Colorado must retain funding for birth control

Colorado must retain funding for birth control

See original/source content: http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_27520930/keep-funding-birth-control

Colorado is at a watershed moment in the battle to end unintended pregnancy, drastically reduce abortion rates, and improve the health of mothers and babies.

Long-acting contraceptives like IUDs and implants helped reduce our state’s teen birth rate by 40 percent and our teen abortion rate by 42 percent over 5 years, thanks to the privately funded Colorado Family Planning Initiative.

In late January, state Reps. Don Coram, R-Montrose, and KC Becker, D-Boulder, introduced a bill to spend $5 million to continue funding the program. It’s a welcome bipartisan effort – and a move that could save Colorado about $40 million on prenatal, labor and delivery care.

But first, the bill will have to pass the Republican-controlled Senate, where misperceptions about IUDs could derail our important progress in reducing teen pregnancy and abortion.

See original/source content: http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_27520930/keep-funding-birth-control