Disturbing Rhetoric Surrounding Male Hormonal Birth Control

As many of you may have heard, active research is being done on male hormonal birth control options such as pills or implants. Some articles claim that these options could be made commercially available in as little as 5 years. An MSNBC article quotes Dr. Andrea Coviello, a researcher at the Population Center for Research in Reproduction, as saying: "It largely depends on how funding continues. The technology is there. We know how it would work." In short, male birth control options beyond condoms may soon be a reality.

In my opinion, this is great news. The more contraceptive options, the better. This option is especially exciting because it allows for heterosexual couples to enjoy the benefits of the most effective contraception, even if the woman is unable to take OBC for some reason. It is also a step in the right direction toward more sex equality in reproduction and contraception. Reproduction in general, but especially contraception, has often been disproportionally the woman's responsibility. While it is true that women will always have greater responsibility concerning reproduction, simply because we are the ones who get pregnant, this emerging research gives me hope that that may be changing for the better.

Unfortunately, one wouldn't get that message from popular media covering this story. The MSNBC article cited above, and the first article to come up in Google when searching "male birth control pill," is disturbingly misogynistic. The main problem with the article is what quotes from interviews the author, John Schieszer, chose to include. One such gem is the following:

"'It is time for men to have some control. I think it would empower men and deter some women out there from their nefarious plans,' says Brown. 'Some women are out there to use men to get pregnant. This could deter women from doing this. An athlete or a singer is someone who could be a target and they could put a stop to that.'" 

That the author chose to include this quote as a reasonable viewpoint is horrifying. Rather than taking the time to acknowledge the benefits this technology has for reproductive choice, the author decided to tout blatant sexism and misogyny.

The comments on this article were, if possible, even more disturbing. John Doe -1925461 writes:

 "it is easy enough for a woman to get pregnant on purpose and leave a guy...to be a man in the united states and try to fight for custody of your child is the most futile, depressing, and expensive ordeal you can imagine, I would rather be a woman and get raped daily for the rest of my life than go through it all again."

I'm not going to post it here, but the comment by InterestedWatcher is also worth a read. The main themes in the comments seem to be the following: women routinely "trap" men through pregnancy and male hormonal BC would "free" men, and STD rates would increase.

What do you guys think about this?

Another point the article makes is that many man would not use hormonal BC. One man is quoted as saying:

“'I would rather rely on a solution that doesn’t involving medicating myself and the problems women have had with hormone therapy doesn’t make me anxious to want to sign on to taking a hormone-type therapy,' says Hardin, who is single and a college administrator."

This quote alludes to a problem I imagine companies trying to sell male hormonal BC would run into. Contraception is viewed as a "woman's issue," and I believe a fair number of men would not consider using hormonal BC because of this. Some may also view it as emasculating, especially since many men said they will use it "only if their partners make them."

I am disappointed that a potentially game-changing technology was reported with such narrow-mindedness and misogyny.

-Emily R, NPA Volunteer

For more information about male birth control pill visit the Discovery Health website.

Fears of rape in Kenya's slums 'trap women'

High rates of rape in Kenya has forced many women to avoid public places, including public toilets. This has led to serious sanitation problems, as well as disease. Who says sexual assault is not a community issue?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10540379

U.S. Maternal Death Rates on the Rise

As part of my PE continuing education, and as a nursing student interested in women's health, I found the recent reports on maternal death rates in the U.S. to be shocking. The following information is from Amnesty International and UK Guardian.

Maternal death rates have doubled since the 1980s
6.6/100,000 women in 1987
13.3/100,000 women in 2006
The U.S. is worse than 40 other countries including most industrialized nations

The women most at risk:
Native American and African American women who live in poverty and are uninsured
Amnesty International reports that these women are "put at risk due to neglect"

1:4,800 is the risk of dying in childbirth in the U.S.
Best countries: Ireland, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Italy and Greece

International effort to decrease the maternal death rate in developing countries
Women Deliver conference in Washington D.C. brainstormed about these issues
Taken up by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sarah Brown (UK)

Health care reform does not address systemic problems, discrimination, or lack of accountability
Amnesty International is pushing President Obama to set up a maternal health office to

address these issues directly

34,000 women in the U.S. experience a "near miss" during delivery every year
A "near miss" means that these women came close to dying, but were rescued

1:4 women don't receive antenatal (prenatal) checkups
1:3 African American and Native American women are without antenatal (prenatal) care

1/3 of U.S. deliveries are completed via C-section
This is twice the rate than the World Health Organization recommends
Risk of death is 3x greater with C-section than with vaginal delivery

Nearly 13 million women of reproductive age (1:5) are without health insurance
Minorities account for 50% of the 1:5 rate

In California, the death rate went from 5.6/100,000 to 16.9/100,000 in the past decade
Most common causes of death: hemorrhage, deep vein thrombosis (clots), and underlying

cardiac disease

Amnesty International completed the report as part of their "Demand Dignity" campaign "to end human rights violations that drive and deepen global poverty"

As a future health care professional, I feel we can do so much better than this. The newly passed health care legislation may perhaps assist in quelling some of these issues, but I don't know when it will take effect. Perhaps the increase in maternal death rate can be linked to higher risk pregnancies: increase rates of overweight/obesity in women, diabetes, heart disease and bearing children at an older age. However, women should be allowed to have great prenatal care, and complications of pregnancy should be prevented. How can you prevent these complications if prenatal care is difficult to access? At the very least, stores like Meijer are providing free prenatal vitamins to low income women, but you need a prescription to get the vitamins.

It's obvious more primary prevention needs to be established in this country, with better access to health care for pregnant women.

The Amnesty International Executive Director, Larry Cox, summed it up nicely:

"Good maternal care should not be considered a luxury available only to those who can access the best hospitals and the best doctors. Women should not die in the richest country on earth from preventable complications and emergencies."

~Jen