Some information that I am copying from the McDonald’s thread ( McDonald's advises hungry, sick employees to get welfare benefits ) where we also had someone who wanted to blame women for having sex and refused to acknowledge that (1) 49% of pregnancies are unintended in the US, (2) sexually-active women have to use contraceptives correctly and consistently for up to 30 years to avoid becoming pregnant, (3) contraceptives are not 100% effective or easily accessible, and (4) people can have kids and then become poor.
A 2009 study of low- and middle-income sexually active women found that 52% of them were worse off financially than the year before. Of those who were worse off, three-quarters said that they could not afford to have a baby right then. And while nearly four in 10 of those worse off reported being more careful in their contraceptive use in the current economic climate, many of the financially challenged women reported barriers to contraceptive use: 34% said they had a harder time paying for birth control, 30% had put off a gynecology or birth control visit to save money, 25% of pill users saved money through inconsistent use and 56% of those with jobs worried about having to take time off from work to visit a doctor or clinic.
Link: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/CPSW-testimony.pdf
Even if women are using contraceptives, typically 9% of them on the pill will get pregnant while 18% of those using condoms will get pregnant ( http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_contr_use.html ). And before anyone says anything, there is a reason why they quote perfect use and typical use numbers. Also, please no men explaining to women how easy it is to take the pill perfectly.
Obamacare says that women can get birth control without a co-payment or having the cost of the services applied to their deductible if they go to a doctor covered by their insurance. Multiple states, however, allow doctors or pharmacists to refuse contraceptives or sterilization: Refusing to Provide Health Services | Guttmacher Institute
Sorry if this is basically a rant, but I was rather annoyed by that discussion .
