DENVER (AP) - Some Colorado state lawmakers are wearing tiny resin replicas of IUDs to promote a bill to provide such reversible contraception to women at little or no cost.
Women are sporting colorful and glittery IUD earrings and men wear them as lapel pins to try to educate lawmakers about intrauterine devices, credited for reducing the state’s teen pregnancy rate.
Colorado’s chief medical officer, Larry Wolk, told The Denver Post (https://dpo.st/1BCaS9U ) that the jewelry - purchased from Akron, Ohio ob-gyn Virginia Smith on the Etsy e-commerce website - helps start conversations about the bipartisan bill.
The bill would provide $5 million to continue a program that lets low-income women access reversible forms of birth control, like the devices known as IUDs, and hormone implants for free or little cost at 68 clinics in Colorado.
So far the program’s cost has been supported by a $25 million private donation, and government officials say state funding is required to continue the program.
IUDs slowly releases small amounts of hormones to inhibit sperm from fertilizing a woman’s egg. In rare cases, those hormones can prevent a fertilized egg from being implanted in a women’s uterus, which has led some abortion opponents to oppose the bill. Others say the federal health care overhaul should now provide coverage for birth control, eliminating the need for state funding.
State Rep. Don Coram, a Republican from Montrose, opposes abortion. But Coram said he co-sponsored the bill after seeing the emotional and financial toll of teen pregnancy in his community and the country. He wears his IUD replica on his lapel next to his American flag.
“A redneck Republican wearing an IUD - it just doesn’t make sense does it?” he said. “Seriously though, I think this is one of the most important bills we are looking at.”
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Information from: The Denver Post, https://www.denverpost.com
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