With the pro-life and pro-choice divisiveness at record high following the Supreme Court leak suggesting an overturn or Roe v. Wade, I too entered uncharted territory: Filling a birth control prescription for our teenage daughter. Sounds easy, right? Wrong.
Aside from the doctor appointment, filling the actual prescription was a minor herculean task. The grocery store pharmacy I’ve used for years was only able to give us a month at a time. I spent over 40 minutes on the phone trying to get the prescription transferred to another pharmacy (prefered by our insurance) that would fill birth control in three-month installments, but to no avail.
For some unknown reason, we weren’t able to get home delivery either.
Why is it so difficult for females to get birth control? And why isn’t greater education and accessibility at the forefront of the abortion discussion? I believe life starts before birth, and research shows that accesses to birth control (and education) drastically decreases abortion rates.
I echo Jeffrey Peipert, MD, a Washington University obstetrician and gynecologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital who’s research showed a drastic decrease in abortion rates (62 -78 percent) when birth control was made available at no cost. Peipert’s research concluded, “we can reduce the rate of unintended pregnancy, and this is key to reducing abortions in this country” by making contraceptives more accessible.
Meagan Nelson, Bountiful
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