When I was 25 years old, I was diagnosed with a heart valve that didn’t work properly, and when I was 29 years old I had open-heart surgery to repair my valve.

Before my surgery, low-cost birth control allowed me to prevent unintended pregnancy and prioritize my own health care needs at a time when a pregnancy would have been bad for my health.

After my surgery, low-cost birth control allowed me to complete my graduate studies and meet the man who would eventually become my partner and plan the time that was best for us to become parents.

Now that we have a child, low-cost birth control allows me to care for my family without the additional emotional and economic cost of an unintended pregnancy. At all stages of my life thus far, birth control has given me the ability to control my life and do what is best for me and for my family.