The birth control debate wages on and the issues are just starting to come to the surface.

One of the concerns at the center of this discussion is the overall cost of birth control and who should pay?

According to the Guttmacher Institute, the average woman who has two children will spend three decades trying to avoid an unintended pregnancy. The Institute of Medicine says that’s one reason that women tend to incur higher out-of-pocket costs for preventive care than men.
Yes, there already are some options for more affordable contraception, such as public clinics or Planned Parenthood.
About 55 percent of local health departments offer some family planning services, according to the National Association of County & City Health Officials. Many of those receive federal Title X funding, which means they can offer contraception on a sliding fee scale. The poorest women may get it free, while others may pay full price or somewhere in between.

Availability, cost and education need to be considered in this debate, also, identifying where the real need lies.

The gauntlet has been thrown down as House Speaker, John Boehner R-Ohio, lets the president know that he is in for a fight over a bill that would allow for mandatory coverage of birth control by private insurance.

“If the president does not reverse the (Health and Human Services) department’s attack on religious freedom, then the Congress, acting on behalf of the American people, and the Constitution that we’re sworn to uphold and defend, must,” House Speaker John Boehner, R- Ohio, said in a speech on the House floor Wednesday.

In a society where Viagra is covered but not birth control one has to wonder about the priorities and the logic.

Yaz birth control pills have come under scrutiny lately.

The FDA has indicated concern in recent months as some studies, including its own, have shown an elevated risk as the newer synthetic form of progestin called drospirenone, can make women more prone to blood clots.

Currently, the labels suggest that these contraceptives have blood clot risks similar to those of other birth control pills that combine estrogens and progestins.

Morgan Liscinsky, an F.D.A. spokeswoman, said the panel “definitely felt that stronger labels were needed, that the labels need to be updated to reflect current data and acknowledge that it is conflicting.”

Women’s groups are upset over the White house decision to limit access of the morning after pill to teenage girls without their parent’s consent.

President Obama noting that he was the father of two daughters, threw his wholehearted support on Thursday behind a decision by his health and human services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, not to allow emergency contraceptives to be sold over the counter to young teenagers.

Mr. Obama insisted that he was not involved in the decision, on a contraceptive pill known as Plan B One-Step. The decision by Ms. Sebelius, announced on Wednesday, was an extremely rare case of an administration official’s publicly overruling the Food and Drug Administration, which had concluded after extensive research that the medication was safe to be sold to teenagers 16 and younger without a prescription.

Viagra has been covered for years now the antidote will be covered, as well!

Birth control will now be covered for women without co-pays.

The move to make contraception free to women is one of eight new measures aimed at providing “preventive health services” to women, the HHS said. They follow on recommendations from a report issued July 19 by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), which advises the federal government.