In recent months, birth control has become a topic of heated debate. It started last December with a government decision about a birth control product called Plan B. Plan B, often called the "morning after pill," is meant as an emergency form of contraception. It can prevent pregnancy if taken up to seventy-two hours after unprotected sex.
Woman age seventeen and older can buy it at a drug store without a prescription. Federal officials wanted to approve a request by Plan B's maker to also let girls under seventeen buy it without a prescription.
BOB DOUGHTY: But President Obama's secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebilius, intervened to block that approval. She said there was not enough research on the use of Plan B in younger girls.
Critics said the Obama administration was just trying to avoid what could have been a politically hot issue in the presidential campaign. They said making Plan B available without a doctor's order could help more teenagers prevent pregnancy. But supporters of the decision say younger teens who are worried about being pregnant should have to talk to an adult for guidance.
JUNE SIMMS: Another cause of the birth control debate came in January. The administration announced that all health plans provided by employers will have to pay the full cost of women's preventive services, including birth control.
Women would not have to pay any extra, like the co-payment that Elia was making for birth control pills. Elia is twenty-three. She says she wants to start a family but wants to finish her education first. But she says her daily pills were costing too much.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25