Regulations of Birth Control and Its Access to Women

If there is time for a battle over the fight for over the counter birth control, the time is now. Obamacare, The Affordable Care Act (ACA), requires most health insurance plans to cover birth control. There are exceptions to this of course, nonprofits, religious buildings, and universities with religious background to not allowing birth control can opt out of covering birth control for their students and employees. (Boston 1) Trumps new course of action can make the number of organizations that don’t provide birth control expand dramatically. Deactivating the ACA’s rule of making every insurance company cover it, now with the constant opt outs any company can just make up a lie to opt out of covering birth control. “Under the new regulations, virtually any non-profit corporation, university, or nonprofit institution can cite religious objections” (Boston 1) any company can now opt out if the claim the “religious” right and fill out a quick piece of paperwork. The government trying to protect itself claimed “anonymous experts” estimates fewer than 200,000, to call that an understatement doesn’t suit it. The National Women’s Law Center estimates that low balling it will be over 62 million women will who use this benefit will no longer get coverage.

Far right religious groups are backing this play saying, “birth control should not be used in general”, this belief is the reasons we have so many unwanted pregnancies. Abstinence only education is not working, teens are still going to have sex, so we might as well start to teach them how to practice it safely and they should be able to access these products to protect themselves without having to go to the doctor. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is full of anti-abortion men who are now targeting contraceptives. Matt Bowman, a lead figure in the Defying Freedom religious right group who is also the legal adviser for the Department of Health and Human Services, was the key author is writing these regulations saying it defends against religious discrimination. Him “defending himself” is actually discrimination against women and a violation of the first amendment. Backing himself again saying, “There is not one woman who can’t afford birth control”, with insurance companies dropping this in their coverage and an average basic 3-year IUD cost 1,000 dollars to implant but the IUD itself costing 300 dollars with no insurance coverage. “In the 1950s and early ‘60s, Americas United opposed state laws the barred the sale of contraceptive devices… this made it illegal for doctors to talk about contraceptive options even with married couples”, this was shot down by the Supreme Court so why is it not being shot down now. They are slowly making it harder to get birth control, but the Supreme Court is fine with it. (Boston 1)

According to Planned Parenthood, “you need a prescription for birth control pills… during your visit, a nurse or doctor will talk with you about your medical history, blood pressure, and other medical exams needed… You may be able to get your birth control pills right away during your appointment. Or you’ll pick them up later…” If pills are the most effective besides an implant, then why are they hardest to get? Now most teenager will not go ask their parents to go to the doctor for birth control for many reasons, instead that teen in practicing unsafe sex. Unemployed women or only part time women aren’t covered by health care in most cases, so they too are refused access to a pill that only benefits them. The science says it is 100% safe while politics is the only issue. Over 100 other countries had legalized the ability to get over the counter birth control. It is easier to get marijuana than it is to get birth control. Senator Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) website quotes “Since Obamacare’s implementation, Sen. Cruz has opposed the law’s unconstitutional mandates. He authored an amicus brief supporting Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties against the contraception mandate that forced individuals to either violate their conscience or pay crippling fines.”

This quote says he is against providing the coverage of birth control companywide because of one person’s beliefs who runs the company, yet his twitter page says something completely different, on June 7th Cruz responded to a tweet by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that he is willing to help push on a bill to make over the counter birth control become legal, yet his website says he back the companies who don’t support birth control in their insurance. Ayanna Pressley a U.S. Representative backed the bill by saying “Bodily autonomy is a basic human right, at a time when reproductive rights are under attack, it is more critical than ever that we take bold steps to reaffirm reproductive rights for all Americans”. (Abrams) She could not be more correct; birth control pills are one of the most used contraceptives. In a study done in 2013 “A total of 62.2% said they were strongly (31.4%) or somewhat (30.9%) in favor of OCPs being available OTC. A total of 37.1% of participants reported being likely to use OCPs if available OTC, including 58.7% of current users, 28.0% using no method and 32.7% using a less effective method. Covariates associated with a higher odds of reporting interest in using OTC OCPs were younger age; being divorced, being separated or living with a partner (versus married); being uninsured or having private insurance (versus public insurance); living in the south (versus northeast); and current use of OCPs or less effective methods, or nonuse of contraception (versus use of another hormonal method or intrauterine device). Among respondents who said they were likely to use OTC OCPs, the highest amount they were willing to pay was on average $20.” This proving that we could charge 0-20 dollars and women would buy them.

The United Kingdom has free birth control pills and I strongly believe we should allow their lead. A report said this “Improved health and social care, coupled with free access to pharmaceutical science based advances such ‘the pill’ and long acting reversible contraceptives, has helped to change the place of women in society and enhanced the ability of people of both sexes to enjoy their lives as they wish to experience them. In the related area of sexual health, the UK can claim to have mounted one of the world’s most effective responses to the HIV pandemic. The NHS offers the British population good access to all forms of STI diagnosis and treatment.The available evidence suggests that moving away from comprehensive publicly funded health service provision would increase the numbers of unintended conceptions, and so impose costs on individuals and society as a whole. In relation to pharmacy services it could also distort the future of primary care provision, were – for instance – women to obtain free contraception via GPs/GP Practices yet be required to pay a charge for the (for some preferable) option of pharmacy access.” If we follow the United Kingdom’s lead in this, we could really benefit, and we would have less unwanted pregnancies and STDS.

One might say that the pill is not safe and cannot be regulated properly. Many researchers have put this to the test and come up with these generic answers, birth control like any pill might have side effects but is 100% safe and is usable to most women. The pill is the most common form and contains hormones similar to those produced in the body, so it is not foreign. Planned Parenthood says this, “It’s important to remember that the chance of having any of these problems while taking birth control pills is really, really low for most people. In fact, pregnancy is more likely to cause serious health problems than the pill.” The pill is safe and is most used, we should follow the UK in handing out free birth control pills.