There has been some interesting news in the field of contraception in the past few weeks. News came out of DC this week that the US federal government will require insurance plans to provide female birth control without copays as part of the healthcare reform. Considering more than 1/3 of all pregnancies in the US are unintended, increasing the access to female contraception is significant for public health.
Also, last week an article in the New York Times reviewed recent developments in the production of a male birth control pill. There are a number of ongoing research trials looking at different ways to prevent functional sperm from being produced. Considering, the female birth control pill has been around since the early 1960s, it surprises me that only one half of the procreating couple has been involved in the pharmaceutically induced prevention of pregnancy. Its has been argued that there is not a market for the male pill, but I wonder if safe and reliable how many reading this blog would be interested in a male birth control pill?
