New U.S. Health Law May Allow Birth Control Pills
Birth Control Pills. Photo credit: flickr.com
The new health care law may revolutionize birth control in the Unites States by offering free contraception for women.
Contraception is a form a birth control widely accepted in many developed countries, which is considered to be more reliable albeit more expensive treatment.
A special panel of experts will be meeting in November to decide which birth control preventive care should become available to women for free under the new health care law recently introduced by Barack Obama.
However, the question is whether birth control is really preventive medicine.
Many experts say there should be no debate about the issue.
For instance, according to Dr. David Grimes from the University of North Carolina, there was unquestionable and clear evidence that family planning improved health and saved lives. Contraception could be compared to immunization in terms of dollars saved for each dollar spent. Parents’ ability to space out children allows for optimal pregnancies, and, therefore, contraception should be considered a form of preventive medicine, said Grimes.
At the same time, the U.S. clergy have been arguing pregnancy is a most healthy condition, not an ailment. For that reason, most U.S. Catholic bishops oppose any law that would cover sterilization or contraceptives as a preventive measure.
According to John Haas from the National Catholic Bioethics Center, pregnancy is a lifestyle choice, and there should be other ways to avoid it than taking medication paid for by public health care.
Many prominent religious conservatives avoided participating in the debate, but expressed concern about including the morning-after pill into the list of covered drugs as some of them look at it an abortion drug.
Birth control pills are widely used in the United States, with about 93 million prescription issued for contraceptives in 2009 and with some pills even available in Walmart for just $9 for a month supply.
It remains unclear how Obama’s administration would apply the new law, but it is expected that most likely it would allow the U.S. insurance plans significant discretion when deciding on the coverage.
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