2 per thousand births. By the time of Sanger's death in 1966, the rate was 24.9. By 1973, when Roe v. Wade was decided, the rate was down to 19.9. Today, it is 7.8 (A Tradition of Choice). .
Many studies show that health insurers can save money by preventing unintended pregnancy. It cost $10,00 for one pregnancy, $450 for first trimester abortion and $360 for one year supply of birth control pills (Trusell). Compared to the high costs of labor, delivery and health care for unplanned pregnancy, many studies show the all methods of contraceptives are cost effective. Such methods include: the pill, Depo Provera, Norplant, the intrauterine device (IUD), emergency contraceptive, the diaphragm. Given the "high rate of unintended pregnancy in the U.S., a health plan would only have to increase its members" use of contraception by 15% to save enough health care dollars to pay for contraception for everyone in the plan" (Institute of Medicine). The Alan Guttmacher Institute recently conducted a study that calculated for an average employer, "the total indirect cost of pregnancy-related absences per year per 1,000 covered female employees would be $542,000" (Cover My Pills). It would only cost an employer $1.43 per employee per month to add full contraception benefits in the health plan.
The twentieth century Margaret Sanger, is Jennifer Erickson, a pharmacy manager at Bartell Drug Store, who sued her employer because of "an employer's policy of excluding coverage for prescription contraception from a comprehensive employee health plan constitutes sex discrimination in violation of Title VII" (Cover My Pills). Title VII forbids employers (with more than 15 employees) from "making employment decisions, including the decision about what health care benefits to offer, on the basis of sex or pregnancy or for other discriminatory reasons" (Cover My Pills). On the opposing side, Bartell's defense argument is "a woman's ability to control her fertility differs from the type of illness and disease normally treated with prescription drugs in such significant respects that it is permissible to treat prescription contraceptives differently than all other prescription medicines.
