Finding cheap birth control is becoming harder for many in states with abortion bans
A renewed spotlight on protecting access to birth control may not help women who are already struggling to find affordable contraception in some states with the strictest abortion laws.
A renewed spotlight on protecting access to birth control may not help women who are already struggling to find affordable contraception in some states with the strictest abortion laws.
At a family planning clinic in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, that largely helps low-income women, executive director Robin Marty has to make sure the clinic, WAWC Healthcare, has a variety of contraceptives on hand, including pills, patches, implants and IUDs, so patients can get free or low-cost birth control during their appointments.
It’s something that has become increasingly difficult to do in Alabama, along with other rural Southern states including Mississippi and Texas.
“The vast majority of our clients are people who are at or below the poverty line. Most of them are Black women, and many of them have no primary care provider. They come in to us in order to access contraception,” Marty said.
Years before the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, policy changes, flatlined funding and shuttering clinics put a strain on small family planning providers that have to fund the upfront cost of stocking a range of contraceptives, from birth control pills to injections to intrauterine devices, for their patients. That can reach around $30,000 for a clinic that dispenses birth control to about 50 to 75 patients a month, said Kate McCollum, senior director of the Trust Her initiative at the Child Poverty Action Lab in Dallas.
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