Faith Keller

Professor Ron Christiansen

ENGL 1010

March 23, 2018

Should All Women Have Access to Affordable Birth Control?

The question I have chosen is: Should All Women Have Access to Affordable Birth

Control? I chose this issue because birth control has always been a controversial topic, and

because of that it is not necessarily easy for some women to get. I have learned that even women

have differing opinions on the issue, and that is what intrigues me the most. On one side of the

argument there are people that believe employers should provide insurance that covers the cost

of birth control, or that there should be government funded programs that fit the bill. Others

believe that requiring employers to cover the cost infringes on their religious freedom. There is

also a group of people that believe that birth control should simply be more affordable, not

necessarily just making someone else (such as an insurance company or the government) cover

the cost.

"A Wellness Perspective on Birth Control: Education Is Better Than Ignorance."

Electronic Ardell Wellness Report (E-AWR), 03 May 2002, p. 3. EBSCOhost,

libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=6

628792&site=eds-live.

In this article, the author starts by explaining that birth control is a bigger issue now

because before the industrial age families were larger in order to get more work done. Now that

the population has increased, there is an increased need for contraceptives. The author mentioned

the more effective, but also more expensive forms of birth control being released. He also said
that they would most likely not be available to the clinics that had the goal of making birth

control readily available to women because of the cost. He estimated that 6.5 million “poor

women” would be affected by this.

The author strengthened his argument for making birth control readily available in this

statement,”Family planning experts state claim the unplanned pregnancy rate in the United States

is a startling 49 percent, so the need for more effective birth control is great.”

Rogers, Melissa. "New Trump Contraception Rules Not a Win-win Solution." Brookings.

October 13, 2017. Accessed April 06, 2018.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2017/10/13/new-trump-contraception-rules-not-a-win-

win-solution/.

In her article, Rogers briefly summarized the dispute between the Little Sisters of the

Poor, an organization of Catholic nuns and the government regarding the accommodation that

the government made for religious, nonprofit organizations that objected to providing health

insurance coverage for employees. She mentioned the Supreme Court striking down religious

accommodations when they could not “strike an appropriate balance”. She argued that the

organizations being exempt shifted the burden to the women employed by these kind of

organizations.

Rogers referenced the Supreme Court case Zubik v. Burwell in her article. She

established her credibility by providing background information and being published on a

credible website. She also provided statistics on decreased unplanned pregnancy when women

were provided no or low cost pregnancy.

Sawhill, Isabel V. “Reducing Poverty by Cutting Unplanned Births.” Brookings, Brookings, 21 Aug.

2015, www.brookings.edu/opinions/reducing-poverty-by-cutting-unplanned-births/.

Sawhill’s article was about the correlation between unplanned births and poverty. The

main focus of the article was providing affordable long term birth control to women as a way to

cut the number of unplanned pregnancies and poverty that comes as a result of them. At the

beginning of the article she gave information about forms of long term birth control, the

intrauterine device (IUD) and the hormonal birth control implant. The devices are long acting

and require very little attention, and have the lowest chance of failing and resulting in a

pregnancy, says Sawhill. She focused on them for that reason.

Sawhill established her credibility in a few ways. She was published on a credible

website, and she had a book published on a similar subject. At the beginning of the article she

also provided statistics on unplanned pregnancies, and the unplanned pregnancy rate is higher in

single women. She also provided statistics on the effectiveness of different forms of

contraception. The presentation of facts really helped her establish her credibility as an author

and the credibility of her argument.

Singer, Jeffrey A. “End the Ban on Over-The-Counter Oral Contraceptives.” Cato

Institute, 19 Dec. 2017, www.cato.org/publications/commentary/end-ban-over-counter-oral-

contraceptives.

In this article, author Jeffrey Singer focuses on why birth control pills should be available

over the counter. Singer mentioned that making oral contraceptives available over the counter

would reduce the cost because there is no prescription and no doctor’s visit required to obtain

them. The article also brought up the opinions of obstetricians and gynecologists, the people that
deal with birth control the most, as a way to strengthen his argument about making birth control

more readily available to women.

Singer established his credibility by providing statistics such as,”...a 2015 survey of

nearly 500 reproductive health care providers found that 74 percent of them supported expanding

access to oral contraceptives.” He stated that the American College of Obstetricians and

Gynecologists agrees that birth control pills should be available without a prescription. Jeffrey

Singer himself is a medical professional himself, which also contributes to his argument.

“The High Costs of Birth Control.” Center for American Progress, 17 Feb.

2012, www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/news/2012/02/15/11054/the-high-costs-of-

birth-control/.

The article “The High Costs of Birth Control” posted on the Center for American

Progress’s website was a fact sheet on the cost of different forms of birth control and the

difference in the cost of women’s healthcare. The article mentions the demographic most

affected by the cost of birth control, women of childbearing age. The prices of different forms of

birth control range from about $590 to $6000 which supports the author’s argument that not

allowing women access to affordable birth control presents them with a financial burden.

The article did not have a specific author listed, but the article was published on a trusted

organization’s website. The article was useful for me because it gave a reference to what the

costs of birth control actually are. Without knowing the cost, there would be no way to determine

whether that is high or whether that is affordable to the majority of people. It provided important

background to research the question.

Totenberg, Nina. "Birth Control At The Supreme Court: Does Free Coverage Violate

Religious Freedom?" NPR. March 23, 2016. Accessed April 6, 2018.

https://www.npr.org/2016/03/23/471003272/birth-control-at-the-supreme-court-does-free-

coverage-violate-religious-freedom.

Totenberg addresses the concerns of those opposed to the HHS mandate that required

employers, excluding houses of worship, to provide insurance coverage for birth control. She

focused on the Little Sisters of the Poor. The organization runs homes for the elderly poor, and

are run by Catholic nuns. The article also covered the workaround for employers with religious

of moral objections to the mandate, which required employers to notify the government to notify

the government that they are opting out. The Little Sisters argued that this still infringes on their

free exercise of religion.

Totenberg objectively presents both sides of the argument, which made it known that her

purpose was simply to inform. She established credibility by providing statistics, statements, and

facts from both side of the argument. She was also published on npr.org, which is a credible

website.

“Trump Rescinds Obamacare Birth Control Mandate.” NPR, NPR, 9 Oct. 2017,

www.npr.org/2017/10/09/556606150/trump-rescinds-obamacare-birth-control-mandate.

This was originally broadcast on National Public Radio, and it is an interview of Planned

Parenthood President Cecile Richards by host David Greene. The interview starts by Greene

introducing the topic of the Trump administration giving employers easier ways to get out of

providing coverage for birth control to their employees. Richards argued that this would make it

more difficult for women, and that it would be a mistake. Richards stated that since the mandate

by the Obama administration, unplanned pregnancy rates have gone down, there has been the

lowest teen pregnancy rate in the history of the United States, and that overall women are getting

better birth control. Richards also mentioned that women use birth control for “a whole host of
reasons” not just preventing pregnancy. Greene mentioned that some believed that it interfered

with religious liberty, and Richards countered that with employers having the option to opt out of

providing birth control as long as they notify the government.

The broadcast was credible because it was on National Public Radio with the President of

Planned Parenthood who would need to stay up to date on government regulations regarding

birth control and women’s health. Planned Parenthood is also a nationwide organization that has

been around for over one hundred years. The organization was established in October of 1916.

"Zubik v. Burwell." Accessed April 6, 2018.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-1418_8758.pdf.

This was the petition to the Supreme Court regarding the HHS mandate requiring

employees to provide healthcare plans that covered birth control. It covered the accomodation

allowing nonprofit organizations, and the opinion of those organizations. The petition

stated,”Petitioners allege that submitting this notice substantially burdens the exercise of their

religion, in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, 107 Stat. 1488 42

U.S.C. §2000bb et seq.” This gives more background to the opposing side.