Share Your Story: What does birth control without co-pays mean for you?

Having access to birth control is important, especially when initially entering into a relationship.  In the area where I live, I have seen too many people enter relationships and accidentally get pregnant.  Sometimes the man would offer to take care of the child; more often than not, they bail out, leaving the mother to have to go through the court system to seek out child support and put their children through a lifetime of dysfunction that inevitably perpetuates the cycle for future generations.  Having access to birth control meant that I was in control of my destiny and future, not allowing myself to be subject to the whims of some immature man who was little more than an overgrown adolescent himself.  I was able to chose to leave the relationship if it proved to be unhealthy or potentially harmful for me, and not stay and prolong the agony because of children being in the middle of it.  Because my own family has a history of depression, bipolar disorder and substance abuse, I chose not to have children, which is fine in my case.  I do not have to deal with the guilt of dragging innocent lives through my personal guano.  Had Rowe vs. Wade never came about, and we did not have leaders who currently advocate for women's health, I shudder to think of the alternative.

I was a young mother, working from home and caring for my 3 children. As an independent contractor I received no benefits. My husband worked for a national fast food chain as a regional manager. We had insurance through his job but copays were high since we had not met our deductible. In order to get prescription contraceptives, I needed to come up with $80 for an office visit, another $65 for a Pap smear plus the cost of the birth control pills themselves. I had to choose between paying the electric bill and getting the health services I needed.I now have five children (one additional birth child plus an adopted daughter). I love and cherish all of them and wouldn't trade any of them for the world, but the capricious and greedy provisions of most health care insurers prior to the Affordable Care Act have caused a lot of misfortune to a lot of people. Hard-working Americans (and any other kind of Americans!) should not have to choose between survival, sustenance and health care.PS - Needless to say, my adopted child would probably never have been born had contraception been free and readily available to her young mother, who was in no way ready for parenthood.Thank you, President Obama and the congresspeople who gave us Obamacare.

What contraceptives w/o co-pay mean to me? Personally nothing, as I have had hysterectomy long time ago. However, yes, they mean that more women will avoid unwanted pregnancies AND unwanted children, thus less children will end up on welfare, thus the resources that are based on my tax money, will not be stretched so thin. Also, I am glad for women who need hormonal therapy, delivered via contraceptives. Some of them were unable to afford the overpriced pills, but now their death panels, ehm, insurance companies, can't deny them the meds they need.

As a U.K. citizen I received FREE contraception from the National Health Service (NHS) when I requested it at age 23 in 1970.  From then on, until I moved to the United States in 1982, I did not have to think about it or ever worry about getting pregnant.It is now 2012 and the United States of America is still discussing issues which became non-subjects in the rest of the developed world (and some less developed nations as well) decades ago. Thank G-d for President Obama and his vision to bring America out of the "dark ages" . Next step Single Payer Health Care!