A Republican Colorado lawmaker is opposing efforts to continue an anti-poverty program that provides IUDs to poor women because he believes the birth control method to be an “abortifacient” that would stop “a small child from implanting.”
The Coloradoan reported that Democratic state Rep. KC Becker was sponsoring a bill in hope of finding funds to make sure that low-income women continue to be able to receive long-acting reversible contraception, like IUDs.
The Family Planning Initiative pilot program had been funded by a $25 million grant from an anonymous donor. It worked so well that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) estimated that the teen birth rate was down by 40 percent, resulting in $23 million in savings in Medicaid assistance to women and children.
CDPHE projected that the program, which would use $5 million from the state’s general fund, could save the state $40 million in Medicaid costs in the future.
But state Senate Health and Human Services Committee chair Sen. Kevin Lundberg (R) opposed funding the Family Planning Initiative on the grounds that IUDs induce abortions, even though doctors have said that the claim is inaccurate.
“Protecting life is a very big issue,” Lundberg explained, according to The Coloradoan. “In my mind, that’s what government is all about, and to protect the life of the most vulnerable and most innocent seems to be the most important.”
I'm failing how to see this is a bad thing. Providing people with contraceptives decreases teen and unwanted pregnancy rates, lowers those precious abortion rates Republicans care so much about, and saves the state money, which they also care about. This is basically a Republican's wet dream except they can't seem to get over the fact that people who don't want children aren't having children?
You use IUDs and don't have children, you're disrupting God's plan. You have children and sign up for assistance, you're a drain on the system. You literally can't win with Republicans.
