A Bill That Makes Sense? C’mon!

Rep. Jen Seelig, D-Salt Lake City has a piece of legislation in store for this year’s session that will assist women on Medicaid with family planning.

Rep. Jen Seelig, D-Salt Lake City, says she will sponsor legislation in the upcoming session of the Utah Legislature to extend family planning services, including birth control, to two years following childbirth for women on Medicaid. The federal government would pay 90 percent of the cost. The bill may include a provision to extend the service to all families with annual incomes up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level.

The article points out that private insurance pays for similar services to women and that women on Medicaid should also benefit.  Further, since most unwanted pregnancies occur with teens due to Utah’s archaic law that prohibits teens from obtaining birth control, teen women should also benefit from such services.

The CDC cites statistics about pregnancy at its page,  Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)

babies born as a result of unplanned pregnancies are more likely to be unhealthy at birth, more often are below-normal birth weight and have to be cared for in costly intensive-care hospital units.

Rep. Seelig’s bill makes sense.  This population of women are in need of family planning services and should be able to receive them.