Contraceptives Are Essential Healthcare

Hormonal contraceptives are used by more than 70 million women in the US, and contrary to what you may know they’re used widely to help manage a variety of conditions, as well as to support family planning. Why is this important for us to know and understand? Organizations like Americans for Contraception are sounding the alarm that our freedom to use contraceptives is at risk, and the impact of this could seriously affect you or someone you love.

Our hormonal health affects every part of our body. From brains to biceps, your hormonal makeup plays a key role in ensuring you remain feeling well. When balance is disrupted, we feel the impact. What’s more, we are all unique individuals. Reactions to these complex chemical compounds will vary from person to person. For instance, while you may feel tip top when your progesterone is running hot, this isn’t the case for everyone.

Because of this, clinicians regularly prescribe hormonal medications to support us when changing hormone levels are the culprit for causing symptoms. Contraceptives can support our:

Blocking access to these medications not only impacts women’s reproductive autonomy, it leaves millions of Americans struggling to manage chronic health conditions that are accompanied by a variety of debilitating symptoms.

Not convinced? Our team of experts has plenty more to tell you about how access to contraception helps to support the lives of millions of Americans, and the wider US healthcare economy. So keep scrolling to learn more about the importance of contraceptives and find out what you can do to help protect our rights.

We may all think we know what contraceptives are, but a basic biology recap never hurts!

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1. Hormonal contraceptives help women manage physical symptoms

For the millions of women who have chronic conditions such as PCOS, fibroids, and endometriosis, hormonal contraceptives are essential treatments that are used to:

• Relieve pain and discomfort.
• Reduce heavy bleeding.
• Promote menstrual cycle regulation. 
• Manage symptoms such as acne and facial hair growth.

2. Hormonal contraceptives improve mental health  

Hormonal contraceptive medications help women to reduce the experience of mental health symptoms that are triggered by hormonal changes. This can include: 

• Depression 
• Anxiety 
• Fatigue or tiredness
• Emotional instability
• Cognitive issues
• Issues with sleep 

For hormonally-triggered mental health issues, contraceptives can be prescribed alone, or as part of a treatment plan that can also include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and talk-therapies.

Hormonal contraceptives are particularly useful for treating conditions such as PMS, PMDD, and PPD. This is because there is a strong connection between our changing hormone levels and the onset of symptoms, and conditions such as PMS, PMDD and PPD follow a clear pattern that relates to hormonal fluctuations over the course of the menstrual cycle or after giving birth. 

For people with PMS and PMDD, the luteal phase of their cycle (the period after ovulation leading up to a period) is particularly challenging. The sudden drop in estrogen, followed by a gradual rise in progesterone, can lead to intense symptoms including difficulty regulating emotions and even suicidal thoughts.

The contraceptive options most popular for treating conditions such as PMS, PMDD, and PPD include oral contraceptive medications that have fewer or no “off” days, and other contraceptive devices that help us maintain our hormone levels with minimal fluctuations.

In reducing fluctuations, these medications have a ‘preventative’ effect, and help women to experience fewer symptoms rather than other medications or therapies that simply treat symptoms. Basically, hormonal contraceptives address the root cause of the issue, as opposed to simply treating the symptoms as they arise.

Without these hormonal contraceptives, women with conditions such as PMS, PMDD, and PPD would have to endure symptoms that impact their lives severely. People living with these conditions struggle to maintain both their professional and personal lives, with many women reporting “I get one good week out of the month to work with”.

3. Hormonal contraceptives support healthy aging 

During perimenopause, estrogen and progesterone levels begin to rise and fall more erratically, before levels drop as we enter menopause. Changing hormone levels cause many women to experience symptoms that include more than what you’ve seen on TV. As well as the hot flashes, women in perimenopause and menopause regularly experience:

• Changes to their mood.
• Changes to their menstrual bleeding (periods often become heavier and more painful).
• Vulvovaginal symptoms including vaginal dryness and tissue changes.
• Cognitive changes, such as difficulty concentrating (this is often called ‘brain fog’).
• Changes to their libido or sex drive.
• Feeling fatigued or exhausted.

Did you know there are over 34 symptoms associated with perimenopause and menopause? And even though 80% of women report feeling impacted, many women still face barriers in accessing Hormone Therapy (HT) to help treat symptoms.

Hormonal IUDs are regularly prescribed by clinicians because they not only provide a means to prevent pregnancy in perimenopause, they also deliver the progesterone component of a women’s HT that is essential in helping to alleviate menopausal symptoms.

As well as addressing menstrual irregularity, heavy menstrual bleeding, and painful periods, some oral contraceptives can also support bone health, improve vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes and night sweats), and reduce the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer for women in perimenopause. Similarly, injectable contraceptive medications have been shown to improve vasomotor symptoms and reduce the risk of ovarian, endometrial and colorectal cancer. 

Hormonal contraceptives are an essential part of the perimenopausal and menopausal treatment tool-kit.

Whether you use hormonal contraceptives to help manage your health or to help prevent pregnancy, access to hormonal contraceptives should be your right. This is a sentiment we know is shared by the majority of Americans. 

Two Supreme Court decisions established the right to contraception in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but these decisions could be overturned if an appeal is brought to the presiding Supreme Court, which could limit or block our ability to use hormonal contraceptives. 

Unfortunately, some prominent figures have expressed a willingness to overturn the constitutional right to contraception. For example, Justice Clarence Thomas has written that the Supreme Court should “reconsider” Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 decision that established married couples’ right to contraception.

Some elected officials have tried to protect access to birth control with the Right to Contraception Act, a bill that would enshrine the right to access and use contraceptives in federal law. But Republican politicians have blocked it repeatedly. They are even introducing “personhood” bills that could make some forms of hormonal contraception illegal. 

Americans for Contraception is tracking the situation and here’s what they’ve seen:

• On June 5, 2024, the majority of Republican senators voted against the Right to Contraception Act.
• In 2022, more than 90% of Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against the Right to Contraception Act.
• Republican Governor Joe Lombardo vetoed Nevada’s Right to Contraception Act, even though it passed with bipartisan support.
• In Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin also vetoed the Right to Contraception Act.
• Georgia Governor Brian Kemp was caught on audio saying he was open to banning contraception.
• Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves refused to rule out banning contraception.
• Legislators in at least 14 states have introduced “personhood” bills, which could enable them to ban certain forms of birth control by redefining when life begins.

What could this mean for you? It depends on where you live. If the Right to Contraception Act does not become law, and a “personhood” law is passed in your state, you could lose access to certain hormonal contraceptives. IUDs and Plan B are particularly at risk.

Learn more about possible threats at AFCEdFund.org.