Vox: Voices for Planned Parenthood had a Save Affordable Birth Control Phone Drive hoping to enact legislation calling for a return to discounted contraceptives Thursday at the University Center Satellite.
Participants of the drive made phone calls to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison urging her "to move on legislation to restore discounted birth control prices at UH and other campuses," Vox President Amora McDaniel said.
"We would like for the calls to make Sen. Hutchinson’s office aware of the hardships being put on students as a result of the Deficit Act. It is just one effort in a series of efforts to rewrite this legislation," she said.
The drive consisted of students, faculty members and staff concerned about the price increase implemented after the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 was passed, which was meant to reduce the country’s deficit.
"Raising the prices of birth control for college campuses does nothing to alleviate the deficit.†Instead, it creates an undue burden for cash-strapped college students and increases profits for pharmaceutical companies," Meggin Baxter, Public Affairs Director for Planned Parenthood Houston, said.
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 mandated health centers to purchase birth control at market price instead of at a discounted price, according to the White House’s Web site.
The purpose of the act was to reduce the spending growth of Medicare and Medicaid programs by cutting taxes. Once taxes were cut, pharmaceutical companies could no longer offer discounted prices to colleges, according to the White House’s Web site.
Though the price increase was effective in January, the Health Center had ordered extra supplies while they were still at discounted prices and continued offering them to students. The new prices went into effect in June, following the depletion of the back stock, Chief Nurse Laura Moore said in a previous interview with The Daily Cougar.
"Sometimes (legislators) don’t understand how a bill will†affect people living in their district. Calling to let your legislator†know that the cost of birth control has risen 400 percent on your campus will help the legislator understand the impact of their actions," Baxter said.
A total of 31 phone calls were made in the three-hour period, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Vox drive. One student, sociology junior LaShic Patterson, made a call to the senator and said the drive shows "the importance of actively using your voice toward making a change."
"I believe in the mission of Vox in protecting reproductive rights†that affect women and men because it is important that those who do†use birth control are not being exploited," she said.
This exploitation, Patterson said comes in the form of the health industry taking advantage of college women who use birth control by collecting money through higher costs.
The goals of the phone drive were to raise awareness of the issue as well as to give students, faculty members and staff a chance to collectively voice their concerns, Baxter said.
Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas facilitated this drive to act as a "medium to coordinate students" in actively participating in changing legislation, McDaniel said.
Planned Parenthood will continue trying to help students be heard in Congress. This was only the first step in fighting for change against the Deficit Act, Baxter said.
"Astronomical birth control prices create a barrier for college students, one they shouldn’t be forced to deal with when they’re just trying to be responsible adults," she said. "Helping college students fight for access to affordable birth control is one way we can help."
