Cost Of Birth Control Higher In Some Low-Income Neighborhoods Than In Wealthy Ones
Researchers focused on the price of seven commonly-used contraceptives — including various forms of the pill as well as transvaginal options like the ring. They cross-referenced the price information across various counties with median household incomes from the 2010 census.
Nearly every prescription contraceptive was more expensive in low-income zip codes, the researchers found.
In most cases, price differed by just a few dollars. For two of the contraceptives, the cost was significantly less in the wealthiest zip codes.
Researchers said they don’t know the reason for the price discrepancies. Certain neighborhoods may not have a large, chain pharmacy that offers lower prices and runs specials, Zite speculated.
“There is other research that has shown that a lot of needs for health, like fruits and vegetables, are more expensive in lower-income neighborhoods,” Zite added.
Seriously, if we believe a 14 year old is too immature to know how to take a pill, do we really think she’s adult enough to handle an unwanted pregnancy?
The truth is that the age restriction is completely arbitrary, tied only to our puritanical comfort levels. And listen, I get it; I think it’s fair to say that most people are uncomfortable with the idea of a 14 year old having sex. But here’s the thing - access to Plan B isn’t about keeping a 14 year old from having sex - by the time she gets to the pharmacy, that ship has sailed - it’s about keeping a 14 year old who has already had sex from getting pregnant. And despite what urban legend (or past embarrassing FDA memos) may tell you, making emergency contraception more available is not more likely to make young teens have sex - it will just make them less likely to end up pregnant.
We can’t let our discomfort with teen sex trump young people’s right to sexual and reproductive health and we can’t continue to let politics trump science. If we care about young women’s health and bodily autonomy and integrity, we’ll drop all age restrictions from emergency contraception. Anything less isn’t just illogical - it’s immoral.
— “Hey, FDA: Drop the Plan B Age Restriction,” my latest at The Nation (via jessicavalenti)The Obama administration’s newest plan to make emergency contraception over-the-counter to some groups and not others only creates more confusion and a new set of barriers to access. I guess this administration would rather play Russian Roulette with teen pregnancy than make it easier to prevent.
In a dismaying move, the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has proposed changes to the guidelines for family medicine residency programs removing the requirement that residents learn to provide contraception.
In one of the clinics where we work, a 16-year-old girl came in with a sprained ankle. She left with a prescription for birth control.
This turn of events is not as surprising as it seems: As family physicians, we treat the whole person. A quick update revealed that our 16-year-old patient had recently begun to have unprotected sex—and had no plan to get birth control. One of the reasons we love practicing family medicine is that we get to know our patients over time and provide the preventive care they need at every possible opportunity.
A majority of U.S. women get their basic health care from a family physician or other primary care provider, and often that includes reproductive health care. Especially in rural and low-income areas, family physicians do it all! They not only provide birth control but also provide prenatal care, deliver babies, manage miscarriages, counsel patients about unintended pregnancies, and, increasingly, offer pregnancy termination so that their patients do not have to travel long distances and see unfamiliar doctors for these services.
When Eden Foods’ CEO Michael Potter first joined the federal lawsuit in opposition to the new requirement to provide birth control for female employees in any company health plan, he claimed it was a religious objection. Now, according to a recent interview in Salon, he’s revealed that he doesn’t want to cover it because he’s a man.
For private companies to claim that they should be legally treated like churches is bad enough, but to claim that they should be able to discriminate against their employees because the CEO is a different gender? Ridiculous.
Sign the petition to demand that Mr. Potter and Eden Foods drop out of the birth control lawsuit.
Reading through his comments, the more Potter talks, the worse it sounds. From Salon:
“I’ve got more interest in good quality long underwear than I have in birth control pills, … Because I’m a man, number one and it’s really none of my business what women do,” Potter said. So, then, why bother suing? “Because I don’t care if the federal government is telling me to buy my employees Jack Daniel’s or birth control.”
Birth control is like long underwear? Like whiskey? No, Mr. Potter, birth control is healthcare. No company’s employees should go without routine healthcare that they work hard to earn just because their boss thinks it’s silly.
Despite the most aggressive push yet, anti-choice legislators failed in their attempt to force poor women to give birth by cutting off abortion funding. Why? Because they hate birth control.
Imagine the thought of restricting abortion access for poor people and then helping them get birth control on top of that! How horrible!
In recent days, amidst cries of a media “blackout,” a number of journalists have admitted to either missing or dismissing the story of Dr. Kermit Gosnell over the past two years. As one of the many journalists who has been covering the Gosnell story since it broke in early 2011, all I can say is: We tried to get the story out there. But more importantly, this politics-of-media framework distracts from the circuitous politics that enabled, and resulted from, Gosnell’s actual crimes and the women who were affected.
Moral Panic! Dissecting the Newest Misinformation Campaign about Emergency Contraception
Plan B is safer than aspirin: It has few or no immediate side effects and no long-term side effects. In fact, the drug meets all of the FDA’s objective criteria for switching a drug from prescription to non-prescription status: It is non-toxic, it is impossible to overdose on it, it has no harmful effects on a woman or teen or a possible pregnancy, and it is not addictive. Girls and women are able to self-diagnose their risk and understand how to use EC from simply reading the label. Finally, Plan B does not require any medical screening or intervention from a health care worker to use it safely.
Michigan Rep. Justin Amash (R) was a Tea Party darling back in 2010, when Michigan Right to Life enthusiastically supported his congressional run. But the relationship turned sour in 2012, when Amash refused to vote for thePrenatal Non-Discrimination Act (PRENDA), causing the state and national Right to Life committees to refuse to endorse his re-election campaign.
Amash won his reelection without their endorsement or financial support. Now, he may be on his way to mending burnt bridges if his latest interview with Reason is any indication. In the interview, Amash reaffirms his belief that abortion and birth control are repugnant and that, despite his libertarian leanings, government should ban anything “abortion-causing” (via Raw Story).
“It’s a tricky question, but where we have it now is not correct,” Amash said. “It should be closer to the point of conception, whether it’s instantly or the first three days. I think that’s more sensible. That’s what I think would be correct.”
