apart with his bare hands, struck down a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey, and who can forget his dramatic exit from life when he prayed one last time for strength from God to destroy his captors, his taunters, in one last show of strength. God answered his prayers, and he was able to push two pillars and collapse the temple, killing many more when he died than while he lived. AND YET GOD CREATED WOMAN.

Deborah, the only female judge out of 16 men did not possess the strength of Samson, but she did possess obedience to a command to be fearless in battle. She was fearless in battle not because of her own strength, but because God was with her. You can read about Deborah and her God-given victory over an enemy of Israel’s in the book of Judges along with the story of Samson. In Judges 5, we are allowed to read the song of praise Deborah offered up to God for being with her and Israel during their time of trouble.

Let us forever remember and never forget our Savior Jesus Christ handpicked twelve men known as the twelve disciples. We read in the book of John 17:12, these men were selected by God. We know this because Jesus prayed for them, “While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.” AND YET GOD CREATED WOMAN. There was not one female named among the disciples.

But look at Mark 14:3-9:“While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

This unnamed woman did a service. She did what she could with what she had. She gave her best to Jesus. Onlookers made comments and even protested. Jesus considered what the unnamed woman did to be so great, he said she would be remembered wherever the gospel was preached. She is connected to the gospel just as the disciples are connected to the gospel.

The last man of God I would like to look at happens to be joined at the hip to a woman in the Scriptures. Acts 28:18 introduces them as Priscilla and Aquilla who open their home to Paul and as a team they gave Apollos more instruction to help him minister to the populous. Notice I said they were a team.

Now let’s go back to the beginning to that perfectly formed man named Adam. God was pleased with His creation AND YET GOD CREATED WOMAN. Why? Genesis 2:18 says it best, “And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a help meet for him.” Remember woman was made before the curse of labor, so she was created purely for companionship. We can read from Genesis 1:1-3:17 that the ground was not cursed. There were not any thorns or thistles, no herbs, nor any sweating by man’s brow. There was no work for the “help mate” to help with at the time of her creation.

I have said all of this to say AND YET GOD CREATED YOU, because he needed everything WOMAN has to offer. Women offer the ability to reproduce like Sarah, heirs to a promise. Women offers the ability to care and love others sacrificially like Hannah. Women offer the ability to obey, lead, and direct like Deborah. Women offer the ability to give their best gifts and service to God in example and deed like the unnamed woman of the gospel. Women offer the ability to be part of a team in kingdom work as Priscilla did with her husband.

My last point is woman has the ability to be what God originally created Eve to be, a much needed and desired counterpart and companion for man. Woman was also created to observe and to partake of the beauty of the world God created for mankind. Women are to realize “she” is a gift to man and to creation. Women are to always know, remember, and cherish the fact she is different from man. For every strong, heroic, faithful, chosen man God created, there is a woman of the same beauty, strength, heroism, faithfulness, and chosen status. God saw a need and a purpose for all things he created. The Old Testament and the New Testament echoes the importance and value of both men and women in the Bible. It is of the utmost importance for each woman to know, remember, and cherish, AND YET GOD CREATED WOMAN.