# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/81 "2015-09-18T00:30:36Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > If such a woman existed, then yes. I’ve seen no evidence that such a woman exists. As I mentioned, the CDC also surveyed women on reasons for not using birth control. Inability to afford it did not even register. > > If there really are a lot of woman who currently don’t have access to birth control, you’d rather think that those demanding increased access to birth control would be able to produce some evidence of the fact. Whether or not there are women who don’t have access to birth control doesn’t change the fundamentally misleading way you attempted to use that statistic to back up your argument. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/82 "2015-09-18T00:38:26Z")
> [@GoodOmens](#): > > ['Sting' Videos Of Planned Parenthood Are Totally Manipulated, Forensic Analysis Finds | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/planned-parenthood-sting-videos-forensic_55df2334e4b029b3f1b1be9f) > > 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. The family planning provider strongly denies both charges, and five separate state investigations into Planned Parenthood have cleared the organization of any wrongdoing.” That leaves out quite a bit. [Here’s a link to one of the videos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzMAycMMXp8). It features Holly McDonnell, a technician for Stem Express, a company that purchases fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood. She describes an incident that took place at a Planned Parenthood clinic in San Jose. A Planned Parenthood employee invited her into the surgery room by saying, “I want you to see something kinda cool. This is kinda neat.” The cool and kinda neat thing was an infant with a beating heart. O’Donnell says that she didn’t know whether the infant was dead or alive. It was a live infant, [according to federal law](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/1/8). But O’Donnell’s company wanted to purchase fetal tissue and Planned Parenthood wanted to sell it, so according O’Donnell, they sliced up the infant with scissors to remove the organs. The report that was quoted in the Huffington Post comes from Fusion GPS, which is not “neutral” or a team of “forensic experts”. It’s a [left wing group](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304203604577397031654422966) that specializes in hit pieces on Republicans or anyone the Democrats don’t like, digging up dirt and exposing the personal lives of those who, for instance, donate to the Republican Party. ---
**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 18, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/83 "2015-09-18T00:43:09Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Firstly, you may not be aware of this, but a million is kind of a big number. Emphasizing that almost three million women rely on Planned Parenthood to get their health care isn’t really an argument in favor of defunding them. Kind of the opposite, really. Three million out of a total population of 320 million is a really small number, as in less than 1%. Why should we fund that, instead of the 13,540 community health care clinics? ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/84 "2015-09-18T00:49:52Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > But is that a useful and honest description of the situation, or is it maybe rather egregiously misleading in the style to which we’ve become accustomed to hearing from the social conservative fringe? Well if it’s dishonest to say that an organization which doesn’t provide mammograms doesn’t provide mammograms, I guess I’m dishonest. It seems to me there’s a large and clear difference between providing a service and providing referrals for it. If a particular medical office advertised offering a service while in reality only offering referrals, they’d be on the hook for false advertising. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/85 "2015-09-18T00:50:16Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Three million out of a total population of 320 million is a really small number, as in less than 1%. That’s a very Stalin-esque attitude you’ve got on display there. Contrary to the Great Mustache, there isn’t actually a point where three million people stop being three million people, and turn into just a statistic. > [@](#): > > Why should we fund that, instead of the 13,540 community health care clinics? Why is it an either/or proposition? Why not fund all of them? ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/86 "2015-09-18T01:06:21Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > 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. When I was fresh out of grad school and marginally employed and not yet covered by my employer’s health insurance plan, and not in need of contraception because I was not sexually active, Planned Parenthood treated me on a sliding scale for a minor gynecological infection. They do a lot of that sort of work. Planned Parenthood is also a handy place for women to go even if, say, they have insurance coverage but don’t want the primary policyholder (probably their parent or spouse) to see the explanation of benefits for services they received but want to keep confidential. Like, say, if they are teenagers (or even college students, or anyone up to age 26 now that the ACA allows people up to age 26 to be covered on their parents’ insurance) who want contraception or abortion counseling. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/87 "2015-09-18T01:07:46Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Mea culpa, I grabbed the wrong bit of text. But you still edited what you quoted, no doubt about that: I “edited” what I quoted? Well so did you. What would you expect me to do, quote the entire 54-page report? Here’s what I quoted: “Contraceptive use in the United States is virtually universal among women of reproductive age.” Here the context: This is the first report of findings from the 2006–2008 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). The findings are based on interviews with a national sample of 7,356 women aged 15–44. Future reports based on the interviews with both men and women will describe many other aspects of fertility and family life in the United States. 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. Now here’s what you accused me of in post #46: “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.” Would you care to explain in what way I edited a sentence to make it appear to say something it didn’t say? ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/88 "2015-09-18T01:31:12Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Lately Democrats have been rushing to the defense of Planned Parenthood. Some are recycling the old claim that Planned Parenthood provides mammograms to those who couldn’t otherwise afford them– Who is doing this? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/89 "2015-09-18T01:31:25Z")
> [@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. 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 YogSosoth, I’m giving you a warning for this. This is pretty much exactly the same path that Der Trihs went down and we don’t want that to happen again. It is possible to debate and discuss without demonizing. Demonizing one’s opponents accomplishes nothing and damages debate. Please don’t do it again. ---
**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 18, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/90 "2015-09-18T01:56:02Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Why is it an either/or proposition? Why not fund all of them? Because one group is committing abortions, and one is not. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/91 "2015-09-18T02:14:20Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Because one group is committing abortions, and one is not. Performing, not committing. Abortion is not a crime. ---
**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 18, 2015, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/92 "2015-09-18T02:15:28Z")
Oh my God, doctors are committing health care! This must be stopped! ---
**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 18, 2015, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/93 "2015-09-18T02:57:48Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Oh my God, doctors are committing health care! This must be stopped! In the vast majority of cases, abortion is not healthcare. Saving the life of the mother is healthcare. I’m too young, poor, and stupid to have a child is not healthcare. It’s eugenics. ---
**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 18, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/94 "2015-09-18T03:56:39Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > I “edited” what I quoted? Well so did you. What would you expect me to do, quote the entire 54-page report? > > Here’s what I quoted: “Contraceptive use in the United States is virtually universal among women of reproductive age.” > > Here the context: > > This is the first report of findings from the 2006–2008 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). The findings are based on interviews with a national sample of 7,356 women aged 15–44. Future reports based on the interviews with both men and women will describe many other aspects of fertility and family life in the United States. > > 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. > > Now here’s what you accused me of in post #46: “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.” > > Would you care to explain in what way I edited a sentence to make it appear to say something it didn’t say? I didn’t accuse you of anything, I pointed out what you had done: you removed context by removing the explanation of what “virtually universal” meant. It was pitifully obvious. Heck, you just showed everyone what you edited out. Why you felt it necessary when I had already quoted the same thing is beyond me, but thanks for confirming what I already pointed out. BTW, the notion that I edited anything simply because I did not quote the entire document is laughable. Your arguments and your tactics are seriously lacking. ---
**Author:** ![halman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@halman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/halman)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/95 "2015-09-18T06:06:49Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > In the vast majority of cases, abortion is not healthcare. > > Saving the life of the mother is healthcare. > > I’m too young, poor, and stupid to have a child is not healthcare. It’s eugenics. No, I disagree. Eugenics is selecting genes for reproduction of desired qualities. Be that as it may, having an abortion is healthcare when the procedure is performed in a clinic. You are arguing for young, poor, and stupid to have offspring. Who is going to pay for the raising of the child, it’s education, and healthcare? You are. So you are actually endorsing inferior elements of society to procreate. I guess that is reverse eugenics. ---
**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 18, 2015, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/96 "2015-09-18T07:24:52Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > I’m not quite understanding your line of reasoning. Law requires that all forms of birth control be covered by all health insurance plans without any copay; meanwhile, other medications including those that save lives are not required to be covered without copay. Most people still pay money for them. Why would it wrong for someone to pay for birth control, but quite alright for them to pay for live-saving medicine? The answer surely has nothing to do with the cost of the medication or its rarity; nothing in the rules mentions those things. My guess is you already know the answer and are only pretending to be ignorant, but I’ll answer anyway. There are three ways for a nation to provide healthcare. A pure Libertarian system where, for example, you might be able to get Health Insurance for Celibate Christians Only, where you’d be tested on a catechism and given the best discounts only if you allowed cameras to be installed in your bedroom. Are you advocating this, **Champion**? A single-payer system, which would be highly efficient, and where all prescribed medicines might be completely free. Are you advocating this, **Champion**? The system that’s evolved in the U.S., written by thousands of lobbyists and lawyers – a very complicated system of rules, mostly dictated to satisfy moneyed interests, though some were intended to (gasp) appease liberal supporters of the Democratic Party. Given the complicated hodgepodge **there will inevitably be many things that seem inconsistent to _some_ people, and can be claimed as Gotcha’s by those who hate Obama and hence hate Obamacare.** Get it? OK, I’ve answered your question, **Champion**. Are you going to answer mine? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/97 "2015-09-18T11:09:09Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > Performing, not committing. Abortion is not a crime. Or a “sin.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_D\_Adamo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@John\_D\_Adamo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_D_Adamo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/98 "2015-09-18T19:09:09Z")
[The House just voted 248-177 to defund Planned Parenthood.](http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/house-votes-defund-planned-parenthood) As this faces certain filibuster and certain veto, a shutdown will most likely happen… ---
**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 18, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/99 "2015-09-18T19:42:15Z")
Notwithstanding the controversy about Planned Parenthood, and notwithstanding the idea that physicians are medical professionals who are licensed and certified to practice healthcare and eugenics, I think we’re not really addressing the question the OP is actually trying to get at. Public policy has recently prioritized the access to birth control more so than for other pharmaceuticals. That’s certainly true, but the OP is really questioning whether one pharmaceutical should enjoy this privilege. I think it is a justifiable privilege for several reasons. First, birth control pills are not exactly cheap as dirt, but neither are they expensive drugs. A cost of around about $500 a year is that sort of level where middle class folks can certainly afford it, but less well off folks probably find it a burden. On the flip side, considering that insurance often covers 90% or more of medications costing hundreds of dollars per month, covering the full ride on a $40 monthly prescription isn’t exactly killing the insurance industry. If insurance had to cover 100% of every drug that costs less than, say, $50 or $100 per month, I think that may add up to a very substantial cost to industry and have much greater impacts. Plus, the major selling point of making birth control easy to access is that reducing unplanned pregnancies pretty much makes everyone’s life better. Fewer single parent households, less in medical costs for prenatal care, fewer abortions, less call for WIC and other government benefits, and so on. I suppose other medications can make a claim to various societal benefits – someone doesn’t have to call 911 if they can afford and actually take medication that they need – but off the top of my head, birth control pills seem to have a pretty unique claim to having so many potential ways to avoid cost – either monetary or sociological. So, yeah, I think birth control is a little different than most other drugs I can think of, and treating it differently than, say, antibiotics or other pharmaceuticals seems like pretty good policy to me. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549/100 "2015-09-18T19:59:09Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > My guess is you already know the answer and are only pretending to be ignorant, but I’ll answer anyway. > > There are three ways for a nation to provide healthcare. > > A pure Libertarian system where, for example, you might be able to get Health Insurance for Celibate Christians Only, where you’d be tested on a catechism and given the best discounts only if you allowed cameras to be installed in your bedroom. Are you advocating this, **Champion**? > > A single-payer system, which would be highly efficient, and where all prescribed medicines might be completely free. Are you advocating this, **Champion**? > > The system that’s evolved in the U.S., written by thousands of lobbyists and lawyers – a very complicated system of rules, mostly dictated to satisfy moneyed interests, though some were intended to (gasp) appease liberal supporters of the Democratic Party. Given the complicated hodgepodge **there will inevitably be many things that seem inconsistent to _some_ people, and can be claimed as Gotcha’s by those who hate Obama and hence hate Obamacare.** Get it? A classic example of the excluded middle fallacy. There is no reason why these would be the only three possibilities. Indeed there are many countries that use none of these three possibilities. > [@Septimus](#): > > OK, I’ve answered your question, Champion. Are you going to answer mine? What, you mean this: “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?” You’re quite free to search on Google yourself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-birth-control/731549.md?page=6)