Women in one of Colombia’s poorest neighborhoods last week began receiving no-cost contraceptives drugs and surgical procedures, after the country’s Congress this fall passed a law guaranteeing access to the services as part of a push to prevent unintended pregnancies, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Colombia has constitutional guarantees of universal health care, but funding shortfalls from declining revenue threaten to bankrupt the country’s health care system. Advocates of the contraception law - including President Juan Manuel Santos - argue it will save the health care system money by reducing unintended pregnancies and the high costs associated with maternal and neonatal care.

Under the law, Colombians can receive no-cost subcutaneous implants, which typically cost $75 and can protect against pregnancy for up to five years.

The law also covers the cost of vasectomies and tubal ligations, which can range from $100 to $150. In addition, the Social Protection Ministry has opened 621 Friendly Health Services for Youths offices in hospitals and clinics all over Colombia that provide no-cost condoms, emergency contraception and other forms of contraception.

Advocates praise the law as a progressive step for reproductive rights in the predominately Catholic country, whose constitutional court also recently ruled that there could be no penalty for performing abortions. Psychologist Maribel Murillo said, “The law is a real accomplishment and is already creating a lot of demand.” She added that it will “advance the sexual rights of women of little means, many of whom have several children.”

Although the Colombian birthrate has dropped by nearly two-thirds since 1950, the birth rate among women younger than age 20 has risen recently to 21%, compared with 13% in 1990, according to Diva Moreno, an advisor to the SPM. Advocates argue that teenagers in Colombia’s low-income areas tend to have the highest birth rates. Murillo said, “Teenage pregnancies only condemn these youths to more poverty and less education,” adding, “We need to reach them so that they know they have options” (Kraul, Los Angeles Times, 12/12).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

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