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The High Cost of Birth Control
The other day I posted a coupon for NuvaRing, a form of birth control. With the upcoming charge to to make birth control without copays mandatory, people who aren’t familiar with the costs of BC could wonder what the fuss is about. A few key points on the cost of birth control:
- Women typically pay between $15 and $50 a month in co-pays for birth control pills — $180 to $600 a year.
- More than half of women aged 18–34 say that the cost of prescription birth control has made it hard for them to use birth control consistently.
- A couple using no birth control has an 85 percent chance of becoming pregnant in one year.
Here’s a chart with a rough breakdown of the cost per year of various types of birth control. (source)
Method Effectiveness Cost Per Year Birth Control Pills 95 percent $160 to $600 Birth Control Patch 95 percent $160 to $600 Cervical Cap 77 to 83 percent $35 to $60 Condoms 85 percent $150 Diaphragm 85 percent $60 Fertility-Awareness 75 to 88 percent Free IUDs 99 percent $100 (varies) Shot (Depo-Provera) 99 percent $220 to $460 Sterilization 99 percent $30 to $200 (varies) Vaginal Ring (NuvaRing) 95 percent $160 to $600 Vaginal Sponge 68 to 84 percent $500 Abstinence 100 percentFree
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Benefits of Birth Control
One of the (ignorant) arguments against affordable, accessible, birth control is often that women should just not have sex. I’m just going to assume that we all know the basis of why the is ridiculous, so I’m going to skip over that part. But the other thing is, birth control can have a number of health benefits.
I have been taking various types of birth control for about a decade now to help keep my endometriosis under control. Quite frankly if it weren’t for birth control I would most likely have a lot of internal damage, as well as really really painful cramps. Luckily, I’m able to keep things under control. A few other benefits:
- It potentially protects against uterine and ovarian cancer
- Reduces the intensity of menstrual cramping
- Treating endometriosis (as mentioned above)
Another commonly known benefit is clearer skin. Do any of you readers have additional benefits of birth control?
Today’s theme is birth control, via a blog carnival arranged by Planned Parenthood and the National Women’s Law center. Feel free to share your experiences, comments, and questions in the comments or via my ask box.
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History of the Pill: Why Birth Control Matters
Included in the video:
Since the pill was approved:
Number of women who graduate from college is up 5x
Pregnancy related deaths down 50%
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Birth Control Blog Carnival
So, tomorrow Planned Parenthood Action Center is teaming up with the National Women’s Law Center to host a BC Blog Carnival. Which I think is a great idea.
There have been a LOT of discussions going on over at The Chicktionary, but I wanted to go ahead and open up my blog for this too. I’m working on lining up some good resources and information about BC for tomorrow, and most likely Friday, but if you have something to add to the conversation or a question you’d like to ask, please do so! Seriously. Anybody. About anything related.
Let’s roll.
