This week sparked outcries of confusion and outrage from women as new proposals for time frames on mammograms and pap smears were introduced. For as long as I can remember we have had guidelines adhered to by our physicians in recommending that we get these tests done on a regular basis. We have been told to get early-detection cancer screening through both of these tests. Mammograms were started in our 40′s and pap smears started at age eighteen. In proposed cost-saving measures put forth in Health Care Reform, a woman would now wait until she is in her 50′s for a mammogram and age twenty-one for a pap smear, with women over thirty having the test every three years. So the confusion began and stalwarts from both sides of the aisle screamed “foul.”

The further ahead women get, the further behind we are. Whom do we believe and will this actually be a form of health care rationing? It will be fought out on the floor of the Senate, I suppose, but many of those doing battle are men who have no worries about such illnesses, unless they care about the women in their lives. I have always found it a bit suspicious that these tests are wretchedly uncomfortable and no doubt, designed by men who didn’t give two hoots as long as their own hoots stayed in place.

Let’s talk about mammograms, for example. Here is a test where each of your breasts, one at a time, is squeezed between two vice-like plates that take images. I say “squeezed” as in it hurts like hell! It bring tears to your eyes and the equipment is damn cold. And then there is the pap smear. Think stirrups and a cold (again, with the cold) metal thing like a tire jack inserted so the gynecologist can get a smear to be tested. Sadists!

I remember one year having so much trepidation about getting a mammogram that I did the unthinkable. I had given my boss a leave slip for personal time one afternoon, so I could get my test done. While driving to my appointment, I thought, “Hmmm, I can go get my breasts squashed till I cry, or I can use my time off from work and go to a movie.” The movie won. But I paid for it the next year when I did go for the mammogram. The results, they said, looked “suspicious” and they needed me to come in for an ultra-sound. Five days later! It was the longest five days of my life. I was sure I had cancer, and every conceivable scenario went through my mind. It turned out that I did not have breast cancer, but every year since, I have been required to have both tests done. Thankfully they are scheduled on the same day.

The point is, most women are diligent about getting these tests, in spite of the discomfort. Too many of us have female friends or relatives who have been diagnosed with cancer, some at an early age. If the new time frames have been put out there as a form of political play, using women like chess pieces on a board, I will have the screaming me-me’s. We need to know just what is a stake here. I am all for cost-saving but not at the irresponsible behest of a supposed board of who knows who’s. I want real answers. Women everywhere should demand them, irrespective of Party lines. We are not chess pieces. We will not be pawns. Call your Congressman; call your Senator. Get the answers.

—cher