Look, I don’t really like getting political on here, nor do I like getting overly personal about my own health care regimen; but I feel like I have to write something or I’ll scream.

The debates going on all over the country regarding contraceptives are appalling. Women have been in the minority as witnesses and experts being called in on committees and to discuss this topic in news media. The conversations are being largely controlled by men. Men who cannot get pregnant, and men that don’t have the same hormonal difficulties that some women face. (Men can have hormonal problems I’m sure, but that is not the point here.)

I am on birth-control pills. I take them because the hormonally-caused imbalances around my period were unbearable. Headaches, moodiness, cramps, et cetera. For at least three weeks out of every four, I was hating life. Birth-control pills have been the only thing to help.

A few years back when I went to get myself onto the pill, I was told there was only one type my insurance would help cover. It was a version that was full-dose and I ended up experiencing terrible side effects that included migraine force headaches to the point where I was missing work and had to have a scan of my head to make sure I didn’t have a tumour. I could move to a low-dose version of the pill, but it was going to cost me $50 a month out of pocket. That’s $600 a year. (Keep in mind, the other pill that caused the headaches was costing me a fraction of what low-dose would. Around $10 a month/$120 a year.)

To some people, $50 a month isn’t a huge deal, and while it’s not ideal, it’s what I’m paying now for my current prescription. However, I personally know dozens of women where that would break them financially. This means your options are, scrounge to make ends meet, or feel like crap most of the time.

It isn’t right. It shouldn’t be this way. Where are the debates questioning men’s ability to get Viagra? (A drug meant to help them get it up, but that, to my knowledge, has no other health benefits.) Is it because it’s called birth-control? Is it really all about the fact you feel the need to force your religious ideals on where “personhood” begins at that makes you continue these tired debates? Did you even think for a moment that the pill does more for women than just lower their chances of getting pregnant? Did you?

There are so many problems going on right now that deserve politician’s attention. The economy, jobs, housing, the list goes on and on. But this is an election year, so let’s work on all the hot-button topics because they get more attention and cause more of a stir. Stop it. Just stop it.

Every woman has a right to medical treatment that benefits them. They are adults and they can make their own decisions regarding their bodies and their morals. We are not lesser individuals that need others to decide these things for us. All we ask is to be treated with the dignity we deserve when it comes to our personal health.