To all of whom my uterus is a concern,

Recently, coverage of birth control has been widely debated. I have watched in disbelief as my country has slowly, but surely gotten within just steps of taking away coverage of the medication that is my lifeline, and before you take it away, I am hoping you will listen to what I have to say.

Women take birth control for lots of reasons. Some take it as a just-in-case, sometimes it’s for peace of mind, for some it helps with acne and some take it to help regulate their periods. All of these reasons are completely legitimate, but I fall into that last, and lesser known group.

I started going to the gynecologist at 11. Most girls wait until they're a bit older, but my parents were concerned. I had been having very heavy, irregular periods for a while. I’m sure you can imagine my parents fear when I woke up one morning to a blood stain on my sheet bigger than my head, regardless of the fact that I was wearing a pad. My mom made me an appointment that day.

After tests and an ultrasound on my, 11-year-old uterus showed nothing immediately wrong, my doctor recommended I start taking birth control in hopes of regulating my cycle. Since I was so young though, my parents declined.

For the next 3 years I had depilating periods, sometimes once a month, sometimes twice a month, sometimes every other month. Their only consistency was their ability to keep from participating in everyday life.

My parents began reconsidering the birth control after an exceptionally brutal three-week long period left me tired and dizzy from blood loss, so it was at 14 that birth control changed my life.

Gone were the days of feeling like my insides were falling out because I was passing blood clots the size of golf balls (or bigger on those exceptionally terrible days). I could now go from sitting to standing without fearing that every time I did so I would bleed through onto my clothes. My new medicine reminded me of a time when I didn’t have to fight to stay awake during my classes and I was able to stop missing my swim practices from a heavy flow. Birth control reminded me of what normal was.

It didn’t solve all of my problems. To this day I still I have never had two consistent cycles in terms of time, Advil is a permanent fixture in my purse and when I do get my cycle, my heating pad is basically another appendage of my body. It does though allow me to work out while menstruating, it ensures that I can still go to work and classes even while I’m having my cycle, it ensures that I can function. Birth control makes my periods manageable.

What I’m asking is that you help protect women’s access to free birth control, regardless of her reason’s for going on it. Yes, women go on birth control for lots of reasons and I shouldn’t have to be here explaining the particulars of my monthly cycle to the world, but I will if that’s what it takes.

I will tell the world about the bloody mess that is my menstrual cycle to protect myself and other women who might be afraid to speak up. I will tell the world all about my period because it is not something to be ashamed of, and it also shouldn’t keep me from functioning, especially when all I need to maintain normalcy is a little white pill.

No matter what a women’s reason, her reproductive health should be covered, so please just trust me when we tell you free birth control is a right, and keep in mind, if you ask why, you may just get more than you bargained for.