Providing equitable access to contraception is right

COVID-19 has put our health and health care system in the spotlight. Although health care is an essential service, social distancing and overburdened health care facilities are making it even harder for people to access care, including services that boost reproductive health.

As a certified public-health professional and family planning health worker, I want people to have easy access to contraception and the information they need to protect their reproductive health. People should be able to ensure that they only add to their family if and when they’re ready.

Senate Bill 1227, titled “12-Month Supply of Hormonal Contraceptives for Medicaid Insurees” and sponsored by Sen. Jenifer Boysko, recently passed both chambers of state legislature and was signed into law by the governor.

This legislation will help alleviate issues related to contraceptive access for all Virginians.

During the 2017 Virginia General Assembly session, the legislature passed a bill that allows Virginians to get a yearlong supply of birth control if they use private insurance, reducing the number of trips they’d need to make to the pharmacy.

With the passage of this bill, that benefit will extend to others, regardless of how much money they make or the kind of health insurance they have. In light of COVID, health care organizations quickly built systems to provide online and telehealth appointments so patients could get contraception refills without having to visit a provider.

This kind of programmatic flexibility and innovation has now been extended to Medicaid recipients using birth control, too.

The passage of SB1227 should be celebrated by all Virginians. According to a recent national survey conducted by the Center for Biological Diversity, where I work, 80% of respondents agreed that all types of birth control should be legal, free and easily accessible. It has been shown that access to a 12-month supply of contraception is associated with a 30% decrease in unplanned pregnancies.

The center works in solidarity with our reproductive rights and justice allies to build a world where all pregnancies are planned.

That’s especially important as our growing climate woes take a toll on human health and well-being. While no one is immune to climate change, women and children are among the most vulnerable, as they are more likely to become victims of scarcity, drought, food insecurity and disease.

Increasing contraceptive access for all will support families during this difficult time, prevent unplanned pregnancies, protect the environment, and improve the lives of children and parents alike

When women have easy access to contraception, however, they tend to have children later in life, allowing them to obtain more years of education, earn higher wages and enjoy greater upward mobility and resiliency in the face of climate change.

Unfortunately, the pandemic is taking an undue toll on women at a time when a growing number of Virginians are losing their job-provided insurance and must turn to our safety-net systems such as Medicaid. Before the pandemic, 12% of Virginia’s 8.1 million residents were covered by Medicaid, including 1 in 14 adults ages 19-64.

Passing SB1227 has an immediate positive impact on the growing number of women of childbearing age who access the Medicaid program. Increasing contraceptive access for all will support families during this difficult time, prevent unplanned pregnancies, protect the environment, and improve the lives of children and parents alike.

Increasing reproductive health access, decreasing prescription complexity, and making family planning more convenient are all crucial to meeting the basic health care needs of Virginians. Even in the best of times, supportive reproductive health care faces challenges.

During a worldwide health crisis, the easy and equitable access to reproductive health care that SB1227 offers has never been more necessary.

Kelley Dennings is a campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity and lives in Arlington.