The Government announced it will scrap prescription fees as part of this year’s Budget, meaning prescriptions will be free from next month. Photo / 123RF
The Government announced it will scrap prescription fees as part of this year’s Budget, meaning prescriptions will be free from next month. Photo / 123RF
OPINION:
Labour MPs who have made a song and dance about National keeping $5 prescription fees for contraception look out of touch with the real barriers women face.
The debate should be about the cost of the ongoing GP visits to get a prescription in the first place or thenightmare that is finding the right type of contraception for each individual.
The Government announced it will scrap prescription fees as part of this year’s Budget, meaning prescriptions will be free from next month.
National says it will not keep this policy if it gets into Government and will instead look at targeting free prescriptions for the likes of Community Services Card holders.
Yesterday Christopher Luxon said the party was not looking at any such carve-outs for those who needed regular contraception prescriptions.
The social media accounts of some Labour MPs lit up.
Megan Woods said it was “unbelievable” and then posted a Handmaid’s Tale GIF. Deborah Russell posted an image saying “the coalition of cuts will scrap free birth control”. Ayesha Verrall said: “Contraception is not a ‘nice to have’. Cost should not be a barrier. National is out of touch with reality for many women”.
Labour’s candidate for Rongotai Fleur Fitzsimons went as far as saying women cannot trust National and Christopher Luxon was a “seriously dangerous leader”.
At the time these posts were made the $5 prescription fee was still Government policy. In fact, it still is and has been Government policy for the past two terms Labour has been in power.
By these Labour MPs’ own definition, this Government has arguably been out of touch with the reality women face until now.
If the $5 prescription fee for contraception is such a disgrace, why wasn’t this fee removed years ago?
But the most frustrating thing is that a $5 prescription fee is not the problem we need to be talking about.
I speak from the experience as a woman who has been through the rigmarole of contraception for more than a decade now.
The $5 prescription fee is peanuts compared to a $65 GP visit.
Women using the contraceptive pill, for example, are only prescribed this medication for a few months at a time. They then have to go back to the doctor to get things like their blood pressure checked before they can get another supply for a few months.
On top of the cost, women have to take time out of their day to attend such appointments which can be difficult in our busy lives.
I have always found it a bit awkward scheduling these appointments during work hours if I can’t manage to get another time. At least I have a supportive manager who accommodates this, which I’m sure is not every person’s experience.
Cost and time to one side, I think the biggest barrier to contraception is actually getting the right kind of contraception.
Georgina Campbell is a senior journalist at the New Zealand Herald based in Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Contraception affects hormones and the side effects can be awful.
When I started using contraception I was handed the pill by my GP. I had only heard of the pill so that’s what I asked for. There was no discussion about other contraceptives and whether they might be a better option for me.
You have to remember to take the pill at the same time every day for it to be the most effective.
This is what we hand teenagers who are trying to do the right thing and take some responsibility when they become sexually active.
Telling a teenager to remember to take a pill at the same time every day is a recipe for disaster.
Then there are the side effects. I know plenty of women who have suffered terrible mood swings on the pill. It has really interfered with their mental health.
In my case, it turned out that I wasn’t even meant to be on the pill because I suffered migraines at school so this gave me an increased risk of blood clots.
However, a GP only came to this realisation in my post-graduate year at university. She flatly refused to prescribe me the pill again, despite the fact I had taken it for years with no problems.
I felt completely out of control of my own body and I freaked out about how I would react coming off the pill.
I decided to seek a second opinion and another GP I consulted, ironically a man, was amazing. He opened up the world of alternative contraceptives to me and prescribed me a month’s worth of the pill so I could take time to research them and make an informed decision.
As it turns out Depo Provera was far better suited to my body (I still have to visit the nurse every three months and pay $36 to get the injection, by the way).
In 2020 Family Planning conducted an online survey to which more than 6000 people responded. It was not designed as a formal research project but it provides an insight into the real barriers people face.
Asked what contraceptives they had tried, only 24 per cent had ever used depo provera.
Meanwhile, 94 per cent had used condoms and 88 per cent had used the pill. Just 19 per cent had tried the Mirena.
Just over 1000 people responded to questions about what was stopping them from using their preferred method of contraception.
A quarter said they have not found the time to get it, 20 per cent said it was the cost, and 16 per cent said it was hard to arrange an appointment.
One respondent said: “I wish I had been able to have a long discussion with someone about what my options were when I was in my late teens – instead I went to my doctor and asked for the pill because that was what I knew about. The Mirena would have been a better option for me years before I knew it existed.”
I saw myself in this respondent. Quite frankly I saw every other woman I have spoken to about the issue of contraception in this respondent.
One person wanted to go back on the jab but worried about the mental health side effects and another said she was made to feel disgusting when she went to get help to fund her IUD.
Another person said: “Need more advice in what it would involve and any side effects. Work hours mean it’s difficult to get anything done as well.”
Yes, there was mention of prescriptions, but this was mainly to do with repeat prescriptions and the associated appointment costs.
So let’s be real about the barriers women face when it comes to not just accessing contraception but a type that doesn’t mess with their bodies and minds too.
This is the debate we should be having, not one centred around $5 prescriptions.
