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These guys, however, are probably hurting.
Cristina Page for Reproductive Health Reality Check wrote yesterday on one sector of the economy that hasn’t hurt from the economic downturn: Birth control sales. Page’s evidence of a contraceptive spike:
– Vasectomy.com has fielded a 30 percent increase in appointment requests since January
– Over-the-counter contraceptives (like condoms and emergency contraception) have “jumped a dazzling 10.2 percent in the first two months of the year.”
– Nielson reports that “condom sales jumped up 5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 6 percent in January compared with the same time periods last year.”
– and “sales of Essure, a non-invasive, irreversible birth control method for women were up also, 28 percent over last year’s sales.”
The numbers aren’t simply evidence of couples putting off pregnancies during the recession—-they’re also a big fuck-you to Congressional Republicans who objected to the family planning provisions in Obama’s stimulus. Vasectomies, condoms, and Plan B are great options for men and women with health insurance and cash. But those Americans who can’t afford to step-up their birth control with their current bank balances will be having recession-era babies—-and they’re the ones who will be hit hardest by another mouth to feed.
Or, as Page puts it: “So much for contraception being a non-sequitur in discussions about the economy.”
Photo by Marshall Astor