Birth Control and its Importance
Birth control is a method which a woman uses to prevent pregnancy. There are several methods and reasons that are used by women in order to do birth control. It is one issue today that is widely practiced and has both proponents and opponents. Pregnancy and the whole process of giving birth affects women more than it could affect men. They feel the baby in the womb more and to a good extent are affected both physically and emotionally. Richards says that any time women for any reason are allowed to practice birth control, they are free to do their planning on when to conceive or not, what time to take before the next pregnancy, can help them keep good health for both the woman and her household (801). It is observed that giving birth nonstop can be detrimental to a woman’s health. Examples of conditions developed by several of pregnancies in a short period of time are gestational diabetes and also increases chances of caesarean.
Empowering Women in Careers
So many women are able to pursue career the moment they can practice contraception. There are employers that find it hard to employ women for fear of frequent maternity leave. From this birth control, women can be engaged more in the career jobs hence participating in the growth of both the economy and the nation. Birth control has led to significant reduction in pregnancies among girl adolescents in America.
Women's Right to Contraception
There should absolutely be no debate of whether or not women should be allowed to use contraception. Firstly, the constitution allows adults to do whatever they want so long as that it is legal and that one can be held accountable. Some women’s lives are in danger as a result of contraceptives and so when they are able to access the birth control mechanism, will be of help to them until the time that they could be ready for pregnancies. Women should be able to find available all forms of contraception so that they can be at liberty to choose the one that they feel will work for them may be according to the demands of their body. Some of the examples are the use of condoms, contraceptive sponge, pregnancy prevention pills, vaginal ring among others. Whenever a woman is comfortable with the method of birth control that she uses, then there is high likelihood that she will go for the same over and over again. This makes it absolutely hard for a woman to conceive against her wishes. The ultimate consequences are that there would be no dangerous practices like abortion. Again it leads to avoidance of psychological and mental torture resulting from unwanted pregnancies. It is right to say that the use of contraceptives is part of the bigger women’s health care.
Challenges Faced by Women's Access to Contraceptives
The women's access to contraceptives for controlling birth faces a very big challenge from powerful people in society. Americans witnessed a new fight against women's health among them the use of contraception by the political elites both at state and federal level in 2013. There are members of the political class that have even attempted to cut down funds, equipment, and medicine that are used for women's health (Richards 802).
The Medical Perspective on Birth Control
Scientists view birth control in women as more of medical than it is to the sexual life of women. Taking for example female condoms, they are used mostly by women not because they want to enjoy sex, but in order to prevent pregnancy and also prevention of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Even though birth control is used by women to prevent pregnancy, women using the contraceptives must accept the ones that they are using (Higgins et al. 417). It is therefore upon the manufacturers to make these methods be as appealing and attractive as possible to the women without sacrificing safety to the health of the users. This is the only way that will encourage a good number of them to use them because truth be told, so many women would want to do birth control for their own reasons.
Failure to Follow Instructions and Consequences
Unfortunately, contraception has not done well in several cases because of failure to follow instructions by some of the women who use them. For instance, most of the contraceptives that failed in America were oral contraceptives which could be pills that were not taken well according to the prescription by the professionals. It would be right to argue that the failure of these oral contraceptives is not because they are dysfunctional and are failing to serve their purpose but is due to negligence and irresponsibility on the side of the women users.
Empowering Women's Sexual Freedom
A woman's sexual addiction could lead to birth control that she could use continuously, otherwise, she may end up conceiving and giving birth to many children against her wishes. Contraceptives have changed women's view on sexuality. A good number do not fear getting pregnant any more since they have a way of preventing it. Women use sex for many reasons, with some practicing it for connection with their spouses, some for leisure and enjoyment, and some for the feeling of being a woman. With birth control possible, they can go ahead with their sexuality without problems. Contraceptives allow women to make decisions about their lives, determining every bit of the happenings in their sexuality and pregnancy. A woman does not just get pregnant against her wishes.
The Benefits of Family Planning
Generally, women access birth control for very many reasons. It could be about family planning because the financial resources that could be used in the family to raise the children are limited. Women can also do birth control courtesy of sex education that they have received. They can do some timing within their reproductive health. A good number of parents from struggling families have benefitted from family planning. It helps them have kids that they can comfortably raise. Findings have it that kids whose mothers have practiced birth control are more likely to benefit from their parents' income.
Economic Impact of Women's Access to Birth Control
Whenever women are allowed to do family planning either by law or generally in society, there is an effect on the economy of a country. Advice from experts is sought and this leads to the circulation of cash. Some people buy pills and any other substance needed for the same. The women themselves also prevent conception and therefore have good time to do their jobs, be it office work, business, or farming, contributing massively to the country's GDP.
The Connection between Birth Control and Unplanned Pregnancies
In the United States, there are so many women that have experienced unwanted pregnancies, miscarriage, induced abortion, and birth control. One in every two pregnancies is unplanned and this is very alarming. Therefore, women's access to contraception can reduce these unintended pregnancies a great deal (Steinberg et al. 240). Birth control, abortion, and unplanned pregnancies have a connection to one another. That nearly 43% of the unplanned pregnancies arise from the fact that birth control is not done well and around one in every two of the unwanted pregnancies is due to complete failure to involve the use of birth control (Steinberg et al. 240).
The Importance of Being Prepared for Pregnancy
Pregnancy requires the mother to be ready psychologically to have a child because it is one thing that leads to so many implications in society. There are so many issues that arise due to pregnancies whether or not a woman is married. Some of the examples of these are financial support, medical check-up, social issues like people talking about it in the neighborhood, career, etc. It is therefore important that a woman gets pregnant when she is prepared to tackle all these. Women's access to birth control can play a very big role in preventing unintended pregnancies.
Side Effects of Birth Control
There are considerable side effects that the women experience after using these birth control mechanisms. Of course, people's bodies would react differently to different methods. Some women are affected a lot by taking the oral pills as a way of prevention. Understanding that the pills contain some amount of female hormones that help in the prevention of pregnancy like estrogen but in synthetic form. The side effects are that some women feel like they want to vomit while others have unpredictable periods as a result of the pills. Some have a reduced urge for sex while some feel headaches. Others become moody while some have changes in their weight. Some have a difference in their breasts, either being tender or enlarged, and sometimes the feeling of pain in the breasts. There are families that birth control has threatened to make them torn apart because of misunderstanding between husband and wife over the issue. Maybe the woman wants to practice but the man finds it hard. All these side effects are often downplayed by the proponents of birth control.
The Positive Perception of Birth Control
People today have been positive about birth control and the use of contraceptives generally. Women are encouraged to use contraceptives by both the government and NGOs (Klaus et al. 283). There has been an emphasis on the positive effects of the same. Due to feminism and women empowerment, many women are going to work and many employers are against women that ask for maternity leave every now and again. And so the women must have a way of solving this problem and this is controlling how they give birth.
Works Cited
Richards, Cecile. "Protecting and expanding access to birth control." New England Journal of Medicine 374.9 (2016): 801-803.0720707414
Steinberg, Julia R., and Lisa R. Rubin. "Psychological aspects of contraception, unintended pregnancy, and abortion." Policy insights from the behavioral and brain sciences 1.1 (2014)
Higgins, Jenny A., and Nicole K. Smith. "The sexual acceptability of contraception: reviewing the literature and building a new concept." The Journal of Sex Research 53.4-5 (2016): 417-456.
Klaus, Hanna, and Manuel E. Cortés. "Psychological, social, and spiritual effects of contraceptive steroid hormones." The Linacre Quarterly 82.3 (2015): 283-300.
