When I turned 18, I noticed that I was having quite a few health issues. Fatigue plagued my everyday life, menstrual cycles fluctuated, and my hair over grew before deigning it no longer wished to reside upon my head. I went to the doctors, got lots of blood work done, the whole nine yards.

About two months after starting school, I received an email informing me I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), and because of that, pre-diabetes.

But the bright side – it is “pre” diabetic. I had the ability to reverse the process that my body was going through. I just needed to take this special supplement to help me with my insulin production and change my diet around.

This supplement is also referred to as the “pill.”

Oh, the backlash and anger I dealt with upon starting the pill. I take it because it helps control the hormones that cause PCOS, and therefore the Pre-Diabetes from going out of control. Yet, I was hounded for making “bad choices.”

When I ask what is actually wrong with birth control, I get spluttered responses like, “Well isn’t it scientifically proven you are messing up your body?”, “Why are you trying to prevent pregnancy?”, and the best of all, “It's just wrong!”

Not all forms of birth control are damaging. In fact, a large majority of women actually prefer to use birth control as a means to control certain medical issues. I have many close friends who use the pill as a means to control acne and reduce menstrual cramps. One friend has such severe anemia that without the pill, she would end up in the hospital. There are so many reasons for why women should be allowed to take birth control – not even related to conception prevention.

So, when I hear the ever-present phrase “it’s the twenty-first century,” I laugh. Because theoretically, women should be equal in every way: socially, economically, and politically. The ever-present fight about birth control, specifically the pill, informs me that we apparently still live in the Stone Age. If one simply looked at all the reasons why women take birth control, one would see all the benefits. And perhaps, stop the severe criticism without all the facts.

But I suppose what angers me the most, is the fact that men have a greater say than women on the preeminence of birth control. Three out of nine judges of the Supreme Court are women. Makes complete sense, to allow the majority to decide what happens to a woman’s body be determined by men.

Yes, we’ve definitely moved from the Stone Age.

A couple of years ago, there was a court ruling deciding that the CEO of a company may decide whether or not the company will cover birth control. Right, let's allow a single person to decide for a potentially large population whether or not they have access to free birth control.

In addition, statistics show that majority of CEO’s are male. So yet, once again, it’s up to a person without a uterus to decide what to do regarding a uterus.

In no way am I saying that men aren’t entitled to an opinion, but I ask – would a biological male understand what menstrual cramps are like? The pain and other repercussions that come with it? Or, can they understand what I went through when I realized I was pre-diabetic and was diagnosed so young because of its link PCOS? A condition that that happens only to people with uteruses.

Maybe they can understand on a theoretical level. You know, if that is enough to base an entire population of female’s ability to take a medication that aids in a physical ailment.