Feminists? Any here?

[Grog]

If a doctor wants to call my herniated disk a possible pregnancy, I leave (actually, I head it off now with "if you mention the p-word, I'm leaving").

I agree with everything you say, but not with this.

There is a very good reason why doctors do this. There is a rule in medicine that says that "every woman under the age of 70 is pregnant until proven otherwise." The reason for this is that an ectopic pregnancy can kill you FAST. So in any case of abdominal/trunk pain (includes pain in the kidney area, can even be shoulder pain, etc.) in a woman you want to rule that out IMMEDIATELY. I'm not kidding.

I admit that it gets annoying - especially if you haven't been getting any intimacy with a male partner - but it's for a really good reason. Even if you're on the pill you could be pregnant, even if you don't think you could be you can be pregnant, even if you don't quite remember the last time you approached a male... it's really in women's best interest that this is systematically checked. You wouldn't believe the number of women out there who cannot believe that they could be pregnant... and they are.

Just my .02 cents. Canadian, no less.

(I should add that in their younger days, a female relative had terrible abdominal pain for a bit, and her husband - a doctor - did not think that it was anything else than just "normal" "female" abdominal pain. She even got on a 3-hour flight but ended up in ER, and she was having an ectopic pregnancy. The male relative I think still feels guilty to this day for not thinking about that possibility, because it's such an crucial part of his training, and his wife could have died pretty quick.)