Birth control will still not be sold without a prescription
British Columbia will soon be the first place in Canada where people can get birth control without having to pay for it.
Here is all the information you need, from what is covered to who is covered:
What will be covered
The province said that starting April 1, it will pay for the following birth control pills:
- Pills that you take by mouth to get hormones
- Injections and implants that go under the skin (subcutaneous)
- IUDs, which stand for intrauterine devices, have copper and hormones in them.
- Plan B, which is also called the “morning-after pill,”
Vasectomies have been covered by the Medical Services Plan (B.C. MSP) for a long time.
What is not covered
Condoms can be bought without a prescription, so they were not on the list of things that were covered.
Birth control will still not be sold without a prescription..
Watch as Nikki Hill of the Period Poverty Task Force talks about the effects of free birth control:
How do I get free birth control
The province said that starting in April, people with MSP will have to take a prescription from their family doctor to a pharmacist to get the prescription filled.
As of May, residents will be able to skip the step of going to their family doctor and get a prescription straight from a pharmacist. This is because the pharmacists’ scope of practice will have grown.
Can I get my money back for the birth control I already bought
Retroactive coverage was not mentioned in the provincial budget. The Finance Ministry has been asked for more information by CBC News.
Is it restricted by age
No, but you have to live in BC and be covered by MSP. This means that Canadians from other provinces or territories can’t go to British Columbia to get free birth control.
Why is this being done by the province
The province said it is giving away free birth control so that women, transgender people, and non-binary people don’t have to worry about money when making decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.
The budget said that this move will not only help stop unplanned pregnancies and improve the health of parents and babies, but it could also help people with long-term conditions like endometriosis or polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
How much will the government have to pay for this
The new program will cost the province $119 million over three years.
It said that the initiative could save someone who spends $25 a month on the pill up to $10,000 over the course of their life.
In British Columbia, the pill can cost at least $240 a year; hormone injections can cost up to $180 a year; and IUDs that last longer than five years can cost anywhere from $75 to $500.
The pill is still one of the most common ways to stop pregnancy.
A Statistics Canada study from 2020 found that more than 48% of sexually active 15–24-year-olds said that they or their partner were on the pill the last time they had sex.
As people got older, long-acting methods like IUDs or hormonal implants became more popular.
The agency found that one in ten sexually active women between the ages of 15 and 24 said they had used emergency birth control like the morning after pill in the past year.
How will British Columbia compare to other places when it comes to access
Access to birth control is not the same in every country.
British Columbia’s decision is very different from the ongoing debate about reproductive rights in the U.S., which has been going on since Roe v. Wade was overturned and made it possible for states to make it harder for people to get contraceptives and have abortions.
Birth control should be sold over-the-counter in China, Greece, India, Turkey, Mexico, South Africa, Russia, and Korea, among other places.
Free birth control is available in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the Scandinavian countries. In France, people over the age of 25 can get money back.
The Access B.C. campaign, which worked for six years to get free birth control in the province, sees B.C.’s decision as a possible sign of things to come in other parts of Canada.
Dr. Teale Phelps Bondaroff, who is in charge of similar campaigns in Ontario, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, said, “This is a big policy.” “It will change reproductive health in the province, and I hope that this will make British Columbia a model for reproductive justice in Canada and beyond.”
He said that cost isn’t the only thing keeping people from getting birth control. Other things, like geography, education, and bias on the part of doctors, also need to be fixed.
Phelps Bondaroff said, “There’s a lot more work to be done.”