I've discovered as I get older that I wind up a) caring about more issues and b) caring about them more passionately. Cartooniste recently sent me this link, which can be used to easily spam various politicos about the Prevention First Act (not perfect, but better than the current situation).
Largely for my own amusement, I'm posting a copy of the highly edited letter I recently used this link to send:
It's important for the benefit of all society that all women have a) as many children as they choose b) when they choose.The prescription thing for birth control pills has bugged me for a long, long, time. After all, I'm not sick - and my doctor sure isn't recommending a cure; she's saying, 'Yep, I'm a grownup too, and we're all in this together - sure, I'll check this legally-mandated but still very silly box for you. Kind of a shame we're wasting both our time, isn't it?' And we both sigh and go back to whatever more useful thing we were doing before we met for this appointment.
Ideally, birth control pills should not require prescriptions - but I realize the current political climate isn't likely to support this, so I support the Prevention First Act as a reasonable next-best-thing. This bill would help prevent unintended pregnancies and make abortion less necessary by improving women's access to family-planning services and preventing teen pregnancy, among other things.
Please support women and their families by cosponsoring the Prevention First Act - and by considering more advanced legislation for the future.
Sincerely,
Me
Then again, I'm lucky my medical options aren't restricted to Catholic hospitals.
So it felt nice to send this off. Of course, I have no idea if anyone will read it - and yes, I also realize I'm just dreaming. But darn it, this is so dumb....
5 comments:
If birth control prevents unintendended pregnancies, why have pregnancies and abortion risen even though usage of birth control has risen?
The same claim is made about Plan B, "the morning-after pill." But where Plan B has been widely available -- Sweden, Scotland, England, Washington state and California -- unplanned pregnancies (and abortion) have stayed the same or increased. And STDs have contiued to increase. The statistics belie the claim; it doesn't appear to work.
There's just this one teensy-weensy thing that bugs me about birth control not being prescription based. And that's that birth control pills are hormone based, and one size does not fit all. Taking the wrong type of birth control can have some serious side-effects. So, I'm all in favor of having lots of readily-available contraception options, and for all women to have access to a health professional who can advise them to find the best option for them. Making it prescription based seems to me to be a safety. And seeing your doctor once a year to make sure that your birth control option is still effective and not having adverse complications, like increased blood pressure or blood clots or headaches or... well, there's a lot of potential side-effects, also seems like a safety precaution that is definitely worth it.
Sorry to be a nay-sayer.
Hmmm...OK, I can see the safety argument - but in that case, there also needs to be a fallback option for cases where someone's doctor has a 6-8 week lag time before making an appointment. I have supposedly great health insurance, and I still ran into that recently. I know, I know, condoms exist - but the failure rates are so much higher as to be unacceptable. The split between 90-95% vs. 99+% is just too big. What about making the Pill available for 1-2 months without a prescription, but after that, requiring a doctor visit? (I'm laughing at myself even as I write this - at least 1/3 of my job is brokering compromise. So much for work/life boundaries.)
Jim, hi, who the heck are you? I thought only people I knew read my blog. Welcome! It figures that was the post to bring any readers-only out of the closet. At any rate, I don't buy your argument. Here's why: birth control & unplanned pregnancies don't necessarily have a cause & effect relationship. I think it's more likely that they both result from a separate cause, namely, increased sexual activity outside of marriage. (Note: I don't say "before marriage" because that implies marriage is the default option - seems like a bad assumption given that >50% of women in the US are single per the NY Times recently).
And props to my dad for teaching me how widely and frequently non-causal relationships are incorrectly assumed ;) Eg: most felons drank milk as children; does it therefore follow that drinking milk causes felonies? Let's hope not; I'm sitting here with a latte!
I came across you because your blog comments were among those found by the keywords I use in Google news and blog alerts.
The link between birth control and unplanned pregnancy/abortion certainly can be causally linked, just by considering the logic that BC psychologically reduces sexual inhibitions, thus increases sexual activity, thus increases the chance of pregnancy.
And a dramatic increase in sexual activity began after BC became common in the U.S.
More proximately in history, Plan B, the "morning-after pill," has had the same effect. Its availability increased sexual activity, and did not reduce pregnancy or abortions. In some cases, pregnancy and abortion increased despite its availability. Check studies over the past few years in Scotland, Sweden, England and the states of California and Washington.
By the way, check further the facts in the study you cite, as reported by the NY Times, that claims +50% of women in the U.S. are single. A further review of the study itself will show that it included college students and teens who still are living at home with their parents. Deleting these certainly results in more-accurate percentages.
Just like the celebrated claims by Freakanomics author Stephen Lott that an increase in abortion resulted in fewer unwanted children and thus reduced crime.
That "study" was seriously flawed. (Look at the challenge by Lott and Whitney in the October issue of the journal Economic Inquiry.)
dear jim,
conservatives often want to legislate what they think the world *should*look like, rather than what it does look like. you can say people shouldn't be sexually active all that you want, but it's not going to happen. (whether you are even right or not is a separate question.) i can see no logical reason whatsoever that we shouldn't do everything that we can to make reliable birth control as available to everyone possible. and by "available," i also mean affordable, and within a nonjudgemental atmosphere.
control over our bodies has been the single greatest factor in women's advancement in the past hundred years. it will continue to be important for our advancement in the years to come.
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