Sixty-two percent of women in Mississippi, report their pregnancies were unplanned, according to Power to Decide based in Washington, DC. Rachel Fey is with the organization. She explains there are contraceptive deserts where low-income families don't have reasonable access to contraceptives.
"It might mean that they have to a county far away in order to get the method they need. It may also mean that there's a clinic in their county but the number of people depending on that clinic for services exceeds the number of providers that clinic has and wait times can be long," said Fey.
Fey says contraceptives have been politicized, which contributes to some negative views about them. The Affordable Care Act covers contraceptives, but a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allows employers to opt out due to religious beliefs. Fey says birth control allows families to plan educational, economic and work goals and adds it's good for economic development.
"It's really critical to bringing new business to the state because you can cut taxes all you want but if you don't have a workforce that's been able to achieve it's their economic and professional goals then that's harder to draw business to the state.
Jamie Bardwell is with Converge in Jackson, a non-profit that works with healthcare providers on best practices. She says Medicaid pays for contraceptives, expanding the program would help but some legislators say the state can't afford it.
"The feds have put so many monetary incentives behind it. And the cost-benefit analysis is so great. That argument doesn't really make sense to me and a lot of economists," said Bardwell.
Bardwell says currently Medicaid does offer a limited waiver program for family planning.
