BLACKSBURG, Va. – According to surveys across the United States, a majority of Americans are in support of contraception, but this year lawmakers in Virginia struck down the “Virginia’s Right to Contraception Bill”.
Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, people across the United States have been worried contraception could be next.
“Some of the misconceptions that we’ve seen around the bill is that IUDs and emergency contraceptives actually cause abortion, which is not true,” said Katie Baker, spokeswoman for Americans for Contraception.
One group that has been outspoken since the reversal is Americans for Contraception.
They said having access to safe contraception methods is something both sides of the political spectrum agree on, but outside factors continue to play a role in the legislature.
“This should not be a partisan issue,” said Baker. “90 percent of people across party lines support the right to contraception. Almost everybody uses contraception at one point in their lives.”
At the discussion, there were folks with Americans for Contraception, Planned Parenthood, and even a local college student to give their perspective on the topic.
“It‘s medical, “ said Eireann Maybach, a senior Virginia Tech political science student. ”It’s the same thing as antibiotics, Tylenol, and Mucinex and kind of anything that you would ever need.”
Contraception does more than just prevent pregnancies.
“People use it to treat polycystic ovarian syndrome, to treat endometriosis, to treat acne, so there are many different uses for contraception,” Baker said.
To learn more about this and what the future could look like, I met with Virginia Tech political analyst Dr. Karen Hult to understand the roles states now play in reproduction rights.
“The states have been reactive here too in terms of restraining or increasing access to reproductive rights and various different kinds of healthcare,” Dr. Hult said.
For the folks working with Americans for Contraception and lobbying to keep it, they said the key to this is to continue to educate people.