On Mother's Day, I participated in my usual Sunday morning ritual: reading the headlines on my Blackberry, checking my @replies on Twitter and scrolling through my friends' Facebook status updates. Among the chatter of "Happy Mother's Day" and dreary "Headed to the in-laws..." was another update -- words from one of my female friends, a musician in a committed two-year relationship. Her status was a "shout out for those of us that have successfully not become mommies."
Her status did more than update me as to "what's on her mind" -- it reminded me of what has been on mine. Not becoming pregnant is, for most non-religious, non-family-building women, a regular source of anxiety. I discuss birth control with just about every female I know. The cost of it, the difficulty getting away from work to get a prescription for it, procedures and pills that aren't covered by health insurance, on and on. These are smart, gainfully employed women who are actively trying not to get pregnant. What becomes of the woman who doesn't have the time or the finances to obsess over these ovarian strategies? Wait, wait, don't tell me -- I know how this ends. She gets pregnant.
In the storied reclamation of our gender, women forgot to claim one thing: our right to control our reproductive systems. While the fight is by no means over, it does seem like the contractions subsided with the invention of sports bras and shoulder pads. What happened to the big push?
When it comes to obtaining oral contraceptives, I get especially infuriated. We're not talking about abortions here -- what's wrong with prevention? The two most effective forms of birth control, after the mythical abstinence, are IUDs and other hormonal options, like The Pill. Why The Pill is not available over the counter is something that no one has been able to successfully answer for me. Certain forms of The Pill which don't include estrogen, called progesterone-only pills, are less likely to cause blood-clots and are often prescribed to women who cannot take higher-doses of hormones. A study done in 2007 by the Contraception Journal showed that a sample of random women could screen themselves for oral contraceptive contraindications nearly as well as medical professionals. Only 6.7% of the women incorrectly thought they did not have any contraindications/risks when, in fact, they did. Even with medical screening under normal circumstances, approximately 6% of oral contraceptive users in the US show contraindications for pill use. The study ultimately concluded that since the percentage of women who incorrectly misdiagnosed themselves is similar to the proportion of actual pill users in the US who are contraindicated for use, the over the counter sale of birth control pills would likely be safe.
Conservatives should get behind the numbers if nothing else. A study done in 2001 by the Institute For Women's Policy Research showed that making birth control pills available over-the-counter (OTC) would dramatically increase its usage, which could result in potentially $2.08 billion dollars in medical savings from preventing unplanned pregnancies. The same study estimates that the number of abortions would be reduced by 220,000 a year. How's that for Choose Life?
Yet after all of these comprehensive studies, women still take time off of work, go to their doctors, wear see-through gowns, patiently explain they're still with the same partner, remind the nurses they have been tested for STD's, stare at plastic models of fallopian tubes, pay co-pays and wait for our golden tickets.
Those little white hormones packed in foil and plastic aren't the controlled substance here: women are. And if anyone wants to tell you differently, ask them why you can buy condoms and cigarettes in a 7-Eleven. It's our issue. They don't get to make it a partisan issue or an abstinence-only issue. We need to take out our reality TV epidurals and get back to our bra-burning roots. We're not yet mothers, but we could at least do something for the next generation we might one day decide to have.
Follow Rachel Farris on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MeanRachel
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I cannot believe this is the first time I have EVER read an article about this.
Why DO we have to pay a co-pay to get The Pill? Hmmmm...
But remember when we needed a prescription for Monostat? Those were the days...
Both my parents come from huge families- birth control not being around when they were born. Not of course they both love their families as they are...but they both are extremely grateful for being able to provide a better life for THEIR kids due to birth control.
While my parents on one hand loved having so many brothers and sisters...it came at a high price. There was never any time for one on one with their parents, neither of my aprents got much by way of individual attention past toddler age. They had to forgo much of their own childhood caring for the younger siblings. For Mom, it was come home from school and get a baby put in her arms. My father had to get a job and work a ton of hours at a very young age to help support the family.
My parents taught me and my two sisters plenty about hard work, responsibility, and family values. It's just that we got to also pursue our own individual interests. I got to go to summer camp, be in the very demanding advanced academic program at school, take Karate, volunteer, travel abroad with student travel programs, etc. I got to BE A KID because I didn't spend my entire childhood raising and providing for other children the way my parents had to.
Suggesting alternative birth control options for women isn't an issue, but those options should be readily and easily available to women, especially those who do not have the finances or time to otherwise obtain them.
It seems that your comment is a plug for the Justisse Method (or non-hormonal methods) -- which I don't have a problem with. But do you disagree with the statement that if a woman decides hormonal birth control is the right choice for her (for whatever reason), she shouldn't be required to go through the myriad of check-ups and medical appointments to obtain that type of birth control?
It all comes down women having to control over our bodies and our reproductive systems.
Thanks for your response to my post. I definately agree with you about *choice*. In light of that, I have mixed feelings about a woman getting hormonal contraception without a doctor if she decides this is the best thing for her. On the one hand, I feel that hormonal contraception is being increasingly marketed to young women (and girls) - even being tauted as a fashion accessory these days - for these young women, it feels like this could easily translate into an uninformed purchase without knowledge of potential side effects, long-term risks, or lifestye considerations (e.g., smoking). So this concerns me. On the other hand, I think doctors themselves rarely discuss these things with their patients and in fact I have seen many cases where doctors have discouraged women from coming off hormonal contraception even when they complain to their doctors of lots of side effects or dissatisfaction with the method. And I see your point about it being unfair from a socioeconomic perspective. In Canada this is not as much of an issue since we don't have to pay for appointments with our doctors, just for the prescription itself. I'm not sure exactly what the solution to this issue is. I wonder about an intermediate solution where women are required to speak with a pharmacist about side effects before they purchase? I am curious what others think about ways to increase women's choice and freedom while not empowering the media to manipulate those "choices"?