Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam says too many teenagers become pregnant or have abortions, and he has a plan to address it.
Doctor Serena Floyd says it’s easy to see the difference the right kind of birth control can have in a woman’s life. She says one of her patients, Jennifer, was on the pill. But she forgot to take it and became pregnant at 16. Another one of her patients, Sue, used a free intrauterine device secured through a private grant.
“I’ll never forget the look of appreciation and relief on her face when she left the office that day knowing that she could focus on caring for her other two babies and not worry about another pregnancy for ten more years.”
But IUDs and other long-lasting reversible contraceptives are prohibitively expensive for many women, about $800 each. That’s why Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam wants to tap into federal money for welfare programs to make these kinds of birth control devices available to women who don’t have health insurance or who can’t afford them.
“And so we have proposed $6 million of that that is already there, literally on the table for us be used for this program. If it’s not it will be returned to Washington.”
Northam says that the governor has already included funding for this program in his proposed budget, and he stressed that no money would come from the state’s general fund.