Illinois action blog

Monday, May 10, 2010

50 Years... and counting!

Yesterday, May 9, was the official 50th anniversary of the Pill! In conjunction with this celebrated mark in history, a series of research studies were released over the last week, which demonstrate how the majority of women in America view contraception and motherhood.

Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL) released a national survey this week, which found that eight out of 10 women think that insurance companies should cover birth control and other forms of contraception at low or no cost, as they are required under the new health care reform for other preventative medications.

"I've seen firsthand the truly uplifting effect that access to birth control has had for women and families here in Illinois," said Carole Brite, Interim CEO, PPIL. "Fifty years ago, before the pill was approved, it was unimaginable in Illinois that a woman would be able to decide how many children she wanted and when to have them. We now take this for granted, but before 1960 women in this part of the country had very options when it came to family planning."

Today, it is important that we work to guarantee that all women of Illinois, and the US, have affordable access to birth control.

Also this week, the Pew Research Center released a study on American motherhood today. The study compared the demographics and characteristics of US mothers from 1990 to 2008. The results support PPIL's stance that contraception should be affordable and available for all US women.

Over that last 20 years, there has been a shift in when women and their partners choose to have a child, with a larger number waiting to finish their education, settle into careers, or generally be more financially stable.

This study is further evidence that since the approval of the Pill, 50 years ago, women have began to rely on the ability to control their own fertility and plan their families according to what is best for them. However, the majority of the pregnancies in America are still unplanned, so we still have work to do to ensure that women have access to the birth control they require.

Technorati tags: The Pill, The Pew Research Center, Planned Parenthood of Illinois

1 Comments:

Anonymous Lisa said...

"the majority of the pregnancies in America are still unplanned, so we still have work to do to ensure that women have access to the birth control they require"

But with half of these pregnancies, the person was already on some form of birth control.

It shows people even with instructions have a hard time using birth control well.

I don't think access is the issue...birth control is all around us.

May 10, 2010 at 7:09 PM  

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