Stop Calling it 'Birth Control'

[Galraedia]

The term "birth control" is slightly misleading as it has alternative uses beyond acting as a contraceptive and is used by many American women exclusively for non-contraceptive purposes.

Hormonal 'birth control' pills thicken the cervical mucus which acts as a barrier that helps to prevent Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, can reduce severe mood swings and bloating that some women get before their monthly periods, is used to treat ovarian cysts and prevent ovarian and Colorectal cancer,...etc.

Therefore, it is not accurate to say that a woman using the hormonal pill is using it solely for the purpose of preventing pregnancy, as that could be considered a side effect rather than the sole intention of the medication.

[MADem]

1. I suppose it could also be called "pregnancy control." After all, "birth" is the end result, not

opening gambit.

Years ago, it was popularly prescribed as "acne control," IIRC.

[treestar]

14. Or the cure for menstrual cramps

It sure does work for that!

[unblock]

2. good point. "hormone pills" would be more accurate.

[sufrommich]

3. The vast majority of women use contraceptives as

birth control. Rebranding the name to hide it's purpose is playing into the hands of the anti contraceptive nuts. There's no shame in using birth control to stop pregnancies and no need to rebrand it to sooth the religious nuts. I'm tired of their shit and don't care if they approve of contraceptives or not.

[LadyHawkAZ]

17. ^ this this this this this this!

Thank you for saving me some typing. We need to stop allowing the fundies to frame the issue.

[enlightenment]

4. Please understand that I don't disagree with you -

but I think that ship has sailed.

Margaret Sanger came up with the phrase "birth control" almost 100 years ago - there is nothing wrong with the term and there is no reason to hide behind the other uses of hormonal contraceptives to assuage the sensibilities of lunatics. That's a step back, not a step forward.

[pipi_k]

5. See, all of this

arguing back and forth about what things should be called only derails the discussion about what's really important:

That, whatever it's called, women should have easy access to it.



As for me, the only time I ever took birth control pills was to correct a serious bleeding problem after the birth of my third child 40 years ago. In that respect, yes, they were being used as "hormone pills", but it didn't bother me that they were called "birth control" pills.

I didn't give a shit. Just stop the damned bleeding, PLEASE!

They did.

All of this fussing over words...

sigh

[Benton D Struckcheon]

6. OP does actually have a point

From Guttmacher:

The most common reason U.S. women use oral contraceptive pills is to prevent pregnancy, but 14% of pill users—1.5 million women—rely on them exclusively for noncontraceptive purposes. The study documenting this finding, “Beyond Birth Control: The Overlooked Benefits of Oral Contraceptive Pills,” by Rachel K. Jones of the Guttmacher Institute, also found that more than half (58%) of all pill users rely on the method, at least in part, for purposes other than pregnancy prevention—meaning that only 42% use the pill exclusively for contraceptive reasons.

http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2011/11/15/

[Igel]

7. It's convenient to rename "spin" as "framing."

Spin is used to deceive and trick.

"Framing" obviously has to be a good thing.

Both are the same thing: Madison Avenue techniques applied to politics. We don't like PR and the overt manipulation that's behind it.


I'd also add that language isn't logical. You want to make everything in language "accurate" and "logical" and the result won't be pretty.

[MineralMan]

8. I use the word "contraception."

It's an accurate word, since it prevents conception in most cases, or implantation of the embryo.

Most women who take contraceptive pills on a regular basis are doing so to prevent a pregnancy. While some do take them for other reasons, the primary reason is to prevent conception.

[The_Commonist]

9. No.

I will not stop calling it birth control.
Certainly, some people use hormonal pills for non-contraceptive reasons.
But most of the time contraceptives are used for contraception.
This is nothing to be embarrassed about!

Stop telling people what to do and say.

[PeaceNikki]

12. Amen.

[dawg]

10. I have heard that the pills have a tendency to make women less ...

attracted to big, rugged, burly men, and more attracted to softer, gentler, cuter men.

In other words ... they should be mandatory!

[PeaceNikki]

11. Calling it birth control should have ZERO fucking impact on its availability.

Your OP implies that it's ok to restrict it from people who use it to prevent pregnancy.

And that's bullshit.

[cali]

13. oh for the love of reason and fuck no.

[Squinch]

15. You do have a point, but I am for keeping the term "birth control," and fighting for birth control.

It makes the point that I get to control the number of times I give birth, and how many times I give birth is nobody else's damn business.

[3catwoman3]

16. Probably wouldn't help, anyway.

I think part of the mind set of those who object to avaliability of birth control probably also think that suffering with menstrually related symtoms is just part of a woman's lot in life and not deserving of relief.

[Tanuki]

18. I don't feel the need to change what I call birth control. I need other people to get out of

my business and butt out of private conversations between women and their doctors, and women and their partners. My healthcare is my own damn business, and I don't see why I should have to pretend that maybe I am using those little pills to regulate acne or my periods or anything else so that a bunch of backward, misogynistic bullies will "let" me keep on controlling my own decisions.

[REP]

19. More than one kind of BIRTH CONTROL

It's not just pills. BIRTH CONTROL comes in all shapes and sizes - shots, implantables, insertables, barriers, surgery ... Some may help regulate a woman's reproductive cycle, but it's all BIRTH CONTROL. To prevent pregnancy.

Why call such a great thing anything else? Hormone pills doesn't describe my BIRTH CONTROL: tubal fulguration (they're gone daddy gone) and uterine ablation.

[LeftyMom]

20. I refuse to make excuses for birth control.

Men don't have to plead that boner pills are also a useful heart medication to avoid slut shaming.

[TheKentuckian]

21. Why would you be running away from birth control? Sure it can serve other functions

but that one is primary, sane, logical, and perfectly reasonable with no shame in it's game.

[pipi_k]

22. Just wanted to add...

that if we stop calling The Pill "birth control" and start calling it "hormone control" instead, then I can realistically imagine at some point "they" (RW fruitloops) might try to force women asking for The Pill to prove it's only for hormone control and not for actual contraception.


It's a big enough fight as it is without making things harder...

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. 'It'? Regular use hormonal pills aren't in the news much at the moment

The Hobby Lobby case, for instance, is about IUDs and 'morning after' pills, which are simple birth control.