Birth control has many uses, and because I was raised in a conservative community with abstinence-only sex education, there was a huge stigma against using it.

When I turned 18, I got really bad acne. It took me two years to work up the courage to go to a dermatologist, who of course suggested that I go on the pill.

Even though it was prescribed by a doctor for acne, I felt so ashamed and hid my pills. I realize now that I could have avoided a lot of the scarring on my face that plagues me still if there hadn’t been such a stigma around birth control usage—for any reason!