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  • 2016-11-29 (xsd:date)
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  • Colorado Birth Control Facts (en)
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  • As early as August 2015, this meme circulated on social media, claiming that during a five-year period in Colorado, the availability of free birth control led to many positive outcomes: The meme included at least five claims: that the state of Colorado offered free birth control for a five-year period before August 2015, that unintended pregnancies fell by 40 percent in that time, that 42 percent fewer abortions were obtained during the period, that millions of dollars in healthcare expenditure were spared by it, and that the program ought to be (but was not) replicated elsewhere in the United States. A July 2015 article appeared to be the source for the meme's statistics, as well as a reference for details that did not appear in the graphic. According to the piece, the program had operated for six years at the time of publication, and the statistics came from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The numbers from CDPHE specifically reflected long-acting reversible contraceptives, or LARCs, such as intra-uterine devices or hormonal implants, not birth control pills or similar methods: The July 2015 article included a link to an undated CPDHE report: As of early 2014 (a year before the Times article), the provisions of the Affordable Care Act led to a 67 percent rate of coverage among patients prescribed birth control pills. That number was slightly lower for patients using IUDs: Despite Colorado's birth control program success, it met with lawmaker opposition in 2015. But in April 2016, the state once again secured funding for the program. Widely circulated figures did not, however, include all methods of birth control; the statistical differences between LARCs and more popular methods like the Pill were stark: It is true that CDPHE's figures reflect a 42 percent drop in abortions, a 40 percent drop in unintended pregnancies, and a savings range of $49 to $111 million in birth-related Medicaid costs during the period of time that LARCs were available for free to residents of Colorado. Funding for the program was briefly disrupted in 2015, and re-enabled in April 2016. (en)
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