[feminist] why I need birth control

This video should be watched by every voter in America. The idea that all women should have access to affordable birth control shouldn't be shocking, and it shouldn't be up for debate. What a person does with their body is their own business, and the way that they take care of their body is their own business, not the government's.

congressional birth control hearing-- the woman on the panel gets to speak

I was put on the pill when I was 15 because the doctor was afraid I had endometriosis, just like my mother. (Who had a terrible painful and extra complicated hysterectomy eventually because of this). I was told if I'm not on some form of birth control, its quite possible that my fallopian tubes will become blocked by endometrium growth-- meaning that I could be sterile, and also that I would have an increased risk of an ectopic pregnancy.

At 19 my pill had to be switched-- I'm over the weight limit for the low dose pill I was taking and I was still ovulating. (period control-- not birth control!, which was what I needed) I had terrible pain in my hip, and an MRI showed a golf ball size cyst on my left ovary. Less than a month later after other tests (before the MRI results came back) I had another test which showed that the cyst had grown to the size of a tennis ball. Also, I didn't get that test result back before I was walking across my apartment one evening and collapsed onto the floor in excruciating pain. The cyst had ruptured, and its contents coated my insides. It took about a month before that pain went away. I was told that if I had another, it could mean the end of that ovary through a necessary surgery. My bc pill now keeps me from ovulating. With insurance its $30 a month. When I had to have the annual beg-and-plead with the insurance company to reauthorize it, I had to go without for a month because it was $120.

The thought of not having insurance truly scares me. The idea of having insurance one day that doesn't cover all of my medical needs is disgusting and even scarier. Access to contraceptives is not just about unwanted pregnancy through promiscuous sex, its about basic healthcare for the well being of all women.

We have to stand together, call the men and women representing us in Washington, call the people representing us in our state capitals, and let them know that this is absolutely ridiculous and that their time is better spent on other things. Then, come November, we have to show all of America that we have the power to get rid of the idiots who are sponsoring these bills against women's health. Standing by and doing nothing is just a form of siding with the oppressors. I refused to be oppressed in the land of the free.