With the current political climate, there has been a lot of conversation about birth control. Some have tried to get it taken off insurance, or even ban it. As someone who has been on birth control for multiple years now, I can tell you that it does much more than just protecting those who are sexually active from unwanted pregnancies, although that is an important part of it.
It’s important to note that people go on birth control for many different reasons, and being sexually active is not always one of them. It has been proven to reduce acne, regulate periods, lighten periods, and ease menstrual cramps. Birth control is extremely important to those with irregular and heavy periods. It can also help prevent or lessen iron deficiency (anemia), ovarian cysts, PMS, and ovarian cancers.
I have friends who would have to miss school because their period cramps were so bad, and birth control was their saving grace. They were in so much pain that they could not get out of bed. Do we really think students should miss school because their period is so awful that they can’t even move?
Birth control truly allows someone to live their life without their period holding them back. We need to center the conversation around everything birth control does besides avoiding unwanted pregnancies.
I went on birth control at a young age because my period was so irregular, and my doctor wanted me to have regularity in my cycle. I would go months without a period, and then it would come out of nowhere and leave me bedridden and in pain. Birth control changed my life for the better, as it did for so many other people.
Birth control not only helps improve our health, but it helps the economy. Birth control is a leading reason that women are able to have careers and make more money. With birth control women are allowed to plan when they want children, and never have to worry about their periods holding them back from their careers.
Birth control has been attributed to helping narrow the gender wage gap, however, it is important to note that women of color still earn much less than white women. Birth control has helped advance women’s educational and career opportunities and one-third of women’s wage gains since the 1960s have been a result of access to birth control.
Birth control is incredibly important for health and economic reasons, and taking it away will do more harm than good.
