"Religious Freedom Doesn't Require Women to Suffer, Mr. President."
October 10, 2018; Op-Ed
Every month, starting at the age of 10, I would miss days of school to stay at home, bedridden. I would spend the day unable to move, eat, or sleep because of the immobilizing pain in my lower abdomen. My mother would bring soup to my bedroom, only to come back an hour later to find me still curled up and sobbing. We knew birth control could help my pain, but she was hesitant to take her ten-year-old to the gynecologist. We waited another three years, watching my monthly agony escalate. The doctor, within minutes, agreed that birth control was my best option. It seemed easy enough, take the prescription to the pharmacist, then wait for my medication. It was not that easy.
Without insurance, three months of my birth control pills would be over $500. Insurance brings the cost down to only about $15, though the cost adds up. The pill is one of the cheapest methods of contraception when compared to easier, longer lasting options. 62% of women of reproductive age (15-44) use contraceptives, be that anything from condoms to complete sterilization. The average desired family size in the U.S. is two children. If women do not wish for more but do wish to remain sexually active with their partner, the woman will have to use contraceptives for upwards of 30 years. This doesn't include the cost of copays on appointments with her gynecologist, the cost of her children, or other costs involved in maintaining reproductive health.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has made great progress in the availability of contraceptives. Yet, over the past months, the Trump-Pence administration has attempted to undermine this. One benefit of the ACA is that employer or schools must cover birth control in their insurance policies. New regulations would allow these same organizations to restrict or completely stop covering contraceptives by saying it goes against their “religious or moral obligations”. In a survey done by the Guttmacher Institute, 50 percent of women said that access to birth control had allowed them to “get or keep my job or career”, and 63 percent answered that it had allowed them to “take better care of myself or my family”. Many women miss weeks of their job during pregnancy, or like me, have to miss school or work every month due to debilitating pain. This disconnect from other members of the workforce should not be forced on women who do not desire it, something restricted access to birth control would do.
The first amendment of the U.S. Constitution ensures religious freedom, a guarantee that has been important from the very birth of our country. Yet, in allowing employers to revoke birth control access, aren't you pressing religious beliefs on another U.S. citizen? Why should the government have the right to honor specific religious beliefs and ultimately harm the physical and social health of women, who have only recently been relieved of their duties of “housewife” and “child bearer”? The answer is that they shouldn't. Respecting religious freedom and expression is an important aspect of the American way, but this new regulation also takes away a woman's freedom from her employer's religious beliefs.
It does not help that those who are making decisions on reproductive rights aren't even women, and are incredibly and disgustingly misinformed on contraceptives. There are people who believe the use of birth control is also a “method of abortion” or is otherwise “anti-life”. These people do not take into account the women, like me, who use contraceptives for reasons other than to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control treats a variety of reproductive disorders, including dysmenorrhea, which I have suffered from for nearly half a decade.
But, if preventing accidental pregnancy was the only reason to use contraceptives, there is clear evidence that it has lowered that too. The United States is at a 30 year low in the rate of unwanted pregnancy. Many who oppose abortion are also against contraceptives, even though access to birth control lowers the rate of unwanted pregnancy.
We have made leaps and bounds in women's rights in the past century. Trump's attacks on reproductive rights are by no means shocking. The fight for equality is still ongoing, this is another obstacle in the long battle for equal rights.