Senior Sylvie Schifsky believes it’s important to educate students about the medical reasons for taking birth control. “Being someone who doesn’t take birth control to prevent pregnancy I feel like it’s important that I share that not everybody takes it for the same reason, and it has a lot of different benefits other than preventing pregnancy,” Schifsky said.
The time for birth control stigmatization has passed
Senior Sylvie Schifsky decided to start taking birth control in her junior year.
“I started taking birth control about a year ago because I have depression, and my doctor noticed that I tend to have higher highs and lower lows around my period so she suggested that I take [birth control], and it’s helped a lot in that way,” Schifsky said.
Schifsky feels that it’s important to know that birth control is not just used for preventing pregnancy.
I don’t think that someone else’s opinion should impact what you do to your body
— Sylvie Schifsky
“Being someone who doesn’t take birth control to prevent pregnancy I feel like it’s important that I share that not everybody takes it for the same reason, and it has a lot of different benefits other than preventing pregnancy,” Schifsky said.
However, despite wanting to educate others, she doesn’t always feel comfortable sharing that she uses birth control.
“I think it’s really heavily stigmatized and sometimes I feel comfortable adding myself to the conversation and sometimes I don’t. I think in general there’s a really big stigma about taking birth control and being promiscuous. I’m not; I would rather not get pregnant in high school,” Schifsky said.
Schifsky does not believe that the Trump policy is appropriate.
“I find [the policy] super amoral personally, and I don’t think that someone else’s opinion should impact what you do to your body, especially a healthcare provider, especially based on a religious context,” Schifsky said.