WASHINGTON (PRWEB)
January 25, 2021

Recent data from Power to Decide show an estimated 637,430 women with low income in North Carolina live in contraceptive deserts, or counties in which there is not reasonable access to a health center offering the full range of contraceptive methods.

Currently, across the country more than 19 million U.S. women of low income live in contraceptive deserts.

“In North Carolina, over 600,000 women must overcome significant barriers to access the contraception they need and deserve in order to decide if, when and under what circumstances to get pregnant and have a child,” said Raegan McDonald-Mosley, MD, MPH. “The challenge of covering costs associated with obtaining family planning services such as transportation, child care and unpaid time off from work may be too great a burden for women already struggling to make ends meet.”

In this challenging landscape, states like North Carolina can take proactive steps to expand access to contraception in various ways. Expanding Medicaid to childless adults would help decrease the percentage of uninsured women, and by extension, give them the contraceptive coverage they need to live healthy lives. In addition, allowing pharmacists to prescribe contraception, and requiring insurance to cover an extended supply of prescription contraceptives can make it easier to access some contraceptive methods. North Carolina can also guard against additional barriers to access by enacting policies that protect insurance coverage of the full range of contraceptive methods. More information about these policies can be found here.

Power to Decide is a private, non-partisan, non-profit organization that works to ensure all people—no matter who they are, where they live or what their economic status might be—have the power to decide if, when and under what circumstances to get pregnant and have a child. Please visit us at http://www.PowerToDecide.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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