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Tuesday, February 18, 2025 - 11:48 PM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA FOR 30+ YRS

First Published & Printed in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA FOR OVER 30 YEARS!

The Contraception Conundrum

Biden Harris Administration Pushes Taxpayer Funded Birth Control

This week, the Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and Treasury departments proposed a new rule to require all insurance under the Affordable Care Act to cover over-the-counter contraceptives fully. In a press release from the White House, both Republicans and the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade were blamed for “attacking contraception.” In reality, Democrats’ push for unregulated and unsupervised birth control is very dangerous for women.

The proposal is a product of the January guidance that laid out the framework for this rule. The Health Resources and Services Administration recommended that “women have access to a full range of contraceptives and contraceptive care” which includes sterilization for both women and men, intrauterine devices, oral and injectable contraceptives, external contraceptives such as condoms, and emergency contraception such as Plan B. They also broaden this category at the end of their guidance to “any additional contraceptives approved, cleared, or granted by the FDA.”

The federal government already spends millions of dollars per year on contraceptive access. In fiscal year 2023, the United States spent $286.5 million on family planning through the Title X program, $9 million through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and $608 million in global efforts. The majority of insurance fully covers birth control pills and devices, and local clinics distribute free condoms.

study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control from 2017-2020 found that 65% of women aged 15-49 were using some type of contraception, but not all feedback is positive. The birth control pill comes with a slew of listed side effects including depression, weight gain, high blood pressure, ectopic pregnancy, and more. It has frequently been used as a band-aid for other undiagnosed issues as well. Many young girls are offered birth control to reduce symptoms of acne, irregular periods, or severe menstrual cramping. Although this can provide immediate relief, it can mask conditions such as endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, or other reproductive problems that could present barriers to pregnancy later in life.

Recently, a Washington Post article slammed women for voicing their poor experiences with the birth control pill. The two authors call these testimonies “misinformation” and support the censoring of these posts on social media. Feminist ideology pushes the narrative that shutting down a woman’s natural abilities to become more like a man will make her more powerful, yet that wasn’t the consensus of their readers. It didn’t take long before women were flooding the news outlet’s comment sections debunking their rhetoric which resulted in administrators censoring their objectors.  

The pill itself, or other contraception, isn’t the underlying issue though. Dr. Jolene Brighton, a naturopathic doctor, explained the situation this way:

It’s not that women are rejecting the pill, they are rejecting a medical system that has decided women don’t deserve quality care because they can just be put on the pill.

This type of reasoning was similar to the COVID-19 vaccine craze. Many medical professionals were pushing the shot saying it was safe and effective when in reality, it did little to prevent COVID-19 while having extreme side effects in some people. Americans are beginning to realize that for us to receive quality, unpoliticized healthcare, we must do our own research and find doctors who seek the truth.

Now, the federal government is circumventing the entire medical system to allow taxpayer-funded access to contraception with no oversight from a medical professional. While the complaint before was that some doctors were dispensing birth control with little education on how it could affect their patient’s body, now there will be none. Doctors will not be present to catch a drug interaction or recommend an alternative that may fit better with that specific person.

Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) has introduced a bill to highlight the underlying issues that drive women to contraceptives in the first place. The Reproductive Empowerment and Support Through Optimal Restoration “RESTORE” Act (S. 4533) directs HHS to create peer-reviewed studies on various treatments of infertility including restorative reproductive medicineNaProTechnology, and Fertility Awareness Based Methods. This would be covered by the existing funding stream of the Title X family planning program to provide education to medical professionals and patients on the findings of these studies. Ultimately, women would have more tools to advocate for their health, and medical professionals would have the ability to provide the healthcare these women deserve.

Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris applauded the proposed rule calling it the “largest expansion of contraception coverage in more than a decade.” The proposed rule will be published on October 28, 2024, when the public will have 60 days to provide comments. Eagle Forum will send out an alert through email to give you a step-by-step guide on how to craft and submit your comments.

To dive more into the politicization of women’s health, watch Eagle Forum Bioethics Chair Kristina Twitty’s speech at Eagle Council 52.