Overcontrolling Birth Control

As a major component of my Advanced Composition course, we were required to create some sort of piece that reflected topics we were passionate about, as a way to manifest our hope for the future. I felt compelled to write about access to birth control, pointing out the pressing issues and a call to action. Although originally posted to Medium, I have duplicated it below.

As a 13-year-old girl, I was plagued with the worst periods, some so severe they would last over a week, keeping me out of school for days at a time every few weeks. Once my attendance became a concern to my parents, we saw my pediatrician who referred me to a gynecologist. There, I learned about this magic medication that, if taken properly, would allow only 4 (four!) periods a year. This medication also would help with cramping, lighten the bleeding, and overall improve my quality of life. All thanks to what we lovingly call “the pill” — oral birth control.

As a 20-year-old woman, I am now plagued with horrible migraine attacks, some so severe they keep me in bed in a silent, dark room. Some so severe I am forced to stay home from work, school, and suffer the loss of any ounce of enjoyment. It just so happens that these attacks often lined up with the start of my menstrual cycle (curse you, uterus!). My physician told me about this magical device that would not just take away a few of my periods, but, if taken properly, it could get rid of them completely. For me, the ring is more than just birth control, it is a way to get through my day-to-day activities having been diagnosed with chronic migraine.

There is a plethora of reasons to take some form of birth control, many of them not even related to contraception. Acne, migraines, painful periods, irregular/heavy periods, diseases like endometriosis, anemia… some studies even show that the use of birth control can reduce the chance of ovarian and uterine cancers. Birth control is more than just a method of contraception, and as of right now, contraception is virtually the only way to prevent pregnancy in the sexually active.

Unfortunately, the myriad of benefits of birth control has come dangerously close to being retracted, with political leaders habitually threatening our rights to this indispensable health provision. In 2019, the Trump-Pence administration attempted to remove the contraception mandate backed by the ACA, which ensures that insurance companies will cover birth control without any copays or fees. This wouldn’t just make birth control harder to access, it would make it so that, as Planned Parenthood succinctly states, “your boss would get to decide whether you get access to birth control.” Luckily, the courts were able to keep this from fruition, but with Supreme Court rulings like Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, where corporations are permitted to incorporate their religious ideologies into amenities like health insurance, there is evidence that we must continue to fight, and there is a need for change.

This threat is seen nationally, but there are issues specific to the state of Virginia that seemingly aren’t given much spotlight. One large issue is the people in power in the areas where access to contraception is in dire need of reform. In the state of Virginia alone, we have eleven congressional districts, four of them — taking up a vast amount of our land, I must say — being led by Republican leaders. These districts include District 1, District 5, District 6, and District 9. When looking at a congressional map for our state, it shows the boundaries between districts, and which of these are led by democrats and which are led by Republicans, by use of the traditional red-blue color separation.

There has been a longstanding debate amongst conservative leaders and people across the country about their rulings on women’s bodies, and this is no exception. If we look at a map of Virginia that categorizes each county by its number of health centers, there is a remarkable correlation to the republican congressional districts to counties with very few health centers that offer a wide range of contraception options, as seen below.

Based on this data provided by the U.S Census, CDC, and FDC, 14 counties have zero health centers. This means that a woman aged 13–44 desiring birth control might need to leave their county to get what they need. Not surprisingly, these counties seem to line up with districts 1, 5, 6, and 9. In total, there are 407,310 women (in need) that live in contraceptive deserts or a place with no access to a health center with the full range of methods. Additionally, there are 30,900 women (in need) that live in counties without a single health center that offers the full range of methods.

TL;DR, no access to the full range of birth control for 30,900 women in Virginia alone.

In Hampton Roads, not one city or county has the ideal number of health centers, forcing thousands of people to the same location, making them travel and wait longer to get what they need.

Just because our rights are currently secured doesn’t mean it will stay that way, and it definitely doesn’t mean things can go on the way they have been.

As aforementioned, it does not come as a shock that it is harder for women in areas with greater conservative values to receive the health service needed, and this is nothing new — whether it is those whose religion backs their opinions on abortion, or those who are against premarital sex, the topic of birth control has always seemed taboo because it is yet another women’s bodies issue regulated by the government. Due to this, in the counties where healthcare reform is needed most, the issue is not just denied, it is actively being threatened.

A quick visit to the websites of the many conservative congressional leaders for our state reveals that these leaders are actively attempting to dismantle services like Planned Parenthood, wholly based on the fact that this health center offers abortion services. Rob Whitman, congressional leader of District 1 in VA, states on his website that he prioritizes defunding Planned Parenthood solely to stop abortions when that is only a small fraction of the many in-demand services Planned Parenthood offers. In fact, many other leaders in our state have voted the same way, threatening access to women everywhere. If these leaders get what they desire, then thousands of women in Virginia would lose access to what we consider a basic and easily attainable commodity.

For college students, we may feel like Karen F. from Bealeton, VA:

When I was a military wife, I had free medical care with birth control when I needed it. We had the two children we wanted and could care for WHEN we wanted them and felt we could afford them. I didn’t think about the privilege at the time; it was just there when I needed it. Now, I think: how absurd that all women don’t have this vital medical coverage available to them!

A lot of us, especially college students, are still under our parent’s or guardian’s health insurance, and this can last until we are 25 as long as we are full-time students. However, as we pass this age and must enroll in our own coverage as independents, this is not an easy process, and it is not a cheap process. Without insurance coverage for birth control, it can cost up to $50 for just one month’s supply. Make that a years’ worth, and a broke college graduate is forced to scrounge up $600 just for birth control. That is, assuming, that a doctor was able to prescribe it, and they’re paying the doctor out of pocket. This is a lot of hassle, and a lot of money just to receive a basic health care right.

As Karen stated, it is a privilege, perhaps even a luxury to receive these things in the current state of America, but that doesn’t mean should be the case. One marker widely used to map the growth and advancement of developing countries is the use and education of and on contraception. This is because women are notably more likely to induce an unsafe abortion in countries where there is less access. And, when there is access, one of the largest objections to the use of contraception is found in the husband’s disapproval, more often than not because he wants more children.

Yet, the United States is supposed to be a highly developed country, meaning there is high access to the full range of methods for every menstruator, and there is education available for everyone on what contraception does, how it works, and finding the right fit for each body.

Websites like Nurx, GoodRx, and The Pill Club are cutting corners for menstruators everywhere, making birth control available online to be shipped directly to the consumer’s home. These websites include health quizzes that question why the person wants birth control, any necessary medical history, other medications, and demographical stats so that a certified doctor can prescribe the right medication for the person’s individual needs. Additionally, the service is free, avoiding the copay of a doctor’s visit, and the medication is normally free as well given the person has health insurance. This has made the whole process more accessible and simpler, but it does not solve the problem.

Virginia is in desperate need of more health centers and greater access for those desiring birth control. Health centers that offer more than just the pill, they offer the full range of contraceptive methods that are available on the market. We need greater education on these topics, as it is not just those preventing pregnancy who take birth control. It is people with uncontrollable acne, chronic migraine attacks, endometriosis, heavy periods, painful periods, irregular periods, and those who may just want to reduce the chance they get ovarian or uterine cancers. These are people with real problems that need real solutions, and the current process to receive care needs reform.

Planned Parenthood is more than just an abortion clinic. Husbands cannot decide for their wives whether they can take birth control. And, in a hope for the seemingly distant future, men need to stop telling women what they can and can’t do with their bodies. Ultimately, people should only add another member to their family if they want to and when they are ready, meaning contraceptive access should be a priority in the world of health care, and it should be treated as such.

POV: It is 2013, and I am in 7th grade. My periods are so heavy and so painful that I am debilitated from doing my normal activities, staying out of school for weeks out of the year. As the daughter of a lower-income family, we could not afford health insurance, and the one medication that could solve everything is simply out of reach.

This is the reality for so many menstruators and one that we must pay attention to. The vast majority of us do have access to contraception, but not everyone does, and it is not as if the right is guaranteed for the majority. As Virginians, we need to be mindful of our rights and our privileges so we can fight for them, not only when they are being threatened, but fight for more health centers, more access, so that we can aid our pain, lighten our flow, heal our acne, and have children when and if we are ready.