Could the cost of birth control be the reason behind the high pregnancy and abortion rate in the U.S.? It makes sense.

In the United States, birth control pills can cost between $20–$50 a month, according to Planned Parenthood.

If we are being realistic, teenagers these days can start having sex from as young as 15 years old, and $240 a year is protection they cannot afford.

But do they stop having sex? No, they do not.

Recent studies have revealed that the pregnancy and abortions rates in the U.S. are almost double of other countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom. The pregnancies per thousand for the United Kingdom are 46.7 in comparison to the United States with 83.6.

With countries such as the United Kingdom not having to pay for birth control, the figures are a clear indication that free birth control can have the wanted effect on lowering the pregnancy rate and teenage pregnancies.

It is not just the pregnancy rate that can be a suggestion towards the effect of birth control prices in the United States. The abortion rate in the U.S. is also far greater than in many other countries.  The amount of abortions per thousand people in the United States is 29.2, whereas it is 18.4 in the UK.

Teenagers in today’s society and in all countries have a “deal with it later”  attitude, which in some cases can be to have unprotected sex and deal with the consequences later. Those consequences are often unplanned pregnancies that often lead to an abortion.

Looking at the statistics, it is obvious that the United States would be better off making birth control free. This would undoubtedly reduce the number of abortions and unplanned pregnancies, but most importantly it would hopefully change the attitude of those having sex.

If birth control was free, easy and accessible, they would most likely take advantage of this and think before they have sex as opposed to acting and thinking about the consequences later when it is too late.

The abortion rate has been increasing over the last few years and if the access to birth control does not become easier and more available to everyone, most importantly to the younger generations having sex, society is going to create a nonchalant attitude towards abortions which obviously is not the way we want to go.

We do not want the younger generations to think of abortions as a Plan C.