What kind of health does America truly value? Is it the overall physical health of a human being? A person’s psychological well being? The health of their environment?

Healthcare is something that America promotes, but it only goes as far as physical injuries, ailments and a little bit into mental health. The one area that America fails to properly protect is sexual health.

When Americans say that citizens are free to do whatever they want, most people would say they are wrong; even the choice of having sex isn’t entirely free. If you want to have a good time without worrying about endangering your future with a premature pregnancy, then condoms and birth control are the only things that can help you, but those items are definitely not free.

Why do corporations put a price on safe sex at all? Why should intimacy be ruined when someone has to go out and buy condoms? More importantly, why should women have to pay such a high price for birth control when they might not have that kind of money?

When the University of California at Davis installed a vending machine, aptly named the Wellness to Go machine, it contained condoms, tampons, pregnancy tests, Advil and morning-after pills. This machine, despite it’s stock of condoms, received backlash because it also had birth control pills in it as well.

I, however, just don’t understand the anger over the concept of making safe sex and birth control more accessible.

When a man and woman decide to be intimate with each other and forgo using a condom, that is a choice. When a woman decides to instead rely on birth control pills, that is also a choice. Isn’t that the freedom of choice something America is supposed be about?

Not only are women the main targets for this sort of thing, their lives are made even harder when considering how much typical health items cost for them. A simple search for shaving razors on the Walmart website shows a huge discrepancy in hygiene items designated for men and women.

One particular men’s razor contains six replaceable heads for $6, whilst for women, they can buy a pack of three pink-colored razors for $7. Men can get three extra razor blades, and the price is still cheaper than a women’s pack. Why is that allowed?

Birth control, tampons and razors for women, along with condoms for men, shouldn’t be as unequally priced, especially since they are necessary to maintain good health.

Something as natural as sex shouldn’t have a price on it. People should feel free to express their love without the fear of not affording condoms or suffering from stigma for buying birth control pills. The government should allow the people to make these intimate choices for free, not for a dollar.