Why Is It So Hard to Get Effective Birth Control in the US (3)

First, no matter why a patient comes in for care, they're asked a deceptively simple, standard screening question.
"Do you plan to become pregnant in the next year?"
The answer to that question opens up a whole dialogue about what they care about and what they want.
Second, if the answer is no, patients should be offered the full range of contraceptive methods with full information,
so they can really choose the method that works best for them.
And most importantly, they should be able to leave that visit with the birth control method of their choice, not be asked to come back two or three more times.

This is really about shifting the system of primary care to empower patients.
Well, you don't have to imagine it, we actually did this.
We trained up the entire health care system in Delaware to work this way.
We worked there because patient surveys showed, when we started, that more than half of all pregnancies were unplanned.
Three years later, the percentage of births from unplanned pregnancies dropped 23 percent.
The abortion rate dropped 37 percent, the largest decline of any state in the country.
And within six years, infant mortality dropped 24 percent.
Upstream is now working in 14 states with plans to go national.

It is unconscionable, unconscionable, that Sophia, and millions like her in this country, don't have access to birth control like this.
Especially in a post-Roe world.
I think we can all agree that ensuring people have access to the birth control they need so they can plan their families or decide if they want to have one or not, isn't a blue, red or a purple-state idea.
It's a smart, just, empowering idea for everyone.
If we care about giving young people the best start at their dreams, let's make sure they have access to fully equitable, fully informed, patient-centered contraceptive care as a part of basic primary health care.
We can empower patients like Sophia with the choices and tools they need to become the intentional parents they want to be.
Access to best-in-class health care and best-in-class contraceptive care is a health equity issue, but it is so much more than that. It's also a foundation of equal opportunity.