Cynthia Bailey's mom did not want to become a grandmother prematurely.
During a new episode of Sarah Hyland's "Lady Parts," airing Wednesday on Ellentube, The Real Housewives of Atlanta star joined the host, as well as actress Sara Foster and OB/GYN Dr. Sherry Ross to discuss the importance of access to birth control, touching on her own experience with contraceptive care.
"Growing up in the South, my mom didn’t really talk to us a lot about sex, we didn’t have the birds and the bees talk. Literally once we were old enough to start our menstrual cycle, she put us on the pill," Bailey, 53, recalled. "It was like no real explanation, she was like, ‘Oh, you can have a baby now so you take this every day.’ And honestly, I was on the pill for so long, I didn’t realize I was old enough to get off it if I wanted to. "
"It was just her way of saying, ‘I don’t what you guys to get pregnant.’ And had we not gotten on the pill, because we didn’t have a lot of information, I probably would have three or four kids now and my life would have been very different," the reality star, who grew up in Alabama said. "I didn’t ask any questions I just started taking the pill when I got my first period and that was that."
At the start of the show, Hyland, 29, touched on a new Supreme Court decision earlier this year, which allowed employers with a religious or moral objection to birth control to opt out of contraceptive coverage in employee health plans across the country.
Foster, 39, weighed in on the decision, saying that access to contraceptive care should "not even be up for discussion."
"Being a parent, it’s the biggest responsibility you will ever be given," Foster said. "Yes, there are great stories, like Cynthia, your mom was young and it worked out. A 16-year-old normally does not have the tools, and not every 16-year-old has the infrastructure at home to where they can help… No. We don’t want our teens having children."
"It’s hard work, and this should not even be up for discussion," the former 90210 star said. "It’s crazy to me that it’s even on the table to cut birth control or Planned Parenthood or any of these places. I can’t wrap my head around it. Let me tell you, if I had a kid with any of my first few boyfriends, I don’t know if I’d be here."
In July, the Supreme Court sided with President Donald Trump's administration, that employers could decline to provide contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
According to NBC, up to 126,000 women could lose birth control coverage because of the ruling.
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