Although we here at Brandeis are lucky enough to have the enthusiastic and vocal student-run organization Student Sexuality Information Services at hand to meet many of our varied sexual needs, sometimes our birth control needs go beyond condoms stuffed in our mailboxes.
As of last summer, a new set of rules would have required that all insurance companies must provide birth control and emergency contraception to women at no cost. Yes, you read that right. Birth control and emergency contraception would be free to all women with insurance!
The new guidelines, which would have gone into effect by 2013, would have been a great step forward for women with insurance who may have trouble paying an expensive monthly fee for their birth control; according to the Planned Parenthood website, birth control pills, one of the most popular options, can cost between $15 and $50 a month! Not only would this measure have reduced the amount of money women pay towards birth control, it would also have sent a message that women’s health is important.
Now, however, Obama is considering allowing insurance provided by Catholic churches, hospitals and universities to be exempt from this measure. Complaints that the new law violates religious freedom have arisen, despite the fact that the rules announced in August already included an exemption for churches but not all religiously-run organizations.
Anti-choice groups, who have already attacked women’s health this year by defunding Planned Parenthoods and placing stricter laws on abortion nationwide, clearly do not want to just change the law; they want to eliminate it and all government-funded women’s healthcare entirely. Should special interest groups really come in the way of our wellbeing?
The facts show that 99 percent of women have used a form of birth control in their lifetime. Many of your fellow classmates, and possibly even you yourself, are just a few of them. Keep on the lookout, Her Campus readers, or you may find yourself buying discounted condoms from SSIS for far too many years to come.