Low-Income Women's Access to Birth Control

An essential component of comprehensive reproductive health care is access to birth control. Unfortunately, for millions of uninsured and underinsured women across the country accessing birth control is a difficult and often impossible process. Even women on Medicaid and other public health insurance programs face problems accessing needed contraceptive services.

Twelve percent of women of reproductive age depend on Medicaid for their health care. However, the birth control options that state Medicaid programs provide are not always adequate to meet women's needs. Emergency contraception, for instance, is not covered by all state Medicaid programs and in some states is only covered if the woman obtains a prescription, despite its approval by the FDA for over-the-counter use. The panelist will discuss the state of Medicaid coverage for emergency contraception and will highlight current efforts on the national, state and local level to expand state Medicaid coverage for emergency contraception. One effort that will be highlighted is the work of the Low-Income EC Access Coalition, a coalition made up of over 60 organizations from 22 states that are collaborating on efforts to expand access to emergency contraception for all low-income women.

With over twenty percent of women of reproductive age uninsured, there is a large need to create new innovative programs to expand access to family planning. The panelist will also discuss the work of six state and local organizations who recently received grants from the National Institute to expand access to birth control for low-income women in their area.