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The Pill Opened My Eyes To The Discrimination Women Faced When Trying To Have An

This document summarizes the key points learned from watching The Pill documentary and listening to Sandra Fluke's statement. [1] The Pill showed the struggles women faced in gaining access to affordable birth control and highlighted its importance in allowing women control over their reproduction and empowering their education and careers. [2] Sandra Fluke argued that contraception should be covered by health insurance for all women, regardless of status, as it has medical uses beyond pregnancy prevention and is otherwise unaffordable for many. [3] The course deepened the author's understanding of how reproductive rights have shaped women's lives and the ongoing fight for affordable and equitable access to contraception.

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kimber brown
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52 views3 pages

The Pill Opened My Eyes To The Discrimination Women Faced When Trying To Have An

This document summarizes the key points learned from watching The Pill documentary and listening to Sandra Fluke's statement. [1] The Pill showed the struggles women faced in gaining access to affordable birth control and highlighted its importance in allowing women control over their reproduction and empowering their education and careers. [2] Sandra Fluke argued that contraception should be covered by health insurance for all women, regardless of status, as it has medical uses beyond pregnancy prevention and is otherwise unaffordable for many. [3] The course deepened the author's understanding of how reproductive rights have shaped women's lives and the ongoing fight for affordable and equitable access to contraception.

Uploaded by

kimber brown
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Kimber Brown

WGST 112

Rebecca Head

9 December 2020

Reproductive Rights

While learning the topic of reproductive rights in this course did not change my

perspectives, it did broaden my education on the matter. After watching The Pill and Sandra

Fluke’s statement, I was able to deepen my perspective on how women should have affordable

contraception and health care.

The Pill opened my eyes to the discrimination women faced when trying to have an

easily available form of birth control. This documentary shows the struggles women have

endured throughout American history. Margaret Sanger, the mother of the birth control

movement, advocated and devoted her life to create contraception for women. Contraception

gave women reproductive rights and it enabled sexual activity without the worry of pregnancy.

Contraception was first given solely to white women but was later distributed among African

American women as well. Unfortunately, the pill gave women terrible side effects in the

beginning. Over time, the pill was remade with less hormones, giving women control without the

terrible symptoms (The Pill). Along with reproduction control, contraception allowed women to

obtain higher educations, careers, and become economically independent. Birth control helped

contribute towards equality for women by allowing control of sex, education, and economic self-

sufficiency. In addition, contraception prevented women from having abortions. Previously,

women did not have the option of controlling their reproduction and would ultimately have many

children. The numerous births would take a toll on women’s bodies and in some cases, caused
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death. Before abortions became legal with Rose vs. Wade in 1973, women were then forced to

have unsafe abortions that potentially would cause issues with the mother and fetus. With birth

control being created and legalizing safe abortions, women had control over their health and

reproductive rights. My perspective of contraception was immensely deepened after watching

this documentary. Contraception has benefited women since the creation and will continue onto.

Reproductive rights involve women having control over their reproduction, which will

shape the quality and character of their lives. Contraception is distributed by medical institutions

based on the different levels of service from women’s health insurance and their ability to pay.

Sandra Fluke, a third-year Georgetown law student, went before the republican and democratic

committees to plead her case about offering contraception under insurance plans. She stated that

contraception needed to be available for women whether they are students, single, married, etc.

(Sandra Fluke). Birth control is prescribed for reasons other than pregnancy prevention and

women who desire it for other reasons, such as medical, are unable to obtain it due to its

expense. Contraception gave women reproductive rights, but only to extend because it was

unaffordable for the majority. Birth control should not be commodified so that it is only available

for the upper classes to obtain. Making birth control difficult to obtain will only progress the

inequality and discrimination against women, but it was mainly towards middle and lower-class

women. My perspective of equality of health care regarding reproduction was further educated

by this case. I was unaware that contraception was only affordable towards higher-class women

and the fight towards making it affordable for everyone.

Overall, this course had amazing topics that were very educational. The information

provided while learning about the topic of reproduction rights of women made my perspective
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stronger. Feminists and their movements have given women many rights and without them, we

would have no equality or rights

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