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Michelle Navarro

Instructor Michele Tubbs

Class 1301-181

30 November 2020

Birth Control Access Issues

Choosing to not have a baby but wanting to keep being intimate with your partner or anyone in

general is a choice that anybody can make. Knowing how to be safe is another thing we should

be aware of as well, which is something we call birth control. Birth control has been around for

many years for women to be safe and reduce population in our world. In some places around the

world, they receive birth control with no issues and without paying a lot of money on it. But

based on what I have seen in the U.S., most places recommend for you to get it prescribed from a

doctor, which is great if you have health insurance or have the money to cover for the doctor’s

visit and birth control. What about people with money issues or that do not have health

insurance? That could lead to having to pay a ton of money for it or to not get any and just hope

that a condom is enough to be safe during sexual intercourse.

There have been some issues regarding helping women receive birth control without having to

pay a high price for them or to just give them access for birth control. For example, the Supreme

Court failed to protect Americans’ access to birth control (Liz Hayes). It was their third attempt

for the Affordable Care Act and the Supreme Court failed to protect their benefit regarding

insurance coverage for contraceptives. They also mention that they are not playing favorites, no

matter if it is from a religious belief on not using them and other who just choose not to take

them and also to support the women who decide to take them and make sure they do not get
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discriminated by others. Many people have different opinions when it comes to birth control

because some of them think that women do not want children, that they do not want to be

responsible by having relations instead of doing abstinence or anything in particular.

There has also been some protests using a hashtag #HandsOffMyBC to protest Trump’s birth

control coverage rollback (Caroline Kee) since they talk about allowing employers to stop

covering contraception for moral or religious reasons. It affected the Obamacare mandate, who

helped women get covered through insurance companies with no co-pay or coinsurance.

Women’s health could be something people might not like about birth control since there are

many kinds – oral (pills), IUD, implant, injection, vaginal ring, patch – because of its hormones

that some of them carry. Some do not have any, but there are other that can have high hormones

and can affect any kind of women depending on their weight, body, and health. A uOttawa team

of researchers have been investigating the question: Do they - oral contraceptives - have any

impact on brain health? Also, the Associate Professor at the uOttawa School of Psychology and

University Research Chair in Stress and Mental Health were questioned about it. There have

been some issues depending on the type of contraceptives, but it is because of the women’s body

and if it is taken properly, there would not be any health issues. A personal example would be me

taking oral contraceptive pills to regulate my period due to being irregular since I first started

having my period at the age of 12, so taking them for almost 4 years has helped me stabilize my

hormones and keeping myself safe with my significant other.

There has been rumors about women gaining weight due to taking birth control. “For years,

women have said that birth control causes them to gain weight but many doctors failed to take

them seriously”, study’s lead author Aaron Lazorwitz, MD, assistant professor of

Obstetrics/Gynecology and Family Planning at the University of Colorado School of Medicine

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(Women’s Health Weekly, NewsRX LLC). He has also looked at the genetics, finding that the

way genes interact with some hormones in birth control could help explain why some women

gain more weight than others. Like I mentioned before, it all depends on the women; we are all

different in many ways. This is an example related to having issues with the birth control like

with the hormonal effects because some women tend to choose to take popular forms of pills,

thinking that they are better than the ones doctors would recommend. An example would be the

advertisements that they show on the internet about subscribing for a plan of birth controls

instead of getting them from a professional doctor and not paying much for them. While some

women do gain weight, some do not really show any changes in their body. So in reality there it

no real way to tell the difference from all kinds of birth control many women take around the

world. But having them are essential in order to control over population and making sure that

people do not have unplanned pregnancies later in the years.

The U.S. has had issues with the topic, especially with people who do not believe in it, making it

hard to go through as support for us women. It could be due to religious people, people who are

against medicine treatment or just because of the cost they have on them. We just need to make

sure that women are aware that there are also some low-income places for women who have

issues with health insurance and could get help from any clinic or hospital. The Affordable Care

Act have insurance plans that can cover them if they are FDA approved (womenshealth.gov/30-

achievements/16), including getting help if they are covered through Medicaid, too.

Some things that I oppose to it would be that taking birth control for a long term could cause

some trouble for women who plan to have a family in the future, but that is a myth that I have

heard from family members and acquaintances. There is also the fact that it could include risk of

breast cancer, blood clotting, migraines, liver problems, increased blood pressure, and spotting
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between periods (Jen Glantz), depending on the birth control and raising estrogen levels in the

female body. There are many different kinds of things women can get if they take birth control,

but it also depends if you take them properly, which is something my gynecologist warned me

about. If not taken properly, it could cause an imbalance on your hormones and even make a

women’s period come late or sooner. It all depends on the woman, since we are all different and

have different choices on what kind to take for our safety.

Overall, birth control will always be an issue around the world, depending on beliefs and where

people come from. But we should always try to help each other no matter what and sometimes

taking precautions is better than none and then end up having an unplanned pregnancy. Birth

control is a way to control our population and support women in their personal life, no matter the

reason. Women supporting each other and giving their own opinion based on what they have

gone through is something we can do to help and give them advice as well. For me, I was

nervous when I first started taking them, but my aunt and friends helped me get comfortable and

making me understand that it is to help me out for my health.