Celebrating the Power of Freedom
This Independence Day, we at Power to Decide are taking a moment to say thank you to birth control for the freedom that it has given us. We have so much to be thankful for when it comes to contraception.
Did you know Neil Armstrong walked on the moon before birth control was made legal for all women? Or that there were no female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies before birth control’s legalization? How about that less than 260 women served in Congress before it was legalized, compared to nearly 1,500 women afterward? When people have access to the full range of birth control methods, can choose whether or not and when to get pregnant and have a baby, everyone benefits!
Studies have shown that access to birth control contributes greatly to women’s abilities to achieve their goals and live their lives. Since 1972, birth control has helped women complete higher education, climb the professional ladder, and live healthy lives. Access to effective contraception helped to increase the proportion of women age 25 and older with at least a bachelor’s degree from 8% to 35% between 1970 and 2017. And between the 1960s and 1990s, research shows that it contributed to 30% of women’s wage gains.
Whether it’s completing school, waiting for the right partner or waiting for that big promotion, access to birth control provides freedoms we cannot take for granted. For me, affordable, accessible birth control provided me with the freedom to attend medical school, become an OB-GYN and study reproductive health in places like Tanzania, Sénégal, and El Salvador. Access to birth control gave me the power to decide my future and the freedom to make decisions about my reproductive health that matched my dreams for my life.
Do you love the freedom that comes with using a birth control method that works for you? All people deserve the freedom to plan for their families and futures. If you love your birth control and want to help others access the birth control they need and deserve, consider making a donation to BCBenefits, our Contraceptive Access Fund. This 4th of July let’s help spread the gift of birth control and celebrate the freedom to decide if, when, and under what circumstance to get pregnant and have a child.
