Stop backtracking on women’s rights

The Republican and Democratic parties are arguing over President Donald Trump’s administration’s getting rid of the birth control coverage in health care. Republicans are viewing it as religious freedom because religious people are no longer being forced to provide contraceptives. Democrats are viewing it as backtracking on women’s rights because it is taking away women’s freedom to control what happens to their bodies.

I disagree with the administration getting rid of the birth control coverage. Women have been working toward their freedoms for many years. Birth control was considered a huge step in their fight because it meant the ability to control what happens to their own bodies. Men can have pills for very cheap, sometimes even free, that help with their testosterone, yet women can’t have pills that help regulate their estrogen and progesterone levels?

Women should be able to do what they want with their bodies. Trump’s administration and its supporters are taking that right away. Women are half of the population, and we should have a say in what happens to our own bodies and what policies affect them. 

This story was originally published October 31, 2017 at 6:35 PM with the headline "Stop backtracking on women’s rights."