Taking control

Potential law will reverse cost increase for college students' contraceptives

By: Sandra Plasse

Posted: 11/30/07

The oral contraception Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo costs $60 at the Syracuse University Health Center.

The same form of birth control runs for $51.99 at the local Walgreens in Camillus.

Nina Page, a junior at SU, pays $30 with insurance through Walgreens for her monthly supply. Page considers the amount she pays to be "way too expensive."

An uninsured SU student would pay double that price at the health center.

College campus health centers are no longer a resource for affordable oral contraceptives, but with a recent bill introduced in both houses of Congress, things may go back to normal.

In early November, Congressman Joseph Crowley, a Democrat from New York's seventh district, introduced the Prevention Through Affordable Access Act on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The newly introduced legislation is pending a vote, but if passed, it will restore discounted prices to college campuses and low-income centers. Advocates across campuses nationwide are currently working toward passing the bill.

During the past year at the SU Health Center, there has been an increase in prices of brand-name oral contraceptives, although the generic contraceptives are still reasonably priced, said Connie Barker, supervising pharmacist for the university.

The ability for clinics to sell birth control pills at lower prices benefited college students "who do not necessarily have a lot of money and low-income women who obviously do not have a lot of money," said Kate Nielson, a primary organizer for the Feminist Majority Foundation.

The decrease in prices would not solely benefit students. It would be beneficial for drug manufacturers to have contracts with the health center, Barker said. If a student tries a brand name and is satisfied with the product, she may use it for life. This will not happen if the price makes her choose an alternative or generic brand, she said.

Some campus health centers have discontinued providing birth control because of the increase in prices, according to a survey of campus health centers by the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Contraceptives are still available on the SU campus. In order to obtain a prescription for birth control, a student can contact the Gynecological Department for an exam and the doctor will determine the best method of birth control for the student, Barker said.

Barker said she has not noticed a decrease in students obtaining birth control from the health center, though the price increase may lead to women not paying for birth control if they cannot afford it due to other financial obligations such as groceries and heating or electric bills, she said.

The increase was a by-product of The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 that removed the incentive for drug companies to continue contracts with campus health centers. SU lost contracts with popular brand name birth control companies including Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo, Barker said.

The act went into effect in January 2007. And in a matter of months, the average price of brand-name birth control on college campuses has increased from between $5 to $10 to $40 to $50, according to the American College Health Association (ACHA).

A 2006 survey conducted by the ACHA found that 39 percent of undergraduate women use oral contraceptives.

In advance of the bill, the SU Health Center is pursuing a restoration to lower prices for brand-name contraceptives, Barker said. The center is currently working with the ACHA, which is why Barker said they would not consider collecting signatures for a petition in support of Crowley's bill. Currently, 205 college campuses are actively campaigning for the government to approve the law.

The petitions are being circulated by the Birth Control Access Campaign, while the Feminist Majority Foundation runs the campaign. The foundation has been fighting the cause since the legislation was first enacted in 2005.

In the past three to four months, there has been an increase in activism for the cause of returning to the prices of the adjusted era. Campuses and low-income area clinics ran out of the stock they acquired at a lower price during the beginning of 2007 and had to purchase higher-priced birth control - with the women paying the increase.

Once women were directly affected by the legislation, they began to mobilize, said Mayra Gomez, national campus organizer for the Feminist Majority Foundation.

If prices remain high, women will either be forced to use generic products or seek another type of birth control, such as condoms, Barker said.

According to the Federal Drug Administration, hormonal methods are the least likely to result in pregnancies. Barrier methods - such as condoms or diaphragms - increase the likelihood of becoming pregnant by more than 2 percent when compared to oral contraceptives.

Many couples that are forced to rely on a condom will not use it all the time, Gomez, from the feminist foundation, said. She added this practice can lead to increased pregnancies and consequently, the use of emergency contraceptives, or in some cases abortion.

"Women's rights stem from a right to control your body," Nielson said. "It is a top priority to be able to dictate your body and the politics of your body. …You cannot go to work or school if you do not have control over your reproductive life."

Nielson said she would like to think the health issue resulting from the Deficit Reduction Act is a mistake. "Given that it's been a year and it still has not been corrected, a cold side of me is very frustrated that a group of people, so called moralists, are dictating who can have children and who cannot, who can plan their lives and who cannot."

She believes that financial matters should not be comparable with privacy rights.

"There are other ways to reduce deficit without causing any harm to our reproductive right of equal access to birth control," Gomez said.

Her peer at the Feminist Majority Foundation, Nielson, wants to see the changes initiated before the holiday recess.

"So many women have already been affected by the legislation that they need to correct it as soon as possible," Nielson said.

The organizers supporting the bill have urged college students to get involved and actively petition the government to pass the bill.

"The power that college students have is just incredible," Gomez said. "It is true that there is power in numbers, and our voice is heard if we are out there being vocal and letting them know what we want."