Birth Control’s Medical Usage
Faith Foster
Birth control is most commonly known to do exactly what it states in its name, control birth. While this is most certainly true, birth control is also used for a lot of other medical reasons than just preventing unwanted pregnancies. In today’s world, it’s easy to go online and Google ‘uses of birth control’ or even go to talk to a doctor, and find out that there are many different uses for it, as well as different methods that can be used, other than the pill or even the condom.
As far as medical uses go, the most widely recognized one is to prevent pregnancy, which of course is a completely valid use. For some women, it may be that they do not want a child at the current time and would like to have sex with their partner of choice, without fear of accidentally conceiving. Though for others, avoiding pregnancy? is necessary in order not to endanger not only their own life, but the unborn child’s as well. It’s not that they don’t want to get pregnant and have children, but that they should not..
In addition to preventing pregnancy, there are other common uses for birth control, which makes it hard to believe that so many people are unaware of them. Women who have conditions that can be aided by birth control are all valid and deserve to be recognized, instead of being denied their medication by their workplace, due to conflicting religious beliefs, that, in some cases, is literally saving their life. Other medical uses of birth control are to treat symptoms of Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS), menstrual cramps, heavy periods, irregular periods, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), Primary Ovarian Insufficiency (POI), Endometriosis, Lack of periods (amenorrhea), and even to help with severe acne. Not to mention that it also reduces the risk of anemia, endometrial and ovarian cancer, and ovarian cysts. A lot of these conditions cause extreme pain that limit the amount of activity women and teenage girls can do. By taking birth control, periods and hormone levels can be regulated, which improves a woman’s health and mood as a whole and allows them to go out and live their day to day lives, simply being who they are without pain or heavy bleeding, among other things, limiting them.
Just as there are different uses of birth control, there are also different methods as well. Of course there is the pill, which is probably one of the most commonly known forms of birth control. Other common methods would be condoms and well, withdrawal, but those aren’t always effective in preventing pregnancy or infections that can be passed from person to person, and they most certainly don’t help women with medical conditions that require the use of hormones to treat their symptoms. But there are also other common methods of birth control, that some people may or may not know about. There is the IUD, or Intrauterine Device, the implant, the shot, the ring, the patch, a diaphragm, internal condom, the cervical cap, the sponge, spermicide, sterilization, emergency contraception, and of course, simply not having sex.
Each of these methods have advantages and disadvantages, and their usage depends on the person and why they are wanting or needing to use some form of birth control. For example, if a woman simply wanted to prevent pregnancy, then any of these methods would work just fine and would mostly depend on the personal preferences of the woman and what actually works best for her situation. On the other hand, for a woman who suffers from irregular periods, then something like a condom or a cap or spermicide, is not going to help them. In those cases, the pill, the shot, the patch, etc., would be more suited for their needs, as they all involve the usage of hormones.
Going back to the uses of birth control, every person has their own reason for using it, whether that is to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, a medical condition, or in some cases, they may be a trans male who does not want to deal with having a period once a month. The list of reasons goes on and on, and each one is valid and should be recognized, though a person shouldn’t even need to give a reason for their choices. It’s their choice and if they want or need to be on birth control, then fine, they don’t have to explain it to anyone if they don’t want to and don’t need the government making the decisions on whether or not birth control is health care or not, because it is. It saves lives and relieves pain and discomfort, so if that’s not health care, then nothing is.
While not strictly about the usage of birth control, but for overall support of it, one day during the month of November is devoted to saying thanks to birth control. Last year it was November 16th, but the 2017 date is Wednesday, November 15th. According to The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, ‘Thanks, Birth Control’ is “A social media campaign that asks everyone to publicly support birth control and all that it makes possible for individuals and society.” Even Hillary Clinton has joined in with the many women and other people who have shouted out and spread awareness for all that birth control does and women’s rights to make their own decisions about it.
