Students from Reed College and Portland State University demonstrate yesterday calling on Congress to fix the rising cost of birth control.

As a result of a law enacted in January - called the Deficit Reduction Act, or the "DRA" - the price of birth control at universities and health centers across the country has doubled, tripled, and or worse.  Hundreds of thousands of women across the country are losing access to birth control because they cannot afford this increase in the cost of their pills.  This puts women at increased risk of unintended pregnancy and serious health issues.

This week, all across Oregon, Planned Parenthood college interns will be launching demonstrations encouraging Congress to fix this problem.  Please send a letter to Senator Wyden and Senator Smith and ask them to fix the nominal birth control pricing problem.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Groceries. Gas. Back- to- school clothes. And now...birth control?

For a college student who has to think twice about paying more than $5 for a meal, or a low-income mother who has to choose between buying groceries and buying gas, the difficulties of living on a limited budget are painfully real. This year, an additional and unexpected expense has been added to many women's budgets...the higher price of birth control .

For nearly 30 years, federal laws have been in place to help safety net providers buy birth control at affordable prices, then pass on their savings to needy women and couples. But last year, Congress changed this long-standing law putting affordable contraception out of reach for potentially hundreds of thousands of women.

The Deficit Reduction Act (DRA), passed by Congress and signed into law on February 8, 2006, includes a provision that adversely affects the ability of university health centers and safety net family planning providers, including many Planned Parenthood health centers, to purchase contraceptives at a discounted or nominal price. The provision went into effect on January 1, 2007, and is having a devastating fiscal impact on college students and low-income women around the country. This is affecting approximately 400,000 to 500,000 Planned Parenthood patients alone and the consequences are devastating.

Here in Oregon, at Reed College, Portland State University, and Southern Oregon University, the cost of our birth control has tripled. Congress has had 9 months to fix this problem and has yet to do so. Please help us solve this problem.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
October 23, 2007