The loss of subsidized birth control at colleges across the nation will ultimately become another obstacle for female students to face.
p. According to an Oct. 22 article in the Yale Daily News, it has become “financially imprudent for pharmaceuticals to continue offering birth control at low prices to college health services.” While this mainly affects the students who are covered by the healthcare plans provided by their respective colleges, female students will now have to pay almost four times as much for oral contraception than they did in the past.
p. College students are generally stereotyped as being eternally broke and always strapped for cash. There is little doubt that more than tripling the cost of a widely used form of contraception, such as the pill, will not sit well with female students.
p. Most likely, many will no longer be able to afford the birth control with which they have grown comfortable. They will have to either switch to a less reliable form of birth control or stop using it altogether.
p. In a day and age when surgeons can perform life-changing operations and researchers have created hundreds of vaccines for diseases that used to plague society, the fact that safe birth control is not available to everyone is deplorable.
p. Many forms of contraception are harmful to women, causing health issues and medical problems for them later in life. The pill is one of the few viable resources for women who want to practice safe sex, but still want to take care of their bodies. It is their first resource and their first line of defense. What happens when you take it away?
p. Sure, there are contraceptives like condoms, but most of the methods of birth control in the market now are specifically designed to be used by women, not men. And when those do not work out for the best, many women turn to abortion to take care of any unwanted and unexpected pregnancies. Abortion should not just be a method of last resort, it should be unnecessary altogether.
p. In a perfect world, birth control would be so safe and so widely available that abortion would cease to exist. This is impossible because birth control in any form is either not used regularly or is not accessible. For those who are already using it regularly and responsibly, there now comes the added and unnecessary obstacle of being able to purchase it without the fear of added financial stress.
p. It is a no-win situation for many women (as if there isn’t already enough to worry about). It becomes obvious that we, as a society, are taking a step in the wrong direction in meeting their needs. Already lacking options for adequate and safe ways to take care of their bodies, some women, with this added expense, will not be able to afford those contraceptives that are safe.
p. Women who take the initiative to use birth control should be commended. Now, those who are no longer able to afford to take care of their bodies are going to pay the consequences.
p. A bit backwards, isn’t it?
p. __Jessica Gallinaro is a freshman at the College.__
