No baby, no baby, no baby - wham!

Sure, it can be prohibitively expensive. And yes, daily medication is a pain in the ass. But Natalie Miller Moore wants to make sure she always has the option to control whether and when she gets knocked up, regardless of the current political administration.

By Natalie Miller
210 west Content Editor [send email]

Health Center = $7
Planned Parenthood = $18
Health insurance = $20 co-pay
Control of your fertility = priceless

It’s that time of year again, when I have to get back into the stirrups to get my fix. My pills, I need ‘em. The “pill,” aka "b.c.,” the only current prescription drug I’m on.

In Virginia, birth control is a hot topic in the state legislature via debates on letting college students get the morning after pill at their health centers. Pretty much every woman my age that I know is taking birth control. For this 50-something man to claim any kind of right to tell a public university or an adult woman anything about this topic seems insane to me. I know that controlling fertility is certainly linked to your physical and mental health, if not your financial and emotional stability.

My first encounter with the topic was my best friend in 5th grade, born of a one night stand her mother had in college, who said that she would go on the pill the first day she could so that wouldn’t happen to her. My Catholic schooling covered “Family Life” from fifth till eighth grade. The basics of reproductive plumbing were covered in health with disinterest. Then in 12th grade there was “Human Sexuality,” which included charts on the rhythm method, but not discussion of any other birth control. I’m not kidding.

So the college atmosphere was a change for me. I didn’t have sex my freshman year, but could see it coming, so I went to the health center to talk to my doctor about the possibility of going on the pill. She seemed shocked that I was just there to get some information. I guess most college girls come in after the fact.

So, I started taking Ortho-Cyclen, a type of birth control pill, at 19. It was a bit like an initiation to a club. There’s the discreet compact, and the subtle tiny pill-popping at the dorm sink. Eventually, most of my friends and roommates were taking it.

I never had much trouble getting my pills until I moved to Virginia two years ago. We moved in such a rush that my prescription had run out. I couldn’t get an appointment before I was supposed to start taking them. As a last resort, I found an Internet site that would have me take a quiz about my health and then have a doctor call in a prescription for me. So, a doctor in Florida called a pharmacy in Virginia for me to get the medication I had been taking daily for 5 years.

When I did get health insurance with my job in Virginia, I found that “b.c.” wasn’t covered because it wasn’t “medically necessary.” The insurance companies have taken a lot of heat for this, and rightly so. How can the prevention of a pregnancy caused by Viagra-induced sex not be covered, but the Viagra can? Also, it makes no sense fiscally, as the cost of prenatal care and delivery of a child are thousands of dollars more expensive.

When my birth control costs got outrageous, nearly $40 a pack, I decided to turn to my old friend Planned Parenthood. I know most people have very little interaction with them, but they are fabulous friends to women without health insurance. They charge a sliding scale of fees based on how much money you make. You don’t need a referral. The people there are dedicated to keeping women healthy, even at the cost of a nice waiting room. I think they must spend most of their facilities budget on security measures keeping clinic bombers out – even if the clinic doesn’t perform abortions, which many don’t.

I think the perception of birth control has long been young women’s sexual liberation and free love and fraternity bimbos and divorcees. Think about this: A woman who wants 2 kids will still have to use birth control for at least 30 years. I became fertile at 13…my mother’s fertility lasted until she was 48. That’s an expectancy of 35 years.

And since I’ve been married, I’m put on the other side of the issue. It would not be a tragedy if I got pregnant. No one would think I’m ruining my life. No one would judge my sexual activity. But that doesn’t mean I need to control my fertility any less. I live in an 800 square foot apartment. My husband and I work in jobs heavily affected by seasonal conditions and the strength of tourism to the area. Once, I had to pay for gas with a pile of dimes from the money jar. We want to be more prepared to welcome a child.

This is why birth control is important, so that people who are working toward something do not become derailed by an event that is often permanent. I am not discounting accidental pregnancies that turn out wonderfully for the parents and child. But an unwanted pregnancy can be bad for opportunities for both parent and child. My high school boyfriend and I disagreed about what we would do if I got pregnant, so we never had sex. Most teens never have that discussion beforehand.

My stance on abortion has developed into an insistence on birth control. I believe it answers both pro-life and pro-choice stances. Prevention of pregnancy is preferable to termination of one, both sides must agree to that. So, I say, pro-lifers start promoting birth control, because abstinence has a high failure rate. And pro-choicers, choose birth control before sex rather than deal with the issue afterward. There cannot be the lack of accountability that currently exists in the concept of “abortion on demand.”

I think that free birth control and limited use of the morning after pill could prevent nearly all abortions. A bold but possible solution, given to us by science.

By the way, my insurance now covers birth control pills as a prescription drug, but doesn’t cover erectile dysfunction drugs. Interesting.