The Pill: It’s Poppin’

The debate over birth control has been an arduous one and most likely will be for years to come.

But should it be? We’ve come to a point in our world where sex is a topic much more open for discussion.

I’m often out to dinner with friends and family when the subject of sex comes up. Maybe it’s just the company I keep, but no one’s ears start bleeding. No one hides under the table and whimpers.

Sex is going from a private act to public knowledge. The ways to have sex safely should also become public.

Some schools in our fine nation are still preaching the ways of abstinence as the only way to truly have safe sex. Hey, whatever floats your boat.

I’m not against abstinence in any way. I think it’s a tremendously smart method of avoiding pregnancy and STIs.

But we need to be realistic. With sex becoming more and more public through the media and other outlets, the chances of people having sex are getting higher and higher. And if they haven’t been educated in birth control methods other than abstinence, well, the chances of becoming pregnant or contracting an STI might just go up.

And I don’t think I’d be alone in saying that I’d rather kids had sex 10 times using some type of birth control than once unprotected.

Someone who might agree with that statement is the current U.S. president of this country. In March, President Barack Obama signed bill that restored the incentives for drug-makers to sell birth control pills at a discount. Although the bill doesn’t guarantee that drug-makers will actually sell the pills at a discounted price, it’s the president’s actions that matter.

If the man who runs our country thinks birth control is an issue, especially during our current economic woes, then it probably is.

And birth control is about to become an even bigger issue. Even though some parents without a daughter may have thought they’d never have to deal with the birth control pill issue, they ought to think again.

Huge strides have been made in the past few years to make male birth control available. Instead of using the not-so-reliable condom or going the more painful route of getting a vasectomy, men will have a few birth control options from which to choose.

From pills to patches, injections to implants, men will have the option to take birth control in the next five to seven years. Even though all the technology might be there, a lack of funding has certainly slowed the process.

Birth control does more than just prevent pregnancy. The pill has been found to prevent ovarian cancer in women for more than 30 years after they stop taking the pill. It was also found that the longer one takes the pill, the greater the protection against cancer one has.

So next time you’re out to dinner, rethink talking about how the Cubs lost, and start a discussion on birth control. You might be surprised by what people have to say.