Essay On Should Women Have Easy Access To Birth Control

Jennifer Jameson
Mrs. Melcher
AP Lang

Should Women Have Easy Access to Birth Control?
Birth control has been and remains one of the most controversial topics in the United States. Birth control serves to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and while most of society has access to condoms, accidents may occur, making the birth control pill and emergency contraception necessary. Women should be given easy access to all contraception, while US schools should educate students on birth control as well as abstinence. By both giving easy access to all contraception and educating the youth of America, American women will make better choices and have the knowledge to practice safe sex. Unwanted pregnancies can result in an endless kaleidoscope of issues. Soon-to-be parents are often not emotionally nor financially ready to bear, raise, and support children. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy stated that in 2004 tax payers collectively had paid over 9 billion dollars to support the 420,000 teenage mothers who gave birth that year (“Update: Birth Control
Policy”). The general public should not be picking up the slack for mistakes that could and should have been prevented. Due to the high numbers it can be assumed that many of the 420,000 teenage mothers were not using birth control and possibly weren’t properly educated on safe sex. Birth control like the pill and the morning after pill would dramatically lower these numbers if teens had easy access, however, many opponents of birth control believe that if hormonal birth control was outlawed “Americans would likely adopt more cautious attitudes toward sex, which in turn would lower the number of unwanted pregnancies and curb the spread of sexually transmitted diseases” (“Update: Birth Control Policy”). Although logically this belief makes sense, it isn’t quite how the situation would play out. If teens believe they are ready and want to have sex, they will. In saying this, not every teen is ‘dying’ to have intercourse. There are many teens that aren’t engaging in sexual activities and are practicing abstinence, however, the teens that do feel ready to share themselves, will. If the teen is properly educated on sex, he or she will most likely desire a form of birth control. If hormonal birth control is hard to get to, it is likely the teen will rely only on condoms, or worse, no contraception at all. Teens will be promiscuous if they desire, and if they have to go without contraception it results in raising the numbers of pregnant teen mothers. There has also been a huge controversy on whether schools should promote either birth control methods or abstinence. Fact is that both methods of preventing pregnancy must be taught especially because “nine in ten adolescents have had intercourse by the time they turn twenty” (“Educating Your Teen about Birth Control”). The goal is to decrease the amount of unwanted pregnancies as best as possible. By letting teens know every option, they can make better choices and make up their own minds. This knowledge will be of advantage to them throughout their entire sex life. Maria Mora, a columnist for “Mommalogues”, a site where mothers share their experiences, wrote “when I was in college, I knew girls and boys who practiced “abstinence” by engaging in oral sex. Did they use protection for oral sex? Not at all. They thought they were having safe sex, but the truth was they were just not educated when it comes to safe sex”. When it comes to sex, it is about much more than just preventing pregnancy, it’s also about protecting your health and avoiding STDs, therefore teens must be taught early on how to protect themselves in those situations. It is absolutely necessary for schools to teach about safe sex and abstinence because not all parents will have that talk with their children and some children may not ask their parents the questions they have about sex, leaving children unknowledgeable, unprepared and possibly even impulsive. Teaching teens about access to hormonal birth control pills is also extremely necessary, so that they know they have the option to purchase a backup methods incase the condom fails. There remains no reason to outlaw birth control.
People are often concerned about abortion, however, abortion and the morning after pill are in no way related since emergency contraceptive pills work before pregnancy begins (“How Emergency Contraception Works”). Therefore, using emergency contraception isn’t the same as eliminating life, it’s merely preventing pregnancy from ever even beginning. While there are religious aspects to the controversy, even Pope Francis “sent shock waves through the Roman Catholic church on Thursday with the publication of his remarks that the church had grown “obsessed” with abortion, gay marriage and contraception, and that he had chosen not to talk about those issues despite recriminations from critics” (Goodstein A1). If even the Pope feels this way about these topics, the one person that’s chosen to represent the entire church, it becomes obvious that times have
changed. Birth control has a lot more to it than just sexual related concerns. The one concern that remains a general concern of society is safety. Is hormonal birth control safe? The earliest pills to reach the general public in the late 1950’s brought up many health problems in women, including gastrointestinal problems and blood clotting. (“Update: Birth Control Policy”). However as time has progressed, medical research has as well. Nowadays hormonal birth control is safer than ever before with only minor side-effects that usually only last the first month. Doctors are required to select the best fit of hormonal birth control by looking at a person’s medical history and asking them specific questions, for example, if they are smokers or non-smokers. By being honest with one’s doctor, birth control has become extremely safe. If one feels they haven’t found the right fit of hormonal birth control, they can safely switch without any problems. Not only has the pill become extremely safe and reliable in the past decades, it also eliminates a whole other range of health issues women may have, meaning women don’t necessarily have to be on the pill for contraceptive reasons. The pill is generally known to clear acne, eliminate painful and heavy periods, shorten menstrual migraines caused by hormones, and reduce the lifetime risk of ovarian cancer. Therefore, making it harder for women to access birth control would also eliminate an easy answer to all of these general problems. Overall, outlawing birth control, or making it hard for women to have complete access, would be ludicrous. Modern birth control has generally been proven to do nothing but good for people as long as it is used correctly. If schools start and continue educating the youth of America about all forms of birth control as well as the option to remain abstinent the number of unplanned pregnancies in the US should reduce dramatically, resulting in a happier, healthier, and more knowledgeable society.

Works Cited

Goodstein, Laurie. "Pope Says Church Is ‘Obsessed’ With Gays, Abortion and Birth Control." New York Times 20 09 2013, A1. Print. .
Mora, Maria. "Should You Buy Condoms for Your Teen?" Mommalogues. N.p., 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 07 Dec. 2013. .
"Educating Your Teen About Birth Control." HealthyChildren.org. N.p., 11 May 2013. Web. 07 Dec. 2013. .
"How Emergency Contraceptives Work." Emergency Contraception: Emergency Contraceptives Are Not Abortion. Princeton, 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 07 Dec. 2013. .
"Update: Birth Control Policy." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 17 Dec. 2006. Web. 7 Dec. 2013. .