By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org

To show how far we have come as a civilized society, and how far we still have to go, the organization Engender Health recently released a video (see below) on past types of rather frightening forms of contraception in honor of World Contraception Day (September 26).

While there are many ways to empower women, providing contraception is at the top of the list.  It is also considered “low hanging” fruit, as it is something most women want, and it’s relatively inexpensive, in the scheme of things.

A Smart Investment

In fact, Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn), just penned an opinion piece in The Hill on the need to invest in family planning.

He wrote, “…while meeting the need for contraception would cost an estimated $4.1 billion, it would save $5.7 billion in other development costs.  In fact, a recent Wall Street Journal article just named universal access to sexual and reproductive health as one of the top-five most valuable interventions.  Returns could be as high as $150 for every $1 spent.”

Keep that in mind as we head into the Halloween season.  Last year, Americans spent nearly $7 billion (yes, you read that right) on costumes, candy and decorations.  Of that, $330 million was spent on pet costumes.  Talk about scary.

So please go ahead and watch Engender Health’s video “WTFP?!  Where’s the Family Planning” and think about the 222 million women around the world who want to delay or prevent pregnancy but do not have access to modern contraception.  And think about what happens to these women – and their families – when they don’t have that access.

 

 

Take Action!

One way to take action and add your support is to ask your congressional representative to increase universal access to voluntary family planning and reproductive health services.  Go here to send this very important message.

 

Suzanne York is a senior writer with the Institute for Population Studies.