Op-ed pick: Thinking beyond the pill

In a recent Room for Debate, the New York Times asks whether new research exposing the dangers of some hormonal birth control will cause us to reconsider the options available for women. Why aren't we seeing innovation in this area of the market, and what would it take to get more options on the table?

One of the experts, Elaine Lissner, the director of the Male Contraception Information Project, suggests that we need more than just more options for women.

In the effort to improve family planning options, we’ve somehow overlooked half of humanity: men haven’t gotten a new option in more than a century.

But another author in the discussion, Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research at the Guttmacher Institute, says we simply need to look at the options we already have in a different light.

While development of new contraceptive methods is essential, we are actually underutilizing the options we have now. This is particularly true among young women.

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