Every £1 spent on contraception saves the taxpayer £4. So why is the Government proposing to charge for the Pill? If this goes ahead, despite the record number of women MPs, it will prove what socialist feminists have always said — politics is more important than gender.
We should be increasing access to free contraception, not restricting it. While women MPs may be able to afford over £6 a month for their supplies, many women cannot, and we have seen with recent Pill scares what happens when women stop using contraception suddenly. The abortion and birth rates shoot up.
But it is not just important for women’s ability to control their lives — it makes economic sense as well. Every unwanted pregnancy is expensive for society, whether it ends in an abortion or an unwelcome child. Half of all terminations are on the NHS, where the more expensive methods tend to be used, costing probably around £200-£400, depending on the stage of pregnancy. And full-term pregnancies cost even more.
Quite rightly, pregnant women are entitled to all sorts of benefits, from paid time off work to maternity allowances, free prescriptions and health care, maternity leave and so on, not to mention the costs of the birth itself to the NHS. This is fine if it is a wanted pregnancy, but unwanted pregnancies then lead on to other costs — arranging for adoption or fostering if the mother does not want to keep her child, or for social services and long-term costs to society if she is unable to meet the child’s emotional and physical needs.
Of course it is not just women who are affected, nor even just heterosexual men. At the moment, all forms of contraception are free from Family Planning clinics but if the Pill is to be charged for, no doubt other forms of contraception, for example condoms, will soon follow the same path. Then the costs will not just be seen in unwanted pregnancies.
There is still time for the Government to reconsider. The pro-choice, family planning and AIDS lobbies must tell them of the costs to us all if this incredibly stupid proposal is not dropped without delay.