My letter to Glamour: Response to Surrogacy Coverage

I was still pretty pissed off even after trying to blog this out of my system, so I followed it up with a letter to Glamour regarding the military spouse surrogacy article. Please follow it up with a letter of your own. Here is the address for comments. BTW, there is a group of spouses who are getting together to do an "and I'm a military spouse" campaign, which I talked about in my last post. If you are feeling like contributing hit me up in the comments or send me an email.

Here is mine, feel free to borrow liberally from this letter if you aren't feeling verbally inspired or are too angry to articulate how you feel:

Dear Editor:
I read the online edition of your article about Military Spouse Surrogacy. It left me frustrated for many reasons. I am a military spouse of 6 yrs and I agree that military spouses should not use Tricare for surrogacy coverage, if for no other reason than because I am frustrated that I can never get an OBGYN appointment when I need one. What incensed me, however, was the portrayal of surrogacy as the only profession available for a military spouse. Some military spouses may choose this as a profession, but to paint us all as nothing more than wombs for rent is insulting.
Military spouses contribute to society in many ways. Many are the volunteer backbone that takes care of our fighting forces, our wounded, military children, our veterans and our widows. Many are well educated and gainfully employed as teachers, nurses, doctors, mental health professionals, writers, college professors, graduate students, and scientists. We are essentially just like every other Glamour reader, except every couple years we pack up, move to a new place, and start our careers all over while we raise our families as part-time single parents and worry that the knock on the door means the love of our lives is dead.
I understand the need to call out those who abuse a system put in place to care for military family’s real health needs and I do not disagree with your choice to do so. However, I must request that you not engage in stereotyping military spouses. We sacrifice a lot in order for your magazine to enjoy freedom of the press and while we make those sacrifices, we continue to be productive, honorable citizens of the United States of America. I would sincerely look forward to balanced coverage of these military spouses who manage all the modern working woman does, while balancing family needs and caring for our service members. These women who do so much with so little are unsung American Heroines.
Sincerely,
Smurfette, M.S.