Barriers to birth control in Greece: why women lack access to contraceptive choice
Katie Jahns
Email: katiejahns2023@u.northwestern.edu
Faculty Advisor: Patti Wolter
BIO
Katie Jahns is a sophomore at journalism major at Northwestern from New Canaan, Connecticut. In addition to her undergraduate research, Katie is a reporter for the Daily Northwestern on both writing and multimedia desks as well as a member of GlobeMed, a student club dedicated to facilitating sustainable change in healthcare in global communities. She hopes to pursue a career in video journalism and documentary film. In her free time she enjoys painting, photography and being outdoors. You can contact her via email at katiejahns2023@u.northwestern.edu
Emily Sakai
Email: emilysakai2023@u.northwestern.edu
Faculty Advisor: Patti Wolter
BIO
Emily Sakai is a Medill sophomore from Baltimore, Maryland double majoring in journalism and political science. She spends her free time as the copy editor for The Daily Northwestern and writing for NBN. She also enjoys painting and the outdoors. You can reach her via email at emilysakai2023@u.northwestern.edu
Q&A
With one of the highest abortion rates in Europe, compounded with relatively low use of modern contraceptives methods, we wanted to focus on Greece as a case study for what happens when women do not have access to the full spectrum of birth control methods, not because of physical barriers to access but rather by the society in which they are situated. Our goal was to not only dive into this question but also draw attention to the fact that even in a developed country in the modern era, women have limited options in terms of birth control.
We wanted to make a fifteen- to twenty-minute documentary showing how Greek citizens; use of birth control differs from the use in the United States, highlighting the lack of adequate birth control methods that exist for women globally. We became interested in this question when we noticed that the patterns of birth control use in Greece were quite unique when compared to other countries in its region. Although we were not able to physically go to Greece to film due to the COVID-19 outbreak, fortunately we were able to adapt our project. We decided to write a feature length article, containing an introduction and several sections on what we learned through interviewing multiple women on their experiences in Greece along with medical professionals and others who work in the healthcare field.
Our research, though Greece-specific, draws comparisons to neighboring countries in Europe as well as the United States and countries similar to Greece in terms of their patterns of birth control use. We hoped this work would be seen as a case-study for what happens when barriers are put into place to prevent women from seeking birth control.
I’m only a sophomore so I don’t know yet, but I hope to go into video journalism.
