Only fools rush in without birth control
Are you a man? Do you know a woman?
Then you’ve benefited from birth control and you’re a fool if you think you haven’t.
Okay that’s simplistic and heteronormative, two things I don’t like to be, but 52% of men think they have never benefited from birth control.
It’s not just about preventing pregnancy—although that’s a pretty big benefit if you don’t want to be a parent. In case you forgot how pregnancy happens, here’s a refresher from our friends at Planned Parenthood. Hint: you need both a sperm and an egg for conception to happen. But there are other reasons you’ve already benefited from birth control.
Birth Control is Good for the Economy
99% of sexually active women have used birth control at some point in their lives. That’s a lot of women.
Let’s consider this. You, a man, are in a single-income household with a woman who uses birth control. Before the Affordable Care Act, she spent $600 every year on birth control. $6,000 over the course of a decade.
Since the Affordable Care Act was passed, however, 62.4 million people in the U.S. get birth control without any out-of-pocket costs. People who pay out of pocket for birth control dropped from 21% to 3%. So instead of paying $6,000 out-of-pocket over the course of a decade, the woman you live with is now paying zero dollars over the course of a decade for birth control. #ThanksObama
That means your single income household just got back $600 every year.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but more money in the house means more income to spend on consumer goods—am I right, Republicans?
If, instead, birth control protections are stripped by Trump and his congressional cronies, you’ll be paying more in both birth control costs and copays.
Birth Control Helps Women Make Money
More than 30 percent of women’s wage gains since the 1960s can be attributed to birth control. Better jobs, more women in the workforce, more pay—all thanks to the pill.
Let’s say you, a man, are in a dual income household with a woman and a daughter. Your wife, thanks to birth control, is making more money, increasing her spending power, and narrowing the gender wage gap. As a result, your dual income household has more money to save for your daughter’s college tuition.
In college, your daughter is more likely to graduate if she has access to affordable contraception. In turn, your daughter is more more likely to increase her earning potential and further narrow the gender wage gap. That’s the pay-it-forward cycle of birth control.
Birth Control Saves Money
Yes, the ACA saved women 1.4 billion dollars in copays on birth control. But did you know that unplanned pregnancies can cost the U.S. $21 billion each year? Call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure that birth control prevents pregnancy.
Here are some other ways birth control saves women and the country money:
- For every one dollar that this country invests in family planning programs, seven dollars are saved.
- IUD costs fell 68% thanks to the ACA. That means a large, one-time cost ($1,000) for long-acting reversible contraception is more accessible and can help prevent pregnancy for 3-10 years, depending on the kind of IUD.
- Before the ACA, a minimum wage worker without insurance would have to work 51 hours to cover the average cost of birth control for a year.
Wouldn’t it be simpler if, say, birth control was just given out to people who need it so that:
- Households have less healthcare costs and more money
- Less money is spent on unplanned pregnancies
- People can plan when or if they choose to become parents?
And Yes, Birth Control Prevents Pregnancy (Duh).
Women still hold much of the responsibility for preventing pregnancy, even when there are two people who share that goal. I refer you again to our friends at Planned Parenthood, who will help educate you on how pregnancy happens. Reminder: Hint: you need both a sperm and an egg for conception to happen.
Let’s make it clear: If you’re a man, who has had sex with a woman but hasn’t impregnated her, congratulations! You’ve benefited from birth control. If you’re a man who think you haven’t benefited from birth control, you are a perfect example of why we need to destroy the patriarchy.
So, men, maybe you don’t have eggs in your ovaries that are being prevented from entering the fallopian tube by hormonal contraception—but you sure as hell are benefitting from birth control.