It may have been Rosanne who said it first as she declared herself a Domestic Goddess and complained that her significant other couldn’t find anything without her help. “Like the uterus is a finding device?!” she would complain.

These days I’m hearing the womb brought up in health care discussions – again – and in protests. It goes far beyond the abortion conflict, the chatter around women’s health coverage. Birth control, prenatal care, childbirth, postnatal care, menopause, breast cancer, ovarian cancer – must I continue? I think I’ve listed enough to make my point. Women need certain health services that don’t directly benefit men. Directly, I said.

For every man who claims he’ll never need prenatal care, I’d like to remind him that his mother most likely did. Would he see his sisters, wife, daughters denied the medical checkups and procedures they need? Maybe I shouldn’t ask. Some of those speaking loudly might willingly deprive any females of what she needs medically.

And then we have the protesters shouting “Keep your hands off my uterus!” or “You don’t have one, you don’t get to choose!” And there’s the kicker.

You see, I no longer have a uterus. I had mine removed three years ago in a very much needed hysterectomy – the second most common surgery for women, following Cesarean section. Does the loss of this organ make my voice less valid in the fight for comprehensive health care for women?

Think it through, folks. Let’s not be hasty in the wording of our protest signs and speeches. I may not have a cervix or uterus anymore, but don’t count me out.