“Birth control is not cheap, first of all. It’s the very last thing on my mind to spend money on right now.”
“Technically I should’ve returned to the doctor and followed up, but because of time, transportation, what I’d already spent, I didn’t want to have to spend more and wait more, so I just toughed it out.”
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic reached the US, we heard countless stories like these from women struggling to access birth control.
Each day, more families across the US are losing the jobs and income they rely on for basic expenses. In the first three weeks of March, more than 3 million people in the US filed for unemployment – a staggering number that is only going to increase as COVID-19 continues to keep us all home. Recent reporting indicates that the economic burden of this crisis is being shouldered disproportionately by women - and will be for years to come.
Women are more likely to be employed in the industries that are impacted by the pandemic, such as restaurants and hospitality, and are more likely to be charged with caring for elderly relatives and children who are out of school.
We created our Contraceptive Access Fund because we believe that everyone deserves access to birth control, and it shouldn’t be as hard to get as it can be.
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