The Trump administration is currently attempting to make it easier for employers to no longer offer insurance that covers the cost of contraception for women, but have not mentioned having employers do the same for Viagra. They claim to be targeting birth control because there is not enough evidence to support that having access to birth control lowers the rates of unwanted pregnancies, its negative health effects outweigh the positive health effects, and that it encourages women to have more sex.
Washington University created the CHOICE Project where they did research that proved that when teenagers were given access to free birth control, their rates of pregnancy and of abortion were lower than those of teenagers that were not given the same access.
The Trump administration's claim that birth control makes women engage in more sex is also false, because the majority of the women that took part in the CHOICE study did not report a change in the number of sexual partners they had. Also, The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey found that since the Affordable Care Act birth control mandate was put in place, teenagers have actually been having less sex.
As for there being more negative health effects caused by birth control than positive ones, Horvath-Cosper, from Physicians for Reproductive Health, explained that
"We have an incredible amount of research that shows that contraception is safe. The risks for the vast majority of people are much smaller than the benefits, and the benefit is they work to prevent pregnancy and they're really good at doing that."
Now the question is: why is the Trump administration adamant about no longer allowing birth control to be covered by insurance, even though there are many proven benefits? It is because society does not view female reproductive health as a priority? Women having sex simply because they enjoy it is considered taboo and shameful. Only men are supposed to be sexual beings, and women are meant to be submissive and only engage in sex so that they can please a man. That is why Viagra will always be covered by insurance.
Men cannot fathom a world where they face the same threat to Viagra that women are now facing with birth control, because they are told their entire lives that they should embrace their sexual side. Women are told that if they want to be respectable, they should only have sex in order to get pregnant, not just for pleasure.
When some people are speaking out about why birth control should stay covered by insurance, they focus on sharing its benefits other than preventing pregnancy. This sends the message that having access to birth control is only worth fighting for if it serves a purpose beyond allowing women to have a happy sex life. All of the additional benefits of birth control are great, but it must be made clear to the public that women should have control over their reproductive health and rights.
