“It is unbelievable that in the year 2012 we have to fight for access to birth control,” says Planned Parenthood.
Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–May 21, 2012. Today’s lawsuits filed against the Obama administration’s birth control benefit seek to restrict women’s access to low-cost birth control, which is both a basic economic and health imperative for American women.
“Access to birth control is a critical health and economic concern for American women,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “It is unbelievable that in the year 2012 we have to fight for access to birth control. Yet this lawsuit would make it harder for millions of women to get birth control. Insurance companies should cover birth control just like any other preventive prescription, as the independent Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended.”
Virtually all American women use birth control. In fact, 99 percent of sexually active American women report using contraception at some point in their lives. Every year, Planned Parenthood sees over two million women specifically for contraception at nearly 800 health centers across the country.
“This isn’t a religious or political issue – it’s a medical issue, and that’s where we should keep it,” said Richards. “Planned Parenthood remains steadfast in its commitment to protecting women’s access to preventive health services, including birth control, and we will work to ensure that no woman has to worry about how she will afford her next birth control prescription.”
Doctors and public health experts agree that birth control is a basic and essential component of women’s preventive health care, and 34 percent of women voters report having struggled to afford prescription birth control at some point in their lives and, as a result, used birth control inconsistently. That figure rises dramatically to 55 percent of women aged 18-34.
Planned Parenthood is the nation’s leading sexual and reproductive health care provider and advocate. We believe that everyone has the right to choose when or whether to have a child, and that every child should be wanted and loved. Planned Parenthood affiliates operate nearly 800 health centers nationwide, providing medical services and sexuality education for millions of women, men, and teenagers each year. We also work with allies worldwide to ensure that all women and men have the right and the means to meet their sexual and reproductive health care needs.
Source: plannedparenthood.org
