Increase in Birth Control Prices: A Massachusetts Student's Perspective

Jamie Bence is a student at Wellesley College and a campus representative with NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.

Let’s face it. College is expensive. And it isn’t getting any cheaper.

As student loans rise, tuition is raised, student activities fees soar and books get more expensive every year, the last thing students need is the additional expensive of skyrocketing birth control prices. But this year, that’s exactly what we’re getting.

Here’s the thing. We’re trying to be responsible. We buy the books, we work on campus jobs, we go to class and we make sure that when we have sex, we’re safe. Birth control pills are a critical part of that. When prices go up, it makes it harder for us to be responsible.

Why are students being targeted? The Deficit Reduction Act. Brought about primarily by the Iraq War, this legislation bears no correlation to birth control on college campuses. The raised prices were an unfortunate consequence. The students were neglected, the prices went up, and now we are left to cope with the fallout of the government’s mistake.

But we’re trying. Hanging in there for one more year. But with an administration that has made contraception more expensive, abortion less accessible and placed women’s health in peril, how much more can we take?

At NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, we’re lucky to live in a state where every college student is required to have insurance. At Wellesley College, prices haven’t gone up (yet). But it seems that it’s only a matter of time before this administration finds a way to make basic healthcare expensive for us, too. So please, take a moment to click here and help restore affordable birth control today!