Yikes! Significant increase in women going without birth control

[Modem Butterfly]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45599-2005Jan3.html

At a time when the medical community has been heartened by a decline in risky sexual behavior by teenagers, a different problem has crept up: More adult women are forgoing birth control, a trend that has experts puzzled -- and alarmed about a potential rise in unintended pregnancies.

Buried in the government's latest in-depth analysis of contraceptive use was the finding that the number of women who had sex in the previous three months but did not use birth control rose from 5.2 percent in 1995 to 7.4 percent in 2002. That means that as many as 11 percent of all women are at risk of unintended pregnancy at some point during their childbearing years (ages 15 to 44).

Researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics took pains to point out that the "increase is statistically significant" and that the "apparent change merits further study." Other analysts called the spike a troubling development that translates into at least 4.6 million sexually active women at risk of conceiving a child they had not planned on.

[sniffa]

1. don't worry baby; i'LL just puLL out

besides, you can't get pregnant on the first time.

[Modem Butterfly]

4. In the absence of education, rumors fill in for information

I know you were being sarcastic, but your post brings back unpleasant memories of high school for me. Sex Ed was not allowed in our school district though it was mandated by state law. I was in a small, rural high school near the beach in Oregon. In my graduating class of 80 kids, 38 of which were girls, we had eight who were pregnant or already mothers. EIGHT! Shortly after I graduated, they began teaching Sex Ed.

[sniffa]

5. you'd be surprised

that Lack of info is stiLL a probLem - kids are STILL not using protection.

they need the fear of death put into them. that worked for me.


ps: gLad you got the sarcasm. i was hoping for a spit out the coffee moment. :P

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Heads up, guys! Don't leave home without your rubbers.

[China_cat]

3. Have they taken a look at the health care crisis?

Contraceptives are rarely covered by medical insurance (unlike Viagra) which a low-wage female worker is unlikely to have anyway. Factor in the cost of a doctor's visit to get the prescription, the real possibility of the pharmacy refusing to fill it and refusing to give it back so that you have to make a second trip to the doctor and it's not surprising that many women are going without.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

8. That's one of the points they make

Of course, the Talibornagains are chortling with delight.

[China_cat]

9. Except for the fact

that all this is causing an actual increase in abortions under the Bush admin. They had been decreasing under Clinton.

And I apologize for just skimming the article and not really reading it. Seems like women are on the shit end of the health care system from the time they are conceived.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

11. Of course

But the Shiite Christians don't want to consider that -- as long as they think women are being punished for having sex, it's OK. Besides, gathering of statistics is too close to science for their tastes, and we know how they feel about science.

[BiggJawn]

21. Can you cite that Urban Legend?

"Contraceptives are rarely covered by medical insurance (unlike Viagra)"

My last 2 employers covered prescription contraceptives (including Norplant) but do not offer payment for boner pills.

Until I start seeing people's HMO formularies that state they will pay for Cialis but not Birth control Pills, I'm inclined to call "Bullshit" on the statement that you can get boner pills but not BC pills.

[China_cat]

25. Try looking at the

Federal Employees health care coverage. Contraceptives were removed from the prescription plan 2 years ago. Viagra is still covered.

http://www.siue.edu/ALESTLE/library/SPRING2001/feb08/insurance.html
Only 33 percent of Illinois insurance policies cover birth control for women. With any luck that will change.

Bills proposed in the state House and Senate would require insurance companies to pay for women clients' contraceptives. Many of the companies that do not cover birth control do cover Viagra prescriptions for men.


My husband's Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan will pay for Viagra but not for contraception. (They dropped me 5 years ago when I got sick.)

A lot of people think this is an 'urban legend' but it's not. Neither is the fact that laws have been passed in several states allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control...in effect, allowing the pharmacist's judgement to substitute for the doctor's.

[BiggJawn]

31. Thank you.

OK, it's NOT an "Urban Legend", but it's still ludicrous. That's just plain wrong.

Has any carrier ever tried to explain the rationale behind paying for boners, but not family planning? THAT would be an interesting speech...

And why hasn't a doctor who's had his script for BCP's refused torn a pill-peddler a new asshole yet? I know I would.

"So, you presume to PRESCRIBE for MY patient instead of dispensing *MY* script? Just where in hell did you get *YOUR* MD degree?"

[bobbobbins]

6. I don't use condoms cuz it cuts down the feel...use pill for my sake

[China_cat]

10. Well it also cuts down

on the possibility that you or your partner could die from it 'feeling better'. Which is more important, your fun or your life?

Condoms 1954, birth control. Condoms 2004, death control.

[Bridget Burke]

19. You assume that anybody here is interested?

And, yes, you're risking all kinds of nasty infections.

As well as many years of child support payments.

[rucky]

7. Could be connected to Planned Parenthoods closing down

left and right.

:shrug:

[FizzFuzz]

16. yeah I'd say there's a big connection there

Planned Parenthood is the main source of help, info and contraceptives for young and/or poor women; that is my strong impression. The concerted efforts to lie about and demonize Planned Parenthood are making inroads.

Women suffer.
I'll bet it would be interesting to see some research about militaristic patriarchies and unwanted pregnancies. Seems to me that in societies where women are devalued and their rights methodically stripped away, (and where education is on the decline) one of the few ways girls can feel powerful or even like they exist, is to get pregnant. Hmmmm, it's a hypothesis but it makes sense to me.

[elehhhhna]

12. birth control=sin There was a study done years ago on Catholic

women and their higher than expected abortion rates.

Turns out that birth control is a sin every time you use it, while abortion only counts as one. Voila! Many sins versus one-I'll take my chances!

Could apply to fundie thinking as well...

[Modem Butterfly]

13. I say again, YIKES (NT)

[PurityOfEssence]

23. Huh. Never woulda thoughta THAT...

I'm sure you're right for at least some people, but I must say again that I just don't "get" the cringing believer syndrome. That's not a dig at all belief, just the fire-and-brimstone fear of sin kind.

That's why discussions like this are so important: it's hard to view life from such an alien standpoint, and the fundies are incredibly dangerous to us all.

People need to ask major politicians some very straightforward questions in public and on the record. Do you think sex is a sin? How about if it's not intended for breeding? How about if it's not for breeding, but with someone you care about? How about if it's with someone you REALLY care about? How about if it's with your spouse?

Make 'em go on record as the wackos they are.

[flygal]

42. that is just insane

Why do people want to take back so much progress

[MadHound]

14. I don't think that this is a good thing,

But there could be other explanations for this besides the hypothesis that the fundies are getting to women. It could be something as simple as a whole generation of women are coming into an age where they want a child. Many many women put off having a family throughout the eighties and ninties in order to get their career jump started. Now with their clock ticking loudly, they've decided over the past ten years that having a family is a now or never propisition, thus foregoing condoms.

I don't know, I would like to see a more detailed break down of this study, and I'm not going to register with NYT to find out(not that I believe that the NYT will give me the breakdown that I want).

[Modem Butterfly]

20. It's a WaPo article

And there isn't a further breakdown, unfortunately. This trend bears further study, IMHO.

[seabeyond]

15. liberal woman in 40's

i grew up in california thru the 70's and 80's. i never stayed on birthcontrol, dont like what it does to body, dont like messing with the natural process of body. maybe more women are not wanting to manipulate their system cause a male doesnt want to use a rubber. a rubber that is going to be a tad more effective on DEADLY disease

man wears a rubber, why should a woman take a pill. hubby went to rubber after first child. how we got our second bah hahahahahah. so

everyone feeling more comforted. ah but what a precious second one he is. snip snip to hubby, big thumbs up, works the best

[unpossibles]

17. I have to say

that my wife recently went off the pill because she (and many thousands like her) was feeling depressed and had a lowered libido from all of the hormone adjustments to her body. Also, considering that hormone levels in the water have been mutating fish, this is not the best thing.

We use condoms and I plan on getting a snip quite soon. My only concern with the snip is that I have heard stories of things "growing back" so I am not sure I trust it 100% yet. But still worth the extra piece of mind.

it is a tough call - we are not planning on having children at all, but the depression and anxiety she suffered as a side effect was not worth it. Wear a rubber and be careful about how it is used, guys. And ladies - insist! If he refuses, you refuse too!

[seabeyond]

18. you get a huge hug

that is listening to your woman, and loving her. my husband is like that. i dont hear a lot of that on this board. thank you

and the snip snip isnt fun. but as i say, i got preg with condom. we were old, and i didnt know if i wanted a second. to give all to one child, wow that would be cool and easy to travel with one and live in house with one, the second one, oooosh the work and..........was blessing for us. both kids not planned. we probably would have never said now. we were older and self absorbed in a really fun and cool way, lol. but this, it is even more fun. we love it.

anyway hubby had a two day issue with surgery, but for them to grow back and all, so unusual. tons over the pill and rubbers

[Modem Butterfly]

22. Birth Control = Unnatural?

I feel there's been a movement among conserva-freaks for awhile to stigmatize contraception and scare women into not using birth control. For example, see the rather outrageous claim that the pill causes abortion. I know that when I went on Depo-Provera I heard some of the silliest knee-jerk stuff from my friends and acquaintences. One woman warned me that her sister had gone on Depo about the same time their mother had died and she was so depressed she couldn't stop crying. Gee, that wouldn't have anything to do with her mother dying now would it?

That being said, contraception is much more than the pills and condoms. However, thanks to abstinence education and the continued harassment of Planned Parenthood, I believe a growing number of young women are ignorant of their choices.

[seabeyond]

26. then again i know it was easy as pie for me to get preg

and friend after friend had months of scare not being able to get preg after getting off the pill

yes we hail the pill as safe and virtous. i dont believe it, ergo i dont take it. i dont trust the ritlin drugs ect.......the aleves and viagras of today.

if i am going to put a drug into body, i prefer the home grown type, than the man made type. just my deal

[devilgrrl]

24. Personally, I don't need birth control...

I just rely on my personality. :evilgrin:

[seabeyond]

27. bah hahahahaha

that was funny. didnt see it coming

[devilgrrl]

29. Unfortunately, it's true

:evilfrown:

[seabeyond]

30. never devil girl, nevAH

i just dont believe you. look how charmin you have been just in this moment. just gotta fine one man enough to deal with the devilish you, wink

[anarchy1999]

28. How about the "pill" is too expensive and better yet not healthy!?

I'm almost 50 and I only took the damned things for a year or two. The negatives far outweighed the risks, IMHO.

I could not stand the weight gain or how taking them made me feel. I threw them out. When I turned 40 a very old OB/GYN suggested I needed a hysterectomy (family history of fibroids and I have them), my insurance company said no and told him to put me on birth control pills and anti-depressants. Samples of both went into the back seat of my car, just say no.

Birth control pills and their effects on your health and well being are horrific. There are better ways of being effective in controling reproduction, they are natural and time proven through the ages.

[bobbieinok]

32. I'm of the first generation to have birth control pills available

took a year to get pregnant after going off........and later heard many negative things about the long term effects of 'the pill'

[Modem Butterfly]

39. The latest pills are much better

Much lighter in hormones then the first generation of pills. I take Depo now but I was on the pill for a long time and I've never known anyone who's had trouble with the pill (just a lot of "friend of a friend" stories).

[bobbieinok]

33. do women use IUDs anymore?????

[Modem Butterfly]

38. Absolutely

But you have to know they exist before you can consider them an option.

People still use the diaphragm as well.

[gollygee]

43. I have one

my ultra-relgious friends are shocked by that - they consider an IUD to be an abortificiant.

[Porcupine]

34. Delayed childbearing and other frustrations...

lead to women not using birth control. Our society preaches an ethic that would indicate that childbirth should be delayed till at least the late 20's. The pressures to have a career and be self supporting also shrink the finances and availability of marraigable men.

Biology has other ideas. Women are most likely to bear healthy children between the ages of 18 and 26. This is an extremely powerful force in human lives. Society says wait until you can find a "financially stable" husband. Nature is making women itch for babies.

The result is lots of women who "forget" to use birth control. Some outright lie about it and others will straight tell you that they want to have your babies. I do not mean that the women are decietful to their partners any more than to themselves. Biology seems to trump.

Until we tune our society into the rythms of our biology we are going to live false lives. That means ALL of our biology including homosexuality and the fact that women produce children healthier and easier before they are 30 or even 25. That includes making young families economically viable.

[shrike]

35. Society has changed even if biology hasn't

If you look at primitive societies, mothers are very young, yes, but they have a tribe full of older, experienced moms to help -- it's a group project. That kind of nurturing isn't feasible in today's world, though.

[Porcupine]

36. It's feasable in Greenland.

Where many women have their first child early and out of wedlock. The families, mothers and fathers fully support the mother.

We have a huge amount of wealth wasted building yet another Starbucks and Wal-Mart and suchlike stuff. We could support young families.

[REP]

37. Off BC Because I Got Sterilized - Twice

I've had a tubal ligation and endometrial ablation. I figure with those and my ovarian cysts, I'm about as child-proof as possible while retaining my organs.

I'm just one of the 44% of US women aged 15-44 without children and 20%+ who will never have any. Biological clock my ass.

[gollygee]

40. I know several women who don't use birth control

because they believe all birth control is a sin. No one should be havving sex who isn't married, and if you're married you should be prepared to have children if you have sex.

This is a natural extention of the anti-abortion movement IMO. I think some people see movements and want to prove that they are *more* anti-abortion and move up to some birth control, and then all birth control.

[Modem Butterfly]

41. You are absolutely right

Eliminating birth control will be the next step for the anit-choice movement.