PLANNED PARENTHOOD ANNOUNCES AFFORDABLE BIRTH CONTROL

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and Planned Parenthood Mid and South Michigan have launched Affordable Birth Control Week of Action, Sept. 8, 2008, to help raise awareness about the skyrocketing cost of birth control for college students and the need to restore affordable birth control in these turbulent economic times.

University of Michigan student Allyson Hoerauf is among the select number of college students who will be on Capitol Hill today, Tuesday, Sept. 9, to lobby members of Congress.

“Because of the rising cost of birth control, I’ve had to use my father's health insurance to afford prescription birth control,” said Hoerauf. “This is an option that several of my classmates don't have.”

She will be joined by college students from California, Missouri, Illinois and Nevada.

“College students are returning to campus to find that along with the increased cost of tuition, books and gas, birth control still remains up to five times more expensive than it used to be,” said Lori Lamerand, CEO of Planned Parenthood Mid and South Michigan.  “The Bush administration must stop playing politics with women’s health, and work with Congress to restore affordable birth control for college students and low-income women.”

For more than 20 years, Congress has made it possible for college health clinics and safety-net providers to purchase birth control at low prices in order to help ensure that college students and low-income women could afford the contraception they need.

But this fall, college women have returned to campus for another semester only to discover that the birth control that previously cost them $5–$10 for a monthly supply now costs them $40–$50 per pack — a price many cannot afford.

Under a provision included in the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA), as of January 1, 2007, every college and university health center and hundreds of safety-net providers were unintentionally cut off from accessing low-cost birth control and passing on the low price to college women and low-income women.  The result has been an increase in the average price of birth control on college campuses, often as much as 10 times the previous cost.  Skyrocketing prices are making it much harder for college students and low-income women to access the family planning services they need to help them prevent unintended pregnancy.

It is estimated that this provision adversely affects an estimated three million college students who take oral contraception, which allows them to plan for their education, career and family on their own terms.  Hundreds of thousands of low-income women also are affected by the rising cost of birth control, which they receive through safety-net providers.

Efforts to resolve this matter through regulatory means were blocked by the Bush administration.  Earlier this year, the Senate passed bipartisan legislation by an overwhelming margin that would have restored access to birth control, but the effort was stymied by lack of White House support. 

Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have introduced legislation, the Prevention Through Affordable Access Act, that would restore affordable birth control at college health clinics and safety-net providers and increase access to affordable birth control.  This legislation, introduce by Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), will not cost the taxpayers a single dime and has bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.

Planned Parenthood Mid and South Michigan operates 11 health centers in 15 counties in lower Michigan.