Birth control is legal in Illinois and I have never been more happy. However, I don’t see my excitement reflected in our society; they don’t seem to approve of a woman’s decision to have birth control. Over a year after the overturning of Roe vs Wade and a new election cycle, the debate about birth control has returned into everyday conversation, particularly for young women who are curious about it. But curiosity is as far as it goes. Instead of receiving answers, they are called “despicable,” “terrible” and “wrong.” Birth control should be safe to discuss.
Illinois is a heavily religious populated state with 71 percent Christian and 28 percent Catholic, as recorded by the Pew Research Center. Christianity and Catholicism heavily vilifies birth control because of their beliefs that God wanted the world to be populated. Contraception, more specifically birth control, is in opposition of that.
Young women in Christian practices are left with little options: either taking birth control and facing shame from their community or forgetting about it altogether. In this day and age, that is wrong, and it doesn’t just stop there.
In a Daily Wire video, Brett Cooper and political commentator Candace Owens denounce birth control pills and IUDs as “unnatural.” Owens said, “I’m a big advocate of getting women to realize this stuff is not normal.”
I agree, hormonal birth control is not natural, but neither is pain medication, pasteurized milk or any genetically modified vegetables we eat. These are unnatural issues that have also gone without advocates.
Birth control is beneficial for women’s health, and it is often a necessity. My best friend has a medical condition that requires going on the pill, otherwise their body would build up too much iron because they wouldn’t have regular cycles.
I have researched hormonal birth control before getting it myself. Uncontrollable issues with my period would leave me debilitated on the couch, swallowing an excess of pain relievers until my family described me as a zombie.
My sister, an extremely conservative Christian who strongly disapproves of birth control, said that I was going against God’s plan, regardless of the pain she saw me in. The rejection of birth control for religious reasons has impacted so many minds to the point where women’s physical health no longer matters to people. I think there’s something very unnatural about that.
Change needs to occur, and it needs to start with researching on reputable sites or talking with your doctor. To put this statement into the words of a professional, Michael Belmonte, OB/GYN and family planning expert in D.C. said, “vilifying birth control is not it.”
Women’s health should be a priority, not an afterthought. Members of different groups, including religious ones, need to learn that birth control is a part of the future and women’s health matters.