Rise in birth control packs at AU create tough choices

A story in Thursday’s Opelika-Auburn News revealed that the price of birth control packs at Auburn University’s pharmacy for students rose this summer from $10 to $50.

That’s quite a hit for young women who spent the summer elsewhere and return to find a price increase of 500 percent. The reason? Money.

The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, part of legislation that is supposed to help decrease the national deficit, played a big part in cutting university and non-profit clinics that offer low-cost
pharmaceuticals.

“The government decided they had to reduce the budget somewhere ...,” said Nancy Kickliter, director of the Auburn University Medical Clinic Pharmacy. “As a result of that, manufacturers of medicine were no longer allowed to offer discounts.”

We understand budget cuts, but college students don’t always have the money to absorb the increase. We’re concerned that result could be a rise in unwanted pregnancies. Mom and dad didn’t send their little girl to college to have a baby.

To pay for the more expensive packs, students might have tough choices to make. Do they call home and ask mom for $50 extra bucks? If so, do they explain why? Or perhaps students needing the packs will have to spend their dollars more wisely. After all, what’s more expensive, a $50 birth control pack or a child?

Sexually active young women could demand that their partner use protection, but sometimes protection isn’t foolproof. Or maybe young women who cannot afford birth control should simply abstain from having sex until they are ready to start a family.

As a reminder, young women can also receive birth control at a discounted rate from the Lee County Health Department. Services are priced based on income. The health department is not effected by the national legislation.

Cutbacks for many social programs are simply a sign of the times. It’s our responsibility to manage them the best we can, whether it involves food prices, gas prices, or birth control.