In Our Control...Contraception

I just requested In Our Control: The Complete Guide to Contraceptive Choices for Women by Laura Edridge from librarything.com. (librarything has advance reader copies of books that they send out, though of course they have more people requesting books than can receive them, so sometimes we get lucky and sometimes we don't.)



I am (thankfully) beyond the age and am in a relationship where contraception is not an issue for me. It is, however, something about which I am passionate.

In the 1960's, my dad, an ob/gyn, volunteered for Planned Parenthood. In high school, when I did a paper on abortion, I used my dad as a source for my research. I closed the paper with a quote from him, "I'm not pro-abortion, I'm pro-contraception."

I am a firm believer that sex ed, knowing about our bodies, knowing about sex and sexuality, knowing how babies are made and how to prevent pregnancy, are vital for our young people. Okay, I think that knowledge is vital for everyone.

When I worked in social services, there were women who would not take their birth control pills when their husbands were out of town, figuring that if there husbands weren't there and they weren't having sex, they wouldn't get pregnant. They, of course, were wrong. There were young women, who thought that you could not get pregnant the first time you had sex (one woman I worked with had sex once and had twins 9 months later. Her cousin had told her that you can't get pregnant the first time.) These are issues of ignorance, of not having correct information.

My dad made sure I knew that you CAN get pregnant the first time, and even using birth control isn't always 100% effective (most often because people don't use it correctly). Many people use abortion AS birth control, which frustrated him. This was one reason he volunteered at the clinic where they distributed free contraceptives.

Most of the families that I worked with in social services wanted to use contraception, but they were on public assistance, and it was frustrating that drugs like viagra were paid for, but birth control pills, or Depo Provera patches were not. Families with small incomes often had to choose, food? or birth control? It didn't seem fair.

George W. Bush's administration promoted a sex ed program (and I use that term loosely) that consisted of not being allowed to talk about ANY methods of birth control except abstention. And while abstaining from sex does work to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, it isn't very practical to think that telling kids to abstain will in fact result in them never having sex.

I'm thrilled that Laura Eldridge has written this book. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is strength and helps people make strong choices for their own lives. If I am lucky enough to receive this book from librarything, I want to have as many people as possible see it.

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I wrote the above several weeks ago, when I did not know if I would receive In Our Control. I have since been informed that I was not lucky this time, so will not be receiving it. Too bad! I will, however, be on the lookout for it in the store, and will shortlist it so we have some on hand.

The comment below was sent in by "Anonymous". Just so you know, any book on this blog can be ordered through Amazon just by clicking the the book cover. Takes you right to the amazon page for that book!

You can contact me, Bibliophile, at 2of3rs AT gmail DOT com (no spaces).