YAY! Affordable Birth Control is Back!

FINALLY! Affordable birth control is back! On March 10, 2009 congress passed an omnibus appropriations bill that included the Affordable Birth Control Act. (An omnibus bill packages together many bills into one). This is a huge victory for low-income and college woman across the United States, who saw the cost of birth control skyrocket in 2006 when an “error” in the Deficit Reduction act was passed.

It is also a victory for Planned Parenthood who lead a grassroots campaign to mobilize hundreds of young people to contact their members of Congress in support of affordable birth control. Millions stepped up to write letters, make phone calls, send emails and visit their representatives to make the case for affordable birth control.

The victory is especially helpful to college women. While we have all seen an increase in general living expenses, college women have also had to deal with a rise in the cost of tuition and books over the past two years. This made having to pay 10 times more for birth control a greater burden on them.

And, it’s good news for taxpayers as well. This legislation was a no-cost fix to a two year-old mistake that restricted access to family planning — and pregnancy prevention. The savings becomes even greater when you consider that every dollar spent on prevention, saves $6 on social services over a years time.

This bill restores affordable birth control, and that’s good for all women in their reproductive years! According to the Guttmacher Institute, women of childbearing age spend 68% more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men, in part because of the cost of birth control supplies and services.

Planned Parenthood is thankful to Congress for standing up for women’s health. Please, take a minute now to thank your representatives for passing this legislation.