Today the Institute of Medicine reported what most breathing humans know more or less reflexively: That contraception is a preventive health care service. Why is this even a question? And why must we answer it now?
Birth control is a safe and legal service that is both cost effective, and particularly beneficial to women's health. It not only protects us from the social and economic burdens of unintended pregnancies, which are relatively high in the U.S. It empowers us to imagine and pursue autonomous and fulfilling lives, that include the joys of healthy parenthood if and when we're ready for it.
Most Americans believe that contraception should be affordable and accessible, whether or not they personally use it, including most Catholics, according to numerous studies reported this year by Catholics for Choice. Ninety-nine percent of heterosexually active women have used a birth control method currently banned by the Vatican, and most continue to. Ready access should be a matter decided by women and their clinicians, certainly not by politicians.
The IOM report on gaps in coverage under health reform recommends that contraception be readily available without the added costs of co-payments and deductibles, as should screenings for cancer, HIV, diabetes, and domestic violence. The next step is asking the Department of Health and Human Services to adopt these life-saving recommendations. This should be a slam-dunk. But it may not be. The remaining gaps are not in our science but in our advocacy.
Opposition arguments to these recommendations are so flimsy that they are rarely reported in the mainstream media. They are promulgated largely by the organization of Catholic Bishops, who do not represent the practices or beliefs of their own congregations, or most people of other faiths, and whose lapses in sexual ethics are threatening the vitality of the Church.
So, why is this still a question, and why must we answer it now? The fact is that years of bullying have escalated into a war on women. Despite our most careful and strategic parrying, the words "women" and "women's health" have become stigmatized in the fickle world of mainstream politics. It's time to trust ourselves with decisions about our destiny. It's time for people of conscience to raise our voices and visibility on fundamental matters of choice. This is a perfect place to start.
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Sally Steenland: Conservative Religious Organizations Wage Another Battle Against Contraception
They are not interchangeable terms.
- Cardinal Daniel DiNardo
It should outrage men and women that Viagra has been a covered benefit on most health care plans, while birth control is not. The cost of birth control has escalated dramatically over the last decade putting it out of reach of the minimum wage workers who need and want it most.
However, why is it being touted as FREE Birth Control. As long as a person is paying premiums, deductible and co-pays, free doesn't apply. Birth control whether pills , IUDs, etc., should be a covered benefit in all health insurance plans available to women.
I remember sex ed at my school. If you put the condom on the banana, in front of the school nurse she'd give you a C-card (a piece of card with a C and the NHS logo on it). You could then take that into a pharmacy, hand it to a pharmacist and get condoms.
Like the US the contraceptive pill has to be taken on prescription, but its covered by the NHS's subsidised prescription rules. If your income is below a certain level, you get free prescriptions. If you have certain illnesses you get free prescriptions. If not, each drug is about £7 (I can't remember the figure) regardless of what it is.
There's no logical reason for it not to be covered. Especially when Viagra IS.
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