PHOTO COURTESY | WIKI COMMONS
The government shouldn’t be responsible for what people do in the bedroom.

Many people these days seem to want their governments to provide them with “free” services. Things that have previously been left to individual purchases and choice, such as health care, college, and even the internet, are being demanded by many to be “free” to all citizens.

Instead of those examples, I’ll be focusing on the claim that birth control should be “free” for every man and woman in the United States. I disagree with this belief completely, both as a capitalist and fan of small government.

Let’s just get the idea that these contraceptives (or anything provided for by the government for that matter) are “free” out of the way. As the saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. The money our government spends comes from taxing American citizens. These “free” contraceptives are not free whatsoever, but instead, cost each taxpayer however much money the government decides to use to buy and distribute the birth control. Everything has a price, and in this case, that price is forced upon each and every American.

I always find it funny that the majority of people who advocate for “free” birth control are liberal Democrats; the same bunch who say it isn’t the government’s business to get involved in abortion or homosexual marriage.

“Stay out of our bedroom, government,” they proclaim, “except for when we get a bunch of free morning-after pills, then it’s A-OK.”

On a fundamental level, forcing your own costs for birth control onto other people is not only immoral but also destroys a person’s self-responsibility for their sexual exploits. For the vast majority of our private lives, it is our personal responsibility to not harm or hinder ourselves. People avoid driving dangerously because they could harm themselves and get a ton of traffic tickets.

People avoid sucking down tons of drugs because it’s a harmful and expensive habit. But the minute that sense of self-responsibility and preservation is stripped away, the likelihood of them actually being pragmatic about their indulgences tanks. Why be a miser about your alcohol budget when some schmuck you don’t know is paying for all of it?

It’s common knowledge that when a person doesn’t have to pay for something they want or do, they’ll more than likely try to take advantage of the system.

I’d bet my college fund that if I were to walk into a grocery store and proclaim that I would foot the bill on everything the customers buy for the rest of the day, the vast majority of people would take as many foodstuffs as they could in order to get as much as they could out of the new system. The same logic holds true for “free” birth control. If some tax paying random who you’ve never met is paying for all your contraceptives, why not try to get as much protected sex out of the situation as possible?

When it comes to the economic aspect of “free” birth control, the policy is needless and costly. According to US News, birth control pills on average cost $160-$600 annually. Seeing as how these pills and other contraceptives will be governmentally regulated and distributed, the cost is inevitably going to be higher. I could give you dozens of examples of poorly handled and overly expensive government programs and research, but this entire newspaper isn’t long enough for that.

So not only is it immoral and socially-destructive to give out “free” birth control, but it will inevitably cost millions of tax dollars and most likely be handled inadequately given the government’s track record of poorly-handled social and health programs. If you want to have sex, go ahead; I’m not stopping you.

If you don’t want to run the risk of having to raise a child, here’s a wild idea, stop having so much sex. I know, what a crazy concept. How about everyone pays for their own recreational activities instead of forcing me and other Americans to foot the bill.