Imagine entering your favorite restaurant only to find that the prices of everything on the menu had doubled. Or tripled.

Instead of paying a $15 bill, you’re now shelling out $30 or $40.

Are you going to keep eating there, paying the new ludicrous prices?

That’s the problem many women are currently facing on college campuses.

Paying $50 a month.

Six hundred dollars a year.

For birth control.

Campuses across the nation have been hit hard since a federal law went into effect last year that excluded university health clinics from receiving discounts on contraceptives from pharmaceutical companies.

Including TCU.

Prices of popular contraceptives at least doubled, leaving students to scramble to find extra cash to purchase them.

In a 2006 study, about 38 percent of sexually active college students said they use birth control pills, according to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article.

By using contraceptives, students are trying to be responsible for their actions. And now they’re paying for it, literally.

Most college students don’t have a ton of money sitting around to pay unreasonable prices for birth control.

We already have plenty of payments to worry about: rent, groceries, tuition, textbooks, insurance, phone bills, etc. Now birth control has become a burden.

And no, not everyone has daddy’s credit card to foot the bill.

Many students are used to living on a tight budget already, so when the price of something soars in one area, it throws us for a loop.

We have to counter the extra cost in some way, meaning something else – whether it’s groceries, bills or social outings – gets cut.

Students aren’t going to stop having sex either. They may just be less protected.

Some women might skip buying contraceptives, or turn to cheaper, less effective methods.

There are generic brands students can purchase instead, but some of those still cost more than the discounted prices had been.

I thought a major social objective was to try to decrease teen and unwanted pregnancies.

Now how is this helping?

For students’ sake, I hope this little glitch in the law is corrected soon.

Some lawmakers have attempted to correct the problem through new bills, but so far nothing has been successful.

But there’s still a chance university health centers could get their discounts back.

Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both have plans to remedy the situation.

If you want to continue paying double or triple the price for birth control pills, go right ahead. But if you want to do something about it, you know who to vote for to fix the problem.

Elizabeth Davidson is a junior news-editorial major from Austin.