Indiana lawmakers look to broaden birth control access

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana lawmakers this session are eyeing methods to develop contraceptive entry to stop unintended pregnancies within the state after the Republican-led Legislature pushed by means of an abortion ban this previous summer time.

A Home committee on Tuesday thought-about a proposal that would allow pharmacists to prescribe contraception hours earlier than state Senators accepted a invoice that will permit Medicaid recipients same-day entry to long-acting reversible contraceptives.

However whereas Indiana’s abortion ban is on maintain pending a choice from the state Supreme Courtroom, lawmakers want to bolster companies that will forestall these pregnancies within the first place.

The Home laws relating to over-the-counter contraception was developed “after our particular session final 12 months,” invoice writer Republican Rep. Elizabeth Rowray mentioned in Tuesday’s committee listening to.

All girls co-authors on the invoice — which permits pharmacists to choose out of authorizing the medicine in the event that they object on non secular or moral grounds — are Republican Reps. Sharon Negele and Ann Vermilion and Democratic Rep. Rita Fleming.

“We thought that accessing hormonal contraceptives as available as doable could be one step in ensuring we didn’t have these unintended pregnancies,” Rowray mentioned Tuesday.

An modification that will have allowed over-the-counter contraception fell quick by one vote this summer time. Fleming tried to grant that entry by means of a spending invoice — which is able to allocate further funding this 12 months to state companies that assist low-income girls and kids — that handed alongside the abortion ban.

Sen. Shelli Yoder, who authored the Senate invoice that handed 49-0, mentioned Tuesday the proposal would permit long-acting reversible contraceptives, equivalent to intrauterine units, to be transferred between Medicaid sufferers.

If a Medicaid affected person doesn’t return after 12 weeks for the system they requested, a medical supplier can reissue that contraceptive to a distinct affected person. This might occur throughout a day-of appointment, reasonably than the standard follow-up go to. Suppliers don’t usually preserve the implant units on the shelf as a result of their excessive prices — as much as $1,000 per system, Yoder mentioned.

Yoder was joined on the invoice by Sen. Sue Glick, who sponsored the abortion ban invoice final 12 months.

A Senate public well being committee can be scheduled Wednesday to listen to a invoice that will give girls the choice of getting a long-acting reversible contraceptive system implanted after giving delivery.

“It is a win-win for Hoosiers as a result of it saves cash for our well being care suppliers, and it’s a comfort for our Medicaid recipients,” Yoder mentioned Tuesday. “This invoice would assist present very important entry to reproductive well being care and household planning choices to Hoosiers whereas rising accessibility with a possible financial savings for Indiana.”

Republican committee chair Rep. Brad Barrett mentioned the Home committee would return subsequent week to listen to further testimony and talk about modifications to the present model of its contraception invoice.

Indiana Proper to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group, mentioned it opposed the invoice till the laws specified contraception couldn’t be “used as an abortifacient,” lobbyist Jodi Smith mentioned Tuesday.

“Moreover, there aren’t the right safeguards in place to make sure that a pharmacist who could abuse this new authority are held accountable for his or her actions, as physicians are,” Smith mentioned.

Proponents of the invoice are aiming to incorporate modifications so pharmacists might invoice medical insurance corporations for medical assessments they do earlier than prescribing the contraception. Some additionally hope to broaden the kind of contraception that could possibly be prescribed at a pharmacy to include long-acting reversible contraceptives.

“Pharmacists simply function one other entry level for sufferers,” mentioned Dr. Veronica Vernon, who on Tuesday testified for the Indiana Pharmacy Affiliation, instructed The Related Press. “I feel it’s extremely essential, particularly given a few of the different laws that’s handed within the final 12 months from the state.”

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Arleigh Rodgers is a corps member for the Related Press/Report for America Statehouse Information Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit nationwide service program that locations journalists in native newsrooms to report on undercovered points. Observe her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/arleighrodgers