A "Rat Birth Control" Bill Was Just Passed In NYC, And The Viral Response From Women Is Too Good Not To Share

Welp, it's another day in the good ol' US of A.

In NYC's latest attempts to shrink its rat population (if you recall, last year, the city appointed a "rat czar"), the city passed a bill that will pilot the use of birth control on rats.

The bill, named "Flaco's Law" after the viral Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped the Central Park Zoo and tragically died with rat poison in his system, aims to quell the rodent population with birth control, mitigating the risks of rodenticide on other animals.

As New York prepares its sterilization on rats (sorry, rats), people are more shocked that rats seemingly have better access to birth control than women do in the United States. "no not rats having better access to reproductive care than most women," one user wrote in a now-viral tweet.

iStock / Getty Images Plus / Via Twitter: @emilyagain

"Free birth control to rats before humans is so on par," another user wrote.

iStock / Getty Images Plus / Via Twitter: @manndaraee

While the US Affordable Care Act requires insurers to cover approved forms of contraception for free, many newer contraceptives aren't on that list. Plans are also not required to cover over-the-counter contraception, including the emergency pill, unless the patient has a prescription. Plans also do not need to cover drugs to induce abortions and male reproductive care, like vasectomies. These exceptions thus make birth control still inaccessible and costly for many Americans.

Some have noted that it seems like rats are also getting more comprehensive birth control options than people, nodding to the New York Times article which states that rat birth control will work for both sexes.

The New York Times / Via Twitter: @culturlviolnce

Aside from mostly condoms and vasectomies, birth control options for men are limited. While there have been attempts at making similar male birth control options as female options, biological challenges and side effects have prevented a product from materializing (however, a hormonal gel for men is currently looking promising).

Still, critics say a lack of male birth control options is also due to a societal lack in changing the status quo. A 2018 research study suggested that in the United States, responsibility for preventing pregnancy in heterosexual relationships disproportionately falls on women.

“No pharmaceutical company is willing to put up money to develop a drug if there are not people who are going to take it,” Jesse N. Mills, director of the men’s clinic at the University of California at Los Angeles, said to the Washington Post. “It’s very concerning and, frankly, testimony to the sexism present in the drug development that it has taken so long to still not have an FDA-approved drug for male birth control.”

"so glad to hear science has finally figured out how to make male birth control," one person wrote.

iStock / Getty Images Plus / Via Twitter: @piscesmoonsong

This person tweeted, "Inexorably hurtling towards the point rats have more reproductive rights than Americans."

iStock / Getty Images Plus / Via Twitter: @SamWhyte

After all, since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, 14 states have made abortion illegal.

iStock / Getty Images Plus / Via Twitter: @corndogwife

And as the rats gain birth control access, millions of women are losing access. According to one study, about 1 in 3 adult women who have ever sought a prescription for birth control in the US experienced access barriers.

Twitter: @folkred12

Moreover, more than 19 million women in need live in “contraceptive deserts,” AKA an area that lacks at least one health center per 1,000 women who are eligible for publicly funded contraception. Additionally, free and low-cost contraceptives are becoming more difficult to access as clinics close, are forced to navigate policy restrictions, and struggle with the upfront cost of stocking contraceptives.

Of course, like many women, rats still don't really have a choice in this matter (and forced sterilization has its own insidious history in the US). Yet, rats having arguably better comprehensive, government-funded birth control than humans sure is a shock. Surely, it was not on my 2024 bingo card, but nothing's really surprising me these days. *deep sigh*

Anyways, here are more reactions that made me laugh through the pain:

iStock / Getty Images Plus / Via Twitter: @brittnixann

Twitter: @RPOIII

iStock / Getty Images Plus / Via Twitter: @FreyaAmari

iStock / Getty Images Plus / Via Twitter: @TheRealKaitAC

Twitter: @strawberrygeli

iStock / Getty Images Plus / Via Twitter: @keenan_main

iStock / Getty Images Plus / Via Twitter: @mmbffr

And lastly:

iStock / Getty Images Plus / Via Twitter: @bookwormbarbiee