Hormone therapy, not birth control

As more and more private and religious institutions are required to provide birth control to their employees and staff members, it has become apparent the culture of thought about birth control needs to change.

The name itself implies a certain degree of immorality. It frames the argument into a question of how can we be so careless to think we can play God and control this natural human function.

And it is exactly this kind of thinking that is extremely harmful to women’s health.
Women suffer from a range of health problems relating to menstruation and hormone imbalance and production.

I can honestly say I have met maybe one or two women older than 20 who are taking birth control for the sole purpose of preventing conception. It always has to do with acne, hormones, weight, bone problems, physical pain — the list goes on.

There needs to be a separation between using birth control for pregnancy prevention and using birth control as hormone therapy or medication.

Saying birth control only functions as a contraceptive repositions it as a hot-button moral issue. It creates massive problems for religious companies and institutions that do not believe in its use. It forces places like Hobby Lobby and Notre Dame to provide a service that compromises their own policies.

If they choose not to, or to fight it, they harm the employees that actually need it
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There is little knowledge about the health benefits of birth control and the different reasons women use it. Companies only have the contraceptive context, not medical. It becomes a massive vicious cycle around what is really a semantics issue.

Therefore, the nature of how we think about birth control must change. Rather than being the umbrella term for all women’s medication that regulates hormone production and health issues stemming from menstruation, it must be an aspect of women’s health.

A better term would be “hormone therapy” or “women’s medication,” something that does not condemn itself when it is spoken out loud.

It would also allow women who do not take birth control because of religious reasons, but seriously need it, the opportunity to seek medical help. Birth control and contraception might never be resolved in our lifetime. But the conversation needs to change.

By changing a few terms and educating companies on its actual usage, we might be able to see some real progress in both women’s health and health care in the United States.

ewenning@indiana.edu
@EmmaWenninger