According to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, a 2010 survey found that more than one-third of women across the U.S have struggled to afford birth control at one point in time or another. The struggle to pay for birth control causes it to be used inconsistently and in most cases not to be used at all. The lack of the use of birth control causes pregnancy rates to go up in women of all ages, and causes the amount of women with successful jobs to decline.
Often times we blame high pregnancy rates on not practicing safe sex and being uneducated about the different types of contraceptives we have out there in the world. What we don’t realize is how much money women are actually having to spend over the course of a year just to keep themselves from getting pregnant. For example, for a woman who is taking the pill and that is covered by her health insurance pays anywhere from $15 to $20 a month on the package of pills, over the course of a year that adds up to around $200. For a woman who is not covered by insurance the price doubles or even triples. .
On October 29, 2017 The New York Times published an article titled The Economy Can't Grow Without Birth Control by Bryce Covert. In the article the author explains how women are no longer being offered free or low cost birth control from their employers and with women now having to pay so much for birth control less money goes to businesses and other goods. This eventually causes our economy as a whole to take a hit. The author also argues that providing free birth control allows more woman to reach their goals and strive for a better life and will ultimately provide a better life for the children they bring into this world when they feel the time is right. The arguments made in this article are just a few more reasons that birth control should be free.
Providing women with free birth control will have a huge impact on the way the future of the world goes. It allows women to be more successful, by finishing school or getting a better job by being able to plan and prevent pregnancy. It allows more money to be spent on clothes, groceries, electronics and other things, which will only help support our economy. It also takes stress off of so many people's shoulders making people’s relationships and overall mental stress levels healthier.
I really enjoyed reading this blog because it was insightful to learn how free birth control is able to contribute financially to our economy seeing that one might think because it's free it won't help increase our economy but essentially it will since women will have more money to spend.
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On Thursday, November 2, 2017, Valerie on her blog titled Valerie's Views wrote a commentary blog post dedicated to the economic factors that birth control takes part in a woman's life and in our economy. Valerie provides insight into the struggle to afford birth control along with how the lack of contraceptives increases the chances of women making less money to not making any at all due to the fact that a pregnancy would require women to temporarily or permanently leave their job in order to take care of their children. Thus, birth control making a difference and effecting a woman financially.
Furthermore, Valerie argues that birth control should be free seeing that it will have a significant impact in our future economy and continue to provide comfort and stability in women's lives so they can continue being successful as well allowing them to prevent or plan a pregnancy. To support her claim she makes a reference to an article titled, The Economy Can't Grow Without Birth Control, revealing the reasons why birth control should be provided for free and how free birth control allows women to accomplish their goals in order to provide a better life for themselves and ultimately when the time is right to help them plan a better quality of life for their family. The author mentions that women being provided free birth control allows them to pursue their goals and get successful jobs as wells as how the money they make from their jobs they will be able to spend it, “on clothes, groceries, electronics and other things,” therefore, demonstrating how free birth control contributes financially in making a difference in our economy.
After reading this insightful blog post about how free birth control is pivotal in contributing to the economy and its effects on women financially, I completely agree with Valerie's statements. If I could suggest anything, it would be to maybe provide some ideas on how to make birth control free and how women can take action to make it possible. Other than that I thought the overall blog post itself was a very informational and insightful!