The old axiom to not mess with something that’s working should be considered by Colorado lawmakers when it comes to a successful birth control program.
Since 2009 the state has provided 30,000 intrauterine devices and hormone implants to women at low cost or for free at 68 health clinics throughout Colorado.
Gov. John Hickenlooper’s administration attributes a 40 percent drop in Colorado’s teen pregnancy rate to the program, which was piloted with $25 million in private funds. And while that may overstate the case, as critics contend, the program does seem to have worked.
Now, Hickenlooper seeks $5 million to keep the program afloat, a request that could be hung up in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The Associated Press’ Ivan Moreno quoted Sen. Kevin Lundberg, a Republican from Berthoud who will chair the Senate Health and Services Committee, as saying IUDs are “abortifacients,” meaning they can destroy a fertilized egg. Dr. Larry Wolk, the director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, says that is not medically correct.
Judging from those comments, lawmakers could find themselves embroiled in a debate over how an IUD works.
That would be unfortunate. Coupled with an effective sex education program put in place in 2013 that stresses abstinence and safe sex, the two programs give Colorado teens both the education and access to birth control that have been proven to reduce pregnancies.
Refusing to pick up funding for a successful program such as the Colorado Family Planning Initiative, which was seeded with private funds, would only reverse this desirable trend.
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