Birth Control in Medicine

Birth Control is a combination of medicine that can be used to prevent pregnancy in the form of pills, injections, shots, etc… and is used differently for every teen and woman but it is widely known for preventing pregnancy during intercourse. There is a dispute in America between whether or not birth control should be given to women without a prescription for birth control. Birth control has been used for many years to prevent pregnancy and to reduce the awful pain women get while in their menstrual cycle. There is evidence that this controversy has caused problems, “clinics operated by Planned Parenthood were frequently the site of angry demonstrations by anti abortion activists… clinics and their staff were also violently attacked in acts of arson, bombings, and murders,” (Britannica). These actions from anti-abortion activists have caused unnecessary violence that can simply be resolved by legalizing birth control to be sold over the counters by pharmacists in your local drugstores. Although there are skeptics about it, birth control should be sold over the counters without prescription because it could decrease teen pregnancy rates, allow women who are sick and poor to have easier access, and it decreases infant death rates.

Birth control, if available to be sold over the counter by pharmacists, can and will decrease teen pregnancy rates because with more teens available to the contraceptive, it could prevent pregnancy overall. According to Britannica, birth control was, “created to free women from the “chronic condition” of pregnancy” (Britannica). With birth control available to women and teens in all over America, it could stop unwanted pregnancies. Teens all over the world suffer from unwanted pregnancies and end up giving their lives up at such a young age and often, they are not financially stable enough to offer the baby with the proper care a child should deserve in his or her life.

Then, with not enough money for the proper medical care for the baby, food shortages follow that, then poor health, and eventually the child will end up paying for it later in their life from the medical conditions or possibly end up paying with their life unfortunately. The CDC published an article on the effects that birth control has on pregnancies. “Birth rates fell 9% for women aged 15–17 years and 7% for women aged 18–19 years… evidence suggests these declines are due to… more teens who are sexually active using birth control than in previous years,” (CDC). These statistics show the connection between teens and women using birth control and the drop in the amount of pregnancies nationwide. Having birth control available in drugstores without prescription to women will also decrease the amount of children each family has.

“The final decades of the 20th century saw a marked increase on average in the use of family planning in developing nations. According to the Population Reference Bureau, between the 1960s, when family planning programs began to be launched in many such countries… the average number of children born to each woman dropped from six to three,” (Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia). The use of birth control will not only decrease pregnancies rates, but it keeps women to having smaller families with a smaller amount of kids. In effect of having birth control more widely available to women, having less kids per family will also help the economy in this aspect. With teens more available to birth control, the rates of teen pregnancies or any women pregnancies can decrease significantly.

Along with decreased pregnancy rates, infant death rates could decrease. If there are no conceptions, there are no babies or infants. When word spread about the number of deceased infants,“infant death rates were commonly so high that most people wished to have a large number of children… as medical care, nutrition, sanitation, and work conditions improved and the death rate began to drop, more attention began to be paid to birth control” (Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia). This evidence from Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia clearly shows that with more birth control being used, infant death rates drop. These two effects are both positive and negative because women were forcing themselves to have more kids to prevent the level of hurt they were going to experience rather than just having one or two kids and risking either’s life altogether.

The positive outcome of dead infants was that people were starting to realize the amount of infants dying were a problem and decided to do something about it and act in improving the devastating statistic. No teen or women deserves to lose their child in their early years of life and if there is a way to prevent this suffering, we need to act to prevent this tragedy from happening to any other mom. According to the Guttmacher Institute, statistics show that there is a positive correlation between teens using family planning and the infant mortality rate. “In countries where fewer than 10% of women use a modern contraceptive method… the average infant mortality rate is 100 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with 79 per 1,000 in countries where 10-29% of women use a method and 52 per 1,000 in countries where 30% or more do so,” (Guttmacher Institute). With these statistics, it is proven that the use of birth control in teens can decrease the rate of infant mortality.

If the contraceptive was more widely available to teens worldwide, the numbers in these statistics would decrease dramatically. Not only infant mortality rates will decrease, but the risks of sick babies being born and unhealthy kids will decrease with the use of birth control.

Women who are sick or poor or have families with low incomes do not have the luxury have affording the insurance that is needed to cover the cost of birth control and the doctor’s visits and checkups that come with insurance and all the scans the doctors take. Not all women can provide their kids with the lives they deserve and they should not have to put any kid through the experience of worrying about when you and your kids are going to eat next or where the next shelter is available to sleep that can hold two people without being separated.

“Many adolescent women, especially in poor countries, are physically immature, which increases their risk of suffering from obstetric complications…teenage mothers also have an increased risk of giving birth to an infant who is premature or low-birth-weight…additionally, pregnant adolescents are less likely than older women to receive good prenatal care and skilled medical care at delivery, and to be able to provide adequate care for an infant” (Guttmacher Institute). Many women risk their lives when giving birth to children. Often, many complications occur such as body complications in the mom or the infant being born with difficulty or a condition that could affect the kids life permanently. With women more access to the contraceptive, they will not have to go through the pain, complications, and the money problems that come with giving birth to the child. Women with lower incomes can not all afford expensive doctors and maybe can only afford what is given and found at their nearest drugstore. “A nationwide survey of reproductive-age women in the U.S. found that over two-thirds (68%) would buy contraceptives from a pharmacist and skip the doctor’s appointment.

Women with lower incomes and women without health insurance were particularly interested in this option…the majority of women surveyed agreed that the pill should be available without a prescription if a pharmacist can help decide whether it’s safe” (Besider). This survey proves that if birth control was more accessible to women around the nation in pharmacies, they would be more likely to take the contraceptive. The survey even was targeted the the low income audience of women to really change things and with that group of women on birth control, many different statistics including infantry death rates and pregnancy rates would drastically change. Some people might argue although that birth control can affect women’s high blood pressure and can cause migraines and impair their vision, their motion and their hearing (Besider).

Even though this may be true to selective women, many women’s body react different to the different medicines used in the contraceptive and you can not predict how every single body will react to the medicine.Alongside with that, there are different types of ingredients used in different birth control pills, so if one is having a problem with one specific brand or those ingredientes in general, they could try switching to an alternative with different ingredients that their body would not respond poorly too. If the side effects show in the medicine on that person with the right guidance of the pharmacist and them taking your blood pressure regularly could get rid of the problems and lead to a healthy happy life (Besider).

Birth control should be sold over the counter because women who are not as financially stable as other women could have easier access to birth control, the rates of teen pregnancy could decrease, and infantry death rates could decrease. Not only those reasons are why birth control should be available in local drugstores to be sold by pharmacists, but it can also help taxpayers and the amount of dollars they have to spend on their end. “In 2010, teen pregnancy and childbirth accounted for at least $9.4 billion in costs to U.S. taxpayers for increased health care and foster care, increased incarceration rates among children of teen parents…” (CDC). With birth control available to teens, this could decrease the amount of taxpayer dollars going to fund pregnancy problems. Birth control, if sold over the counters, would have the potential to help so many women that are in need of the contraceptive would take away the pain of so many women around the nation and could help the those in need of not just money but happiness also. Birth control is a contraceptive every women or teen needs to take away the pain stress, or panic that happens when they get unexpected results in their lives and end up changing their whole future altogether.

Works Cited

About Teen Pregnancy | Teen Pregnancy | Reproductive Health | CDC. 26 Sept. 2018, www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/about/index.htm.

“Birth Control: Discover GALILEO.” World Book, Inc., Chicago. Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=1b15ecb4-5330-4e13-8c98-c3e50c13e9ce%40sessionmgr4010&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=bi101600&db=funk. Accessed 18 Jan. 2019.

“Family Planning Can Reduce High Infant Mortality Levels.” Guttmacher Institute, www.guttmacher.org/report/family-planning-can-reduce-high-infant-mortality-levels. Accessed 31 Jan. 2019.

Planned Parenthood — Britannica School. 17 Dec. 2017. Britannica, school-eb-com.proxygsu-sgwi.galileo.usg.edu/levels/high/article/Planned-Parenthood/125042.

“Should the Pill Be Accessible without a Prescription?: Bedsider .” Bedsider, 7 Mar. 2015, www.bedsider.org/features/170-should-the-pill-be-available-over-the-counter.

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