Queering Reproductive Care and Birth Control
Queering Reproductive Care and Birth Control
Happy Pride! Birth control and reproductive healthcare are basic health care for people of all genders and sexual identities. ICAN! connects you to providers that ensure you feel safe and affirmed during your visit, no matter how you identify, who you love, or how much money you make!
Promoting Sexual and Reproductive Well-Being
Sexual and reproductive well-being means having the freedom, knowledge and resources to make decisions about your own body in an informed and supported environment. And yet LGBTQ+ individuals are often faced with discrimination in healthcare settings and left out of the conversation when it comes to birth control and other sexual health services. This discrimination prevents people from gathering accurate information and accessing resources and care they need to be as healthy as possible in their reproductive lives. Sexual and reproductive health affects everybody–let’s normalize the conversation.
Who Needs Reproductive Healthcare?
So you might be thinking to yourself, who needs sexual and reproductive healthcare? EVERYONE! People of all gender identities need and use birth control to decide if, when, and under what circumstances to be pregnant and parent, protect against STIs, manage health conditions, and support gender-affirming care.
Let’s explore some of the specific ways birth control can serve as LGBTQ+ affirming care. Birth control can:
- prevent pregnancy or stop/reduce bleeding for trans men and other gender non-conforming people.
- support pregnancy timing and spacing for lesbian or bisexual cis-gender women, non-binary people or trans men.
Provider Spotlight: Howard Brown
ICAN! partners with health centers all across Illinois that provide care that is trauma-informed, respectful, unbiased, and puts you at the center of the provider-patient relationship to make decisions that are best for you, your life, and your body.
During Pride Month, we’re spotlighting one of our provider partners, Howard Brown Health. Howard Brown Health is one of the nation’s leading providers of queer-friendly healthcare. The following locations are partnered with ICAN! and committed to ensuring that your care is respectful, timely and accessible no matter your age, gender, or sexual orientation.
Howard Brown Health Locations
- La Casa Norte, 3533 W North Avenue
- Broadway Youth Center, 1023 W Irving Park Rd
- Clark, 6500 N Clark St
- 63rd Street, 641 W 63rd St
Check out our provider finder here to locate additional ICAN! partnering health centers near you! All of these providers offer quality care and can help you sign up to get same-day coverage for birth control, STI testing and treatment, PrEP and PEP. Looking to get birth control but not sure what method works best for you? Take our birth control quiz and explore your options now!
Have a safe, happy and healthy pride!
