Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose, has made it a bit of a crusade to reduce teen pregnancy rates in Colorado and has a common-sense means of doing so: state funding for long-acting reversible contraception. The numbers associated with making intrauterine devices and birth-control implants available at little or no cost to young women with limited financial means are telling: the program works, and it saves the state money. Coram wants to build on this success by using state money to fund and expand the program that has been paid for by a private grant that expires this summer. Thus far, his efforts have not been successful though they should be. It is money well worth spending.
The latest lost battle came in the state budget process. Last week, the Joint Budget Committee deadlocked over the matter, with a 3-3 vote to spend $5 million from the state general fund for the program. At issue is ideology over pragmatics. Despite the fact that the LARC program saves Colorado $5.85 in Medicaid funding for every dollar spent on the free birth control, there are those in the Legislature – largely Republicans – who are uncomfortable with the idea of paying for birth control for teen-aged girls and young women, though the discomfort is based on the inaccurate assertion that IUDs are abortofacients. They are not. These and other long-term birth control methods are proven to be effective in preventing pregnancy and offering the option for young women with limited income is very much in the state’s interest, as well as that of the women themselves. When the LARC program began in Colorado, the abortion rate fell dramatically between 2009-2013: 42 percent for low-income teens aged 15-19 and 18 percent for women ages 20-24. Further, birth rates have dropped among projections for these populations by 29 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Correspondingly, the percentage of women in these groups who are using LARC has increased from 5 percent to 19 percent. Put simply, the program is working, and it is working well.
Coram is not giving up on the matter, nor should he. He and Rep. K C Becker, D-Boulder, are pushing a stand-alone bill through the Legislature that would provide the $5 million in state general fund money that was proposed in the budget. The measure cleared the House on Friday, and will head to the Republican-controlled Senate where it will face a less receptive audience. That should not be the case.
As squeamish as lawmakers are about birth control and teenage sex, the fact is that the latter is as certain as death and taxes and the former is a means of helping ensure that young people are responsible, safe and healthy in their choices. But the long-acting reversible contraception goes beyond the individuals who choose to use it. The state saves significantly by offering the service for little to no cost, avoiding the Medicaid and other assistance-related costs that stem from unplanned – and un-resourced pregnancies among young women with little income. Further, the abortion rate is shown to have dropped as a result of the program. Individually and together, the facts indisputably show that a state investment in long-acting reversible contraception is one that pays significant dividends for women, their families, communities and the state. The Legislature should pass House Bill 1194.
