Lucy Leriche: Birth control is not an optional health care expense

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Lucy Leriche, who is the vice president of public policy for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.
For the 99 percent of U.S. women of reproductive age who rely on, or have relied on, birth control to function in their lives, we know that this critical component of health care is not optional. In Vermont, the unemployment rate is the fourth lowest in the country. Among women it is just 2.9 percent compared to men at 3.2 percent. Women now particip