Contraceptive Voices at EMC: Kate’s story
We have a wealth of young perspectives here among Every Mother Counts’ interns and staff members. When it comes to contraception, they’re articulate, well educated, thoughtful and highly opinionated.
We have a wealth of young perspectives here among Every Mother Counts’ interns and staff members. When it comes to contraception, they’re articulate, well educated, thoughtful and highly opinionated. We asked them to share their histories and insights to help keep the World Contraception conversation going.
Kate Christian, 24 is an intern with Every Mother Counts who says, “ I actually love talking about contraception. Ask me anything and I’ll give you an answer.” Here goes, Kate:
What do you think are the key obstacles preventing young people from accessing or using contraception?
I see three main issues that present obstacles. The stigma and fear around asking about and for contraception would probably be the main obstacle. Next, would be, knowing who to talk to about it, who your resources are. Then, figuring out how to afford contraceptive healthcare and whether your insurance pays for it. There are so many hoops people have to jump through before they can get contraception. For example, it’s not just the doctor’s office and insurance company that are involved. You might also have to go through a third party for the prescriptions. It’s confusing, especially if you’re expecting high school kids to access contraception. It’s especially challenging if you want some anonymity. The more people you have to ask for help, the more public it becomes and the less likely young people are to access it.
Is it different for young men and young women to access contraceptive education and services?
The guys I know say they learned about contraceptives from the young women around them in high school. We all took the same health classes, but apparently, they tuned the subject out until they learned about condoms from their girlfriends. That surprised me because women tend to think it’s the man’s role to remember the condoms and it’s the woman role to do all the health screenings. One guy-friend made a comment that “it’s the girl’s job to get the Pill,” which generated a conversation about the balance of responsibility. It shouldn’t be just one person’s responsibility when you’re in a relationship, but I don’t think many people think that way when they’re younger.
Who taught you about contraception?
The subject was brought up, vaguely in fifth grade health class. It came up again in ninth grade health, but still, only very generally. When a student wanted to bring contraceptives in to class to show what condoms look like, our school had a huge issue with that. They wouldn’t allow condoms in the high school. It wasn’t until college that I received thorough education about contraception and had easy access to it. That’s also when it became really important to me that students who needed it could get it. In fact, when I was the resident adviser in college, they called me “The Condom Fairy” because I had a huge bag of condoms in my room and kept the bathrooms stocked with them.
Did you learn about contraceptives at home?
I never really talked to my mom about birth control. Most of what I learned came from TV and girlfriends, going into stores and seeing it and then looking it up on the Internet. When I went away to college, I became more interested in reading about birth control and women’s rights and how it tied in to pharmaceuticals and all the social aspects.
What was it like to get birth control the first time?
I was 20 and had been having sex for a month, using only condoms. When my boyfriend discovered he was allergic to latex in condoms, it became time for me to do something. The OB-GYN I saw for the first time made me feel incredibly comfortable, but I don’t even like to take aspirin or cold medicine so it took me a while to process the idea of taking the Pill. I liked the control of taking the Pill, though and the spontaneity it allowed so sex didn’t have to be so planned and regimented.
Have you ever had to change contraceptive methods?
I had ridiculous mood swings with the first Pills I used and when my boyfriend and I broke up I went off it. Later, I went with the Depo Shot, but that caused me to have my period for about three months so I switched to the Nuva Ring. With the ring though, you have to wait a week for it be effective and you have your period for a week so there’s only two weeks where you have active birth control. I’m planning on getting an IUD soon which means I’ve kind of run the gamut with birth control.
Check out our blog post about World Contraception Day — Blogging a Global Conversationand email your blog to info@everymothercounts.org and let’s keep the conversation going.
