Birth Control Access

We believe all people deserve access to birth control and other preventive care.

Thanks to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, all preventative care, including birth control, is now available to most North Dakotans with health insurance at no added cost.

Making effective methods of contraception available to all people who want them but could not otherwise afford to use them prevents a considerable number of unintended pregnancies. That, in turn, reduces the incidence of unplanned births, abortions, and miscarriages that could otherwise follow. Additionally, it is an economic justice issue. Contraceptive use enables people to complete their education, obtain and keep a good job, support themselves and their families financially, and invest in their children’s future.

In the absence of the federally funded supported family planning services provided, the rates of unintended pregnancy, unplanned birth and abortion for all women would be 56% higher in North Dakota, and the teen pregnancy rate would be 53% higher.

Additionally:

• Publicly supported family planning centers in North Dakota helped avert 2,800 unintended pregnancies in 2014, which would have resulted in 1,400 unplanned births and 1,000 abortions.
• Publicly supported family planning centers in North Dakota served 11,470 contraceptive clients in 2014.
• In 2016, North Dakota family planning clinics saw over 7,500 unduplicated clients.
• For North Dakota, publicly funded family planning services provided at safety-net health centers in 2010 helped save $20,507,000 in public funds.
• Every $1 invested in family planning yield $7.09 in cost saving to government programs.