My girlfriend and I have recently moved to a new area, and have encountered an unfortunate problem. In this area, the birth control pill is only available upon prescription by a gynecologist, and gynecologists are required by law to refuse handing out the prescription until after a woman has undergone a standard checkup. Normally, this doesn't seem like such a big deal, but my girlfriend has only been to a gynecologist once and adamantly refuses to do so again, as she is afraid the check-up will be horribly painful. She has, in fact, declared that we should simply stop having sex until we find a way to acquire the pill without her undergoing a gynecological check-up (we only ever use double-protection, condom and pill, to try and minimize the risk of unwanted pregnancies); her only idea is to get her mother (who works in a pharmacy) to send birth control pills per post. If that doesn't work, it looks like I'm in for a dry spell. I am confused as to what I am allowed to do, ethically speaking. I know that gynecological checkups are important - my own mother was spared full-blown cervical cancer thanks in part to frequent checkups that caught the abnormalities early. It was frightening to hear that my girlfriend had not had any regular check-ups, and even more so to hear that she intends to never visit a gynecologist. But I feel that my sexual relationship to my girlfriend compromises any authority I might have to try and convince her to go. Ultimately, any attempt I make to convince her to go to the gynecologist to get the checkup and the pill are tainted by my desire to have sex with her; I would effectively be trying to take control of her body and ignore her wishes for my own pleasure, and I've always believed that was wrong. So, ethically speaking, what can I do? Am I allowed to try and convince her to go to the gynecologist and get checked up? Or should I accept whatever she decides to do with her own body? What do I have the right to do?