# What's the big deal about birth control? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 17, 2015, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549 "2015-09-17T08:40:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/41 "2015-09-17T16:04:04Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Emphasis mine. Honestly, I think you’ve just disqualified yourself from participating in this discussion. I was not aware I needed a certificate from you to participate in this thread.:rolleyes: > [@](#): > > Silphium was an abortificant. (Probably. We’re not entirely sure what plant it was) And any way, it’s extinct so - no, it hasn’t been around for centuries. > > And that’s ignoring that herbal abortificants are dangerous drugs that frequently cause death from blood loss. Herbal abortificants are not safe to use as routine birth control. > > On top of that, abortion was illegal in most historic post-roman societies. People who practiced herbal medicine were often attacked as witches . Firstly, stop peddling ignorance. Herbalism has a thousands of years history from infact before there was civilisation;[many modern drugs are based upon the ingredients in herbal and traditional medicine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_herbalism). It included people as diverse as Catholic Monks, Sumerians, Chinese, Arabs, and Medieval Europeans. Nor was “abortion illegal in most post Roman societies”.[For most of history it has been tolerated, allowed or disliked, punished slightly ,but many legal traditions permitted or only mildly punished abortion up to quickening. Most laws against abortion came in the 19th century.]([History of abortion - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_abortion#Attitudes_towards_abortion)) > [@](#): > > There is nothing about the history of abortion that matches the safe and effective method of birth control pills. > The IUD is safe _today_; it wasn’t safe at the time that the BC pill was reaching mass popularity. Birth control pills are not free from deleterious and occasionally dangerous side effects. They are safer then most, and certainly safer then previous methods, but modern medicine is safer than pretty much anything in history, so thats not saying much. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/42 "2015-09-17T16:09:41Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > I’m not grasping your argument at all. First of all, you say “up to half of the population at any time might take the pill”. Huh? While you might not know it from listening to Democratic Senators, there are plenty of women and girls who don’t use the pill, either by being to young or old to get pregnant, or not sexually active, or simply choosing not to. According to the CDC report I linked to, 17% of women in the relevant age range use the pill. My sister was prescribed birth control pills when she was 13 (she had some seriously bad cramps). I am pretty sure she was not sexually active then. You don’t get the pill just for birth control. > [@](#): > > Second, there’s no reason why the level of funding for a medicine would be tied to the percentage of the population that uses it. Statins are used by tens of millions of Americans. So are anti-depressants. But the coverage requirements for those are no different from medications that are rarely used. And why not? Drugs which are used regularly will be cheaper and easier to provide then ones used rarely. And especially for a drug that many people might have social, cultural or emotional issues about. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/43 "2015-09-17T16:12:09Z")
> [@GoodOmens](#): > > For a start. The key paragraph: > “The videos show Planned Parenthood doctors discussing the donation of fetal tissue after abortions – a legal practice. But the CMP edited the videos into episodes that make it look as though Planned Parenthood is selling fetal parts for profit and changing abortion methods to deliver intact specimens.” I watched their first video, and I didn’t get the impression that its editing of the conversations was what was the culprit. If you just listened to the conversations, and didn’t watch the video’s interspersed graphics and comments, the conversations were fine. But those graphics and comments were intended to mislead: “Look, she’s about to say that they sell fetal parts!” Then when the lady mentions the handling fees that are perfectly OK, a non-careful viewer gets the impression that she was talking about that being a profit center. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/44 "2015-09-17T16:17:32Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Everyone in the USA has been able to get birth control for decades; I linked to a CDC report in the OP which says so. Yet we’ve had tens of millions of abortions over those same decades. Plainly the claim that birth control will prevent abortions is not true. The claim that seatbelts reduce injuries in car crashes is a lie because people still die in car crashes. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/45 "2015-09-17T16:29:19Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > On the **third** hand [nitpick] You misspelled “gripping”. [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/46 "2015-09-17T16:30:29Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > It is actually possible to read a report, rather than merely searching for a word within it. From p. 15 of the report I linked to: “Contraceptive use in the United States is virtually universal among women of reproductive age.” If virtually all women use birth control, than obviously virtually all women can access birth control. The report also contains a survey of reasons why women who didn’t use birth control chose not to do so; lack of access wasn’t even mentioned. And it possible quote the relevant part of a 54 page document, rather than just linking to it. You didn’t do that, but it’s possible. Of course, it’s also possible to quote complete sentences, and not edit them to make them appear to say something they don’t say; you didn’t do that, either, but it’s possible. > [@](#): > > More than 99% of women 15–44 years of age who have ever had sexual intercourse with a male (referred to as ‘‘sexually experienced women’’) have used at least one contraceptive method. The percentage of women who have ever used emergency contraception, the contraceptive patch, and the contraceptive ring increased between 2002 and 2006–2008. > > Looking at contraceptive use in the month of interview, or current use, the leading method of contraception in the United States during 2006–2008 was the oral contraceptive pill, used by 10.7 million women; the second leading method was female sterilization, used by 10.3 million women. > > While contraceptive use is virtually universal in the United States, women with different characteristics make different choices of methods—for example, college educated women are much more likely to use the pill and less likely to use female sterilization than less educated women. Age, parity, marital status, and income are also closely related to the choice of method. These method choices are related to the risk of unintended pregnancy in these groups. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/47 "2015-09-17T16:33:15Z")
I’ll tell you why Planned Parenthood has my support. About 10 years ago, my life changed forever. I was a recent college graduate, living in Oakland and struggling to survive on part-time jobs and temp work. The dot com bust was in full swing, and I had no idea how to break out of my rut. I was broke, going nowhere, frustrated and just plain stuck. Then I received something incredible- an invitation to serve with the Peace Corps in West Africa. A ticket to another life. I knew, with absolute certainty, that this was the right place for me to be. I had one little hoop to jump through-- about ten pages of health forms I was required to complete in order to be accepted. I needed a full physical and a dozen tests that would take at least three visits to complete. I was uninsured, and I didn’t have a lot of money. I called doctors. Some hung up on me. I woke up at 5 AM to wait in line for the free clinic for the homeless in Berkeley. I called county social workers to see if there was any- any- program that would help me get a physical. I tried everything I could. Then I called Planned Parenthood. They made me an appointment. No questions asked. Over the course of the next few weekends, I took the bus three hours to San Mateo and walked through the crowds of protestors with their bloody fetus signs, yelling at me, and I got medical care. I paid a reasonable fee based on my income. A month later, I was in a Cameroonian classroom. Ten years later, I have a successful international career. They gave me medical care when nobody else would. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/48 "2015-09-17T16:36:56Z")
Mea culpa, I grabbed the wrong bit of text. But you still edited what you quoted, no doubt about that: > [@](#): > > Contraceptive use in the United States is virtually universal among women of reproductive age: 99% of all women who had ever had intercourse had ever used at least one contraceptive method in their lifetime (Table 1 and Figure 1. In 2006–2008, 93% (49.5 million) had ever had a partner who used the male condom, 82% (43.8 million) had ever used the oral contraceptive pill, and 59% (31.3 million) had ever had a partner who used withdrawal. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/49 "2015-09-17T16:40:28Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > From p. 15 of the report I linked to: “Contraceptive use in the United States is virtually universal among women of reproductive age.” > [@](#): > > According to the CDC report I linked to, 17% of women in the relevant age range use the pill. Am I missing something, or is there a conflict in these two facts? How is 17% “virtually universal”? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/50 "2015-09-17T16:47:51Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > **Shodan** and others are great proponents of “rules” in life. One of their rules, which I agree with, is “don’t have children until you can afford it”. To do this, though, you need to have everyone have access to birth control and we need to 100% legitimize it. No calling Sandra Fluke a slut because she wants some. > > Republicans make no sense. On the one hand they are spitting invectives about all of the welfare moms and their umpteen babies. On the other hand they are trash-talking anyone who wants birth control and limiting access to birth control left and right. On the third hand they demonize abortion! But abortions will only go down with education and birth control! Like you said, there are “rules” Republicans believe in. You got most of it, but there’s one you forgot: they want to punish women for sex. It would be a nightmare for them if all women could have sex without fear of pregnancy as controlling women through their biology is probably historically the most effective weapon men have against women ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/51 "2015-09-17T16:48:11Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Everyone in the USA has been able to get birth control for decades; I linked to a CDC report in the OP which says so. Yet we’ve had tens of millions of abortions over those same decades. Plainly the claim that birth control will prevent abortions is not true. The study you linked to shows how use of birth control has grown considerably since the early 1980s. Are you aware that the rate of abortions has nearly halved over that same period of time? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/52 "2015-09-17T16:50:12Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [nitpick] > > You misspelled “gripping”. > > [/nitpick] Nerd. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/53 "2015-09-17T17:03:38Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Like you said, there are “rules” Republicans believe in. You got most of it, but there’s one you forgot: **they want to punish women for sex.** Cite for the bolded part? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/54 "2015-09-17T17:03:54Z")
[QUOTE=even sven] I had one little hoop to jump through-- about ten pages of health forms I was required to complete in order to be accepted. I needed a full physical and a dozen tests that would take at least three visits to complete. I was uninsured, and I didn’t have a lot of money. I called doctors. Some hung up on me. I woke up at 5 AM to wait in line for the free clinic for the homeless in Berkeley. I called county social workers to see if there was any- any- program that would help me get a physical. I tried everything I could. Then I called Planned Parenthood. They made me an appointment. No questions asked. Over the course of the next few weekends, I took the bus three hours to San Mateo and walked through the crowds of protestors with their bloody fetus signs, yelling at me, and I got medical care. I paid a reasonable fee based on my income. A month later, I was in a Cameroonian classroom. Ten years later, I have a successful international career. [/QUOTE] For a foreigner, please explain what exactly Planned Parenthood does (is it private, state, municipal, Federal, publicly funded, public-private partnership?) and the range of services it offers. Your post seems to suggest that it does beyond mere reproductive issues. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/55 "2015-09-17T17:24:55Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I’ve heard that Planned Parenthood is in business to profit by “selling baby parts.” **Champion** , can you use your Google skills to inform us about this? Thanks to those who answered, but I’d already clicked HuffingtonPost. I want to know how **Champion** answers. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/56 "2015-09-17T17:26:41Z")
And here I thought this thread was going to be from the other side of the issue: Contraception is, at the grassroots level, completely uncontroversial. The proportion if Americans who don’t use contraception is so small that not using it will get you a reality TV show. And the proportion who actually have moral objections to it must be even smaller yet. So why is there any political fuss at all? Who are all of these pharmacists who refuse to sell it, and where are they coming from? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/57 "2015-09-17T17:43:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And here I thought this thread was going to be from the other side of the issue: Contraception is, at the grassroots level, completely uncontroversial. The proportion if Americans who don’t use contraception is so small that not using it will get you a reality TV show. And the proportion who actually have moral objections to it must be even smaller yet. So why is there any political fuss at all? Who are all of these pharmacists who refuse to sell it, and where are they coming from? There are some forms of BC that can be viewed, by some people, as causing abortions. Plan B, for instance. I don’t think you find a lot of people saying they won’t sell condoms or The Pill. The Hobby Lobby case was about 4 forms of BC (out of about 20) that they did not want to finance. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/58 "2015-09-17T18:12:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And here I thought this thread was going to be from the other side of the issue: Contraception is, at the grassroots level, completely uncontroversial. The proportion if Americans who don’t use contraception is so small that not using it will get you a reality TV show. And the proportion who actually have moral objections to it must be even smaller yet. So why is there any political fuss at all? Who are all of these pharmacists who refuse to sell it, and where are they coming from? Hypocrisy. My birth control is moral, but not for those wanton sluts. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/59 "2015-09-17T18:57:14Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > There are some forms of BC that can be viewed, by some people, as causing abortions. Plan B, for instance. I don’t think you find a lot of people saying they won’t sell condoms or The Pill. The scientific basis for that belief is, of course, is extremely well established. Once one of those little swimming sperm cell bastards comes within sight of a naked egg, it’s all over! The science says that you wear the rubber or you clobber the female egg first, or live with the consequences. God says so, too. This is solid science. Not at all like the evidence for something like, say, climate change, which _ **most of these exact same lunatics** _ don’t believe in because the science is so danged complicated. Kind of like how synthetic progestin actually works in some forms of birth control pills, after the fact. God isn’t interested. I really enjoy watching right-wing politics. It’s kind of like Alice in Wonderland, but with much less actual reality. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/60 "2015-09-17T19:07:45Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > The scientific basis for that belief is, of course, is extremely well established. Once one of those little swimming sperm cell bastards comes within sight of a naked egg, it’s all over! The science says that you wear the rubber or you clobber the female egg first, or live with the consequences. God says so, too. I realize the comments are made in jest, but for observers who may not get it, the science is overwhelming that birth control and emergency contraception (the morning-after pill) work by preventing ovulation, meaning that nothing gets fertilized at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549.md?page=4)