U.S.: The IUD rush: Why women are seeking out birth control that can outlast a presidency

The IUD rush: Why women are seeking out birth control that can outlast a presidency
By Lisa Bonos
February 7, 2017

The day after President Trump’s inauguration, millions of women of all ages marched in the streets of major cities. In the past few months, there’s been another, quieter march that’s far more personal, yet still political. If you’re not a woman of childbearing age or a health-care provider, you might not have noticed it. Since the election, women have been seeing their gynecologists and visiting Planned Parenthood offices specifically to ask about birth control.

Why the rush? For starters, if the Affordable Care Act is repealed, as Trump has promised, contraceptives could get a lot more expensive. Since 2012, the ACA has required that private health insurance plans cover prescription contraceptives with no cost-sharing for patients. But cost isn’t the only concern. Women see a Congress that is threatening to defund Planned Parenthood, a vice president who has promised to restrict access to abortion, a Supreme Court nominee who could be hostile to women’s health care — and they want to do whatever they can to avoid an unplanned pregnancy in the next few years.

Continued at source: Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soloish/wp/2017/02/07/why-women-are-seeking-out-birth-control-that-can-outlast-a-presidency/