Birth control pills can cost more than $15,000 over a lifetime.
If the recession has prompted tighter spending habits among Chicago-area women, birth control is an area where the pocketbook can really be stretched.
Allowing for the bearing of two children and 23 other years of fertility from marriage to menopause, the cost of Yaz, the most popular form of birth control pill, will cost more than $15,000, based on a monthly cost of $56.
Another birth control device, the Mirena IUD, which lasts five years, is $270, not including the doctor’s fee for inserting it. A one-month supply of the Ortho Evra skin patch will set you back about $44, and Depo Provera, a hormone-based injection which lasts three months, costs from $30 to $75, not including a medical exam. These costs do not include medical help that may be needed following complications of pulmonary embolism, stroke, breast cancer or other problems related to hormone-based contraceptives.
It’s enough to make you kick the habit. Compare these costs, both financial and medical, with the very minimal cost of natural birth control methods which involve abstinence at the most fertile time of the cycle.
For some women, artificial birth control is available free with the medical card, or on a sliding scale at some clinics. In this case, taxpayers are footing the bill. Many women, however, are still paying these costs out of pocket. That can create a dent in an already-reduced budget.
Concerning possible health risks, a recent medical journal said that the effect of the female hormones estrogen and progestin (a synthetic version of progesterone)
Women in Berwyn, Cicero, Stickney, N. Riverside, Forest Park and surrounding Illinois communities can learn more about various options of birth control and possible side effects by calling WomanCare Services at 708-795-6000, or go to http://www.womancare.org.
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