I've decided I no longer want to keep my opinion quiet.

I need to discuss the importance of birth control. The first thing to understand is this: I am not using birth control to protect myself from getting pregnant. Using it as a contraceptive is the last thing on my mind when I take my birth control every day.

I saw this video on Facebook, and I have a few things to say.

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT.

Before birth control, my period was awful. It was so painful every month. And it felt like every month the pain was getting worse. I've passed out from pain. I've become physically ill from the pain. I couldn't sit up straight or lie down without my back screaming out in pain. It felt like knives were being shoved into my back, stomach, and uterus, for six days.

I also used to get horrible headaches from my period, and migraines. And it felt like nothing would help it, or it would only dull the pain so I could go about my day.

I also became one of many women who had an ovarian cyst. Ovarian cysts are so dangerous because if they get to be a big enough size, they can burst and cause SERIOUS DAMAGE. I was lucky enough that it wasn't that large and that I didn't need surgery for it. But even though it wasn't that big for it to rupture, I was in worse pain than I've ever been in, for days. I was in an ER for over six hours, having blood drawn, having multiple tests done, and having an ultrasound in my uterus. It was the worst pain to have ever felt because it was constant 24/7 torture. And I'm not exaggerating and I'm not a person who has a low pain tolerance. I have many piercings and six tattoos and have had nearly broken my ankle several times. I can handle pain. This pain was indescribable.

I was put on birth control after I had the cyst to protect myself from getting anymore. It has helped my migraine pains by just being a headache or I only get them from allergies. And my period pain is gone because my birth control actually makes me not have a period.

But because of the decision to make it optional, my birth control is no longer free. It is now 80 dollars and I switched to a generic brand of it because $80 to protect myself from getting another cyst is a lot of money. I use it to protect my body. And it's important to know that there are valuable reasons for taking birth control that aren't about contraception. It's protecting my body from cysts, lowering my chances of cancer, keeping period pain away, and making my life a bit easier. By just taking a pill. Or for other women it's an IUD, or whatever else is available for women. But making birth control optional for employers to give to people is going to make it harder for women, in general, and women like me. Because even if women do have the thought of using birth control as a contraceptive for them, it's going to be harder to protect themselves from getting pregnant, which is what everyone thinks is birth controls main purpose. Just for the sole reason it could be harder from women to afford it.

I’m not trying to make this political in any way possible. My body is not a political subject or object to be used as a political statement. It is MY BODY. If there is something that can help prevent my body from cancers, cysts, pain, and a child when I am not ready to have one, I am going to continue to take it. But increasing the price and wanting to make it optional for employers is just unfair. Birth control is helping give me a better chance at life and protecting my uterus so I could have children one day if I wanted to.

Please just give women the chance to protect themselves without having to break the bank and constantly worry about if they can afford this kind of protection.