I’m going to write peripherally about something  that is highly charged.  And, I, myself, have mixed emotions about that same subject. Abortion.

Decades ago, when abortion was legal only in very few jurisdictions, I was a party to such a choice.  Where travel was required to a nether region from where we resided.  It was a difficult decision.   One we never really broached again in all these years.

A little more than a decade later, the Supreme Being took that choice, providing an abortion. In the form of a miscarriage.

What makes one situation more acceptable than the other?  Why don’t the right wingers aim their invective at the Supreme Being for taking a soul- one they consider a living being, but in actuality has never once taken a breath on its own?

The real issue to me, though, is not abortion- but that fact that our citizenry lacks the ability to practice birth control.  Until Obamacare, birth control pills were not covered by our insurance plans.  And, while I may consider the $ 10 a month cost inconsequential, those barely making ends meet find that cost insurmountable.  And, even more so, should they lack health insurance- which as I have often stated is simply a volume purchasing card– which means buying birth control pills actually costs more than that $10- actually some 3, 4, 5, or 6 times as much.

And, there are also IUD (intrauterine devices) that can preclude pregnancies, which actually last for several years.   But these devices are even more expensive (but not when amortized over time) than the “pill”, costing some $ 800 or so apiece.  (Many married couples and single women never considered an IUD, because of the controversy of the Dalkon Shield and AH Robins (then, a Richmond, Virginia biomedical firm). The bacterial infections associated with that device left women subject to ectopic pregnancies- or worse, being infertile for life  The only good thing to come out of this IUD fiasco was that the FDA obtained the ability to regulate medical devices.)

This IUD market is pretty huge- running some $ 6  billion in annual turnover. And, for those unable to afford the cost, Planned Parenthood and other clinics bill Medicaid or obtain funding via other means (federal funding for women’s clinics or from donations).  The good news is that there are new IUD alternatives- ones that may cost as little as $ 50 apiece, produced by Medicines360, a non-profit manufacturer.   Medicines360 obtained its $ 75 million venture capital from an anonymous donor, one not publically known until recently.  Over the years, the foundation that provided the venture capital had been switching its focus from abortion to other areas of reproductive health, in particular to IUD research and distribution.  (One of the US’ biggest studies on IUD safety was the Contraceptive Choice Project; another venture funded by this very same foundation.)

That donor?  One of the biggest capitalists and business spokespersons in the USA.   Warren Buffett, who set up this foundation in the name of his deceased wife, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation.  That nonprofit distributes almost $ 500 million a year to organizations that deal with reproductive health for women.

Something else you didn’t know about Warren Buffett.