Montana Attempts to Provide Birth Control Access For Teens

Planned Parenthood in Montana is attempting to have perscription birth control for teens added to the Healthy Montana Kids program.

Following in the steps of Wisconsin, Montana reproductive health advocates are fighting to have prescription birth control added as part of the Healthy Montana Kids program.

Via NBC in Montana:

A state program called Healthy Montana Kids provides free or low-cost health care to kids and teenagers, but it doesn’t pay for prescription birth control if it’s used for preventing pregnancy.  Planned Parenthood thinks this policy is a reason Montana is one of two states with a teen pregnancy rate that is rising.Wendy Doely, Executive Director of Flathead Family Planning agrees.“I would like to see kids be abstinent until they are ready to take full responsibility for the consequences of their actions,” says Doely. “But regardless of what we as adults or what parents may feel, kids make their own choices.”

Wisconsin has also expanded access to birth control for teens through its Medicaid program, in the hopes that such a move could play a pivotal role in reducing the number of unintended teen pregnancies in the state.  That move has fired up anti-choice groups in the state, who claim it will increase the number of teens having sex, who are likely to misuse it and end up pregnant regardless.