S1098 — Increasing Access to Contraception
This past week, I presented S1098 to the Senate Commerce and Human Resource Committee; unfortunately we ran out of time, so a vote will be taken on Tuesday, February 23. The bill allows women to extend their prescription contraception beyond the typical 1 – 3 months that is currently limited by insurance plans. Increasing accessibility, especially during a pandemic, is also a simple way to increase the effectiveness of birth control.
Why increase access and reduce barriers for this medication, prescription birth control?
Contraception is a time sensitive medication needing to be taken consistently every day to ensure effectiveness. Birth control is prescribed to women for a variety of reasons including preventing pregnancy, hormone regulation, relief from heavy bleeding and cramping during menstruation, prevention of ovarian cysts, PMS relief and endometriosis management.
Most insurance plans only allow women to get 1-3 months of contraception at a time, which can create unnecessary roadblocks for women in consistently obtaining their prescription on time. My colleagues have challenged this notion that women don’t need to get more than three months at a time, but women are busy. We are caring for our families. We are going to school to finish a degree. We are working two jobs to put food on the table. We are caring for aging parents, and so much more. We are so busy, sometimes, putting the needs of others before our own, this simple adjustment would allow us to have the amount of our prescription we need without worrying about refills.
A nursing student emailed me recently sharing a study that she found:
“According to a California study published in 2017 there were many benefits found to changing the dispensing pattern within insurance companies. The research found a large reduction in abortions, miscarriages, and unintended pregnancies within the state of California. When women are able to begin the next cycle of pill birth control promptly after the completion of a prior unit, the consistency leads to better health outcomes. Allowing the twelve-month supply option for contraceptives also eliminates barriers faced trying to re-fill the prescriptions on-time. Many of these obstacles more heavily affect people in middle or low- income situations, who cannot afford to rearrange their schedule to pick-up a prescription. Additionally in Idaho, there are many rural areas that may not have reliable transportation all-year round and so having a twelve-month supply would be a valuable option.”
If we want to decrease the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions, this is very common sense legislation to pass. Unfortunately, this is the fourth time we have tried to pass this legislation in the Statehouse. The opposition from conservative groups has been strong. I hope that opposition has been more about misunderstanding than about limiting women’s access to medication. I have tried to dispel myths and misconceptions; I hope that Tuesday brings a passing vote so we can continue to advance this very important but simple legislation.
The goal of this bill is to eliminate the risk of having a gap in our prescription contraception, thus reducing unplanned pregnancies due to preventable circumstances.
It is hard to fathom that anyone would oppose this legislation; I will continue to do all I can to fight for our rights to increase accessibility to contraception which allows women the freedom to plan for her family in the ways she wants. Accessibility to contraception also has a positive economic impact on a woman’s ability to care for herself and her family.