For whatever reason, birth control has been a perpetual hot topic in this country. It seems no one can reach an agreement on how to teach sex education, much less decide whether abortion should be legal.

So it comes as a surprise that, amidst all the uproar about the morning-after pill this last week, most major news media overlooked something that could have a far larger impact on millions of women.

Ortho-McNeil, which makes several brands of birth-control pills, as well as a birth-control patch, is a major supplier of birth control to clinics around the country. So when the company decided to charge the clinics as much as $18 per pack of pills – packs that previously cost as little as a penny – clinics were understandably mystified.

Especially since the company gave no public explanation for the price hike. It’s anyone’s guess as to why rates rose, but it certainly seems that poor planning played a part. Why give such deep discounts if you’re only going to have to raise the amount you charge exponentially, sending clinics and patients scrambling to find alternatives?

These clinics are publicly funded, but they’re also chronically short on cash. Some 4,500 clinics around the country get a total of $283 million a year. True, that sounds like a lot – until you consider the clinics are not only supposed to supply subsidized birth control for low-income women, but also STD screenings, pregnancy tests and tests for cervical and breast cancer, all at a reduced rates.

Clinics are struggling to find generic brands on the cheap. As a result, many have cut back the selection of pills they offer. Women’s bodies react differently to different medications so it is important to carry a variety of different pills. And when clinics have to consider cutting other services and closing locations, they deserve an explanation.

We’re talking about threatening not only access to reasonably priced birth control, but dealing a blow to clinics that provide basic health services. (Lest you confuse Planned Parenthood with abortion clinics, let’s clear a few things up: no federal dollars go toward a woman having an abortion. Period.)

Ed Board knows that the media has more than their fair share of blame in this situation – the public does need to know about a situation in order to react to it. But it seems that there’s a more general and much deeper sense of ambivalence when it comes to women’s health and reproductive rights.

Women and men both are, on the whole, ignorant of most aspects of reproductive health care, so it’s easier for companies like Ortho-McNeil to get away with charging clinics ridiculous rates. It’s our government’s job to provide basic access to health care to everyone in this country, regardless of gender.