As the exact demographic described in the article, I cannot agree more with everything Ms. Schaffer discusses. I've been on the pill since freshman year (I'm a junior now), and the entire time I've relied on my school's student health services to provide it.

When I started, a month's supply was at a measly $5. It went to $10, then to $15 (which is still feasible), but as of this past September (when the pharmacy's stock-piled inventory ran out), the price soared to $42 (just typing that figure makes me so incredibly angry).

My parents didn't know I was on the pill until recently when my mother got the medical insurance bill and saw that the student health service accidentally billed her for my birth control (a very unfortunate experience I'd rather not think about). Even though she's "accepted" this fact, she refuses to help me pay for it -- so its up to me to reluctantly pay the $42 every month.

While I have a job and am able to pay for it, every time I pay $42, that is $35 I could be spending (or saving) elsewhere. What's more, the sheer idiocy of the government and how they've "blown $1 billion on programs that promote abstinence until marriage and typically badmouth contraception, all without any known benefit," is so very disturbing to me concerning the future of young women like myself. I sincerely hope this legislation passes and my faith can be restored in the system.