Advocates Call for Making Contraceptive Use Easier
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Posts: 6,651
Just got this email from the Alan Guttmacher Institute:
Thoughts?
Guttmacher wrote:GROWING MOVEMENT CALLS FOR STEPS TO MAKE
CONTRACEPTIVES EASIER TO OBTAIN AND USE
A Range of Concerns Would Need to Be Addressed
To Ensure that All Women Benefit
A growing number of women’s health advocates are urging bolder and potentially transformative steps toward greater "contraceptive convenience," with the aim of making contraceptive use easier and more sustainable for women, according to a new Guttmacher policy analysis. These advocates argue that many of the ways in which contraceptives are made available in the United States are no longer grounded in the reality of current scientific advancements or modern women’s lives.
Research shows that half of all adult women at risk of unintended pregnancy are inadequately protected because, over the course of a given year, they don’t use contraceptives at all, use them inconsistently or incorrectly, or have a gap in use lasting more than a month. A complex web of reasons contributes to women’s difficulties in using contraceptives, ranging from method dissatisfaction to life disruptions. Advocates of a contraceptive convenience agenda are pushing for measures to break down many of the medical and societal barriers to better use.
"In a variety of ways, society makes women’s contraceptive access needlessly hard, and it can and should be made easier. By stripping away layers of medical intervention or requirements that are outmoded or unnecessary, we can go beyond current efforts to make contraceptive service delivery more user friendly," says Sneha Barot, author of the new analysis. "For instance, many women’s health experts have concluded that a number of hormonal contraceptives—including the birth control pill—should be available to women directly at pharmacies, without the requirement of a doctor’s prescription. Such steps would make contraceptives easier to obtain and use without interruption, and would also decrease other financial and logistical hurdles."
Barot’s analysis points out, however, that proposals to "demedicalize" contraception also raise serious concerns. For example, removing the prescription requirement for oral contraceptives could make pills unaffordable for low-income women if it also resulted in the removal of private insurance and Medicaid coverage. Likewise, eliminating the need to go to doctors or family planning clinics for contraceptives could jeopardize access to other preventive health services normally provided in these settings. Minority communities, especially, could be affected, potentially aggravating existing inequalities.
"Any efforts to push for over-the-counter status would need to resolve serious challenges —including cost and access to health care—that marginalized populations would be facing," says Barot. "To make contraceptives easier to use, even without the benefit of instructions from a doctor, would also mean revamping package labeling to make it more comprehensible and accurate."
Barot further notes that a number of other measures also need to be pursued to truly make contraceptives easier for women to obtain and use. One of the most important of these is to create a fundamental shift in societal attitudes toward contraception, so that users will face fewer restrictions—and more support.
"Making access to and use of contraceptives easier is not trivializing an important reproductive health issue or promoting irresponsible attitudes or behavior—quite the opposite," says Barot. "‘Convenience’ in the area of contraceptive access would translate into practical and meaningful support for women who are trying to avoid unwanted pregnancies, improve their health, and better plan their lives."
Click here to read "Making the Case for a ‘Contraceptive Convenience’ Agenda," by Sneha Barot, in the Fall 2008 issue of the Guttmacher Policy Review.
Thoughts?
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www.seanbrady.net
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Care to elaborate?
I like this idea. I called my OBGYN three months ago to get birth control pills. Because I had my last annual exam in October of 2007, it was too soon (according to my insurance company, the receptionist told me) for me to come get another exam. So I asked if I could make an appointment to just talk to my doctor about birth control pills to obtain a prescription without an exam. Well, the office has a policy that the Dr. won't prescribe birth control without doing an exam first. So, there was nothing they could do. It had been too long since my last exam, according to the Dr. office. It hadn't been long enough according to the insurance company. :rolleyes:
Yes, I could have paid out of pocket for the exam, but would have ended up being out a couple hundred dollars and even more if further tests/examinations were prescribed as a result of that visit. Luckily, it was only three months that I had to wait, but it seems pretty pointless that I had to wait until my exam and then get a prescription before even receiving the results of my pap smear.
See, that's just the kind of bullshit that makes it difficult for women to effectively use (or maintain use of) contraception! The insurance company is trying to save themselves money at the expense of your healthcare. (It still astounds me that people think this doesn't happen.) The doc is following outdated standards of care. And you're stuck in the middle without access to reliable birth control, despite your best efforts to get it. (And, for whomever is about to say she could just use condoms, note that I said "reliable" birth control.)
Holding pills hostage for paps is just a bad idea. Many women get pregnant while they're waiting. (If their insurance doesn't act as a barrier, just the sheer amount of time it takes to get an appointment often does.) And we wonder why we have one the highest unintended pregnancy rates in the developed world! :(
lol, yeah...my two year old? She's here because condoms aren't 100%.
Free contraception regardless of income.
Wembley 18/06/07
If there was a reason, it was you.
O2 Arena 18/09/09
that's just plain crazy talk. :rolleyes:
seriously, better access and affordability of birth control would make it better for all! reading brain of j.lo's post makes me crazy! such shit should not happen! imagine how difficult it is for someone young, no parental consent, not a lot of $$$, concerned about social/religious stigmas....yet they want to do the 'right' thing and protect their health, protect from unwanted pregnancy? yea, yea...abstinence. meanwhile, in reality...many young people want and do have sex. let's deal with it, constructively. and let's make it easier and more affordable for those older, wiser, married or unmarried too. it's ridiculous.
i remember years ago when i was going to live abroad a few months but wanted to maintain taking BC pills, it was basically impossible b/c i could not fill a prescription that would cover the time period. wtf? am i going to OD on BC pills? if i am making my co-pay for the prescription, wtf difference does it make if i get 1 month or 3 months at a time? crazy. i am happily outside of 'worrying' about BC since we now chose permanent BC, but many, many folks want to keep their reproductive options oepn AND still be responsible until the time they truly want to have a child, or another child. it should not be so difficult.
i DO hope they manage to balance the needs of access AND affordability, b/c that definitely IS a HUGE issue.
Let's just breathe...
I am myself like you somehow