DENVER – Sen. Don Coram, R-Montrose, had a startling revelation for his fellow Senators Wednesday during the committee hearing for a bill increasing women’s access to contraceptive medicines.
“I’m far past the need for this personally. My most effective birth control seem to be my looks and my personality,” Coram said to open up the hearing for House Bill 1186, which would require insurance providers in Colorado to dispensing a year’s worth of contraceptive medicine rather than in only three month increments.
Coram said he was honored to carry the bill as it is something that is near and dear to him from his time on the board of Montrose County School district.
The high school in Montrose had a strikingly high teen pregnancy rate, Coram said. “The school was referred to by other communities as ‘maternity high school’ instead of Montrose High School.”
To counteract this, the school board partnered with nearby communities to create a program to educate students on contraceptive options.
Coram said since then he has done a lot of research on the effects of contraceptives. Not only do they lower the rate of unintended pregnancies and abortions, but by doing so they increase a woman’s chances at thriving in life.
Women who become pregnant unintentionally are less likely to graduate from college unless they have a powerful support system around them.
Coram’s analysis of the effects of increasing access to contraceptives was echoed by most of those who testified on HB 1186.
Marissa Ronk, an attorney in Denver, said women who travel for their work can often find themselves out of town when their prescription runs out, something she has experienced herself.
“I have been lucky and never had this result in an unplanned pregnancy, but that’s not to say this will be the case, or is always the case, for every women,” Ronk said.
Critics of the bill argued that having a ready supply of contraceptive would lead to promiscuity among young women. They also cited studies on the connections of contraceptives and certain types of cancer.
Ultimately, the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee decided the hearing was not about the side effects or morality of contraceptives, but on increasing access to a doctor-prescribed medication and voted 4-1 to move HB 1186 to the full Senate.
Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins, was the lone no vote and said since some insurance companies offer coverage for a year supply of these medications, she didn’t see the need to make it a law.
For people in rural Colorado that isn’t good enough, Coram said. “If you live where I do, where you only have one insurance provider, it’s a different story.”