Recently, the Gattmacher institute evaluated the number and cost of unintended pregnancies on a state-by-state basis. In Minnesota, 44% of pregnancies are unintended. Why are the rates of unintended pregnancies so high? According to Claire Brindis, director of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California-San Francisco, difficulty finding family-planning services and lack of access to birth control are major contributors to high rates of unintended pregnancies. Unintended pregnancies cost Minnesota $143 million (limited to cost of delivery & first year medical cost for the infant) in 2006 when only 59% of unintended pregnancies were covered by state programs. Since 2006, Minnesota has seen a drastic increase in those enrolled in state health care programs and the cost of those programs.
Unfortunately, instead of reducing our social and fiscal costs, the Minnesota legislature plans to increase them with the current budget proposal. In addition to implementing the gag rule, the legislature hopes to defund programs that provide access to birth control and education. Eliminating access to these programs will result in more unintended pregnancies. The legislature's move to defund these programs will not save the state money but result in higher costs - every dollar spend for family planning services saves $4 in other state spending. The short-sighted budget containing these measures will likely be vetoed by Governor Dayton, will the legislature come back with a budget that doesn't hurt women and, ultimately, the states bottom line?
