I Refuse to Use Birth Control. Here’s Why. – Cora

It wasn’t because my periods were irregular or painful.

They were normal, in the sense that they’d come and they’d go every month around the same date. They told me to try it because it would clear up my acne-ridden skin.

I had pimples but so did other people at that age. I didn’t mind them. They give me a defining characteristic. There were four Jennifers in my grade and people would refer to me as the Jennifer with the pimples, which wasn’t the worst thing to be called in middle school.

Over the years, conversations about birth control have popped up in what feels like all areas of my life. At brunch, friends share how they are switching from one kind birth control pill to another because the one they were on made them moody, depressed, or gain 10 pounds. Over text messages, friends will share the news that they’re getting an IUD or going off the pill to try and get pregnant.

It’s also a topic that’s been in the news a lot recently. The Affordable Care Act gave millions of women access to no-copay birth control. However, the Trump administration changed that and eliminated the guarantee of no-copay birth control.

Even though I wasn’t on the pill, reading the news and learning that politicians are still controlling whether or not women have access to a pill, made my (period) blood boil.

It’s a topic that also comes up every time I visit the gynecologist for a yearly exam.

“Birth control will solve all these problems,” she promised as she scanned my face, feels tissue lumps in my breast, and hears about the ovarian cysts I recently found out I had.

“I’m not going to give you the option to say no,” she told me, handing me a prescription slip for birth control pills I can pick up at my local pharmacy.

I’ve become good at telling her, “I’ll think about it,” and then going home and ripping up the birth control prescription. Just because she recommends it year after year, doesn’t mean I will change my mind.

These are the four reasons I refuse to use birth control and why nobody will change my mind.