Advocates push for free contraception in next B.C. budget

A B.C. advocacy group says it's going to push the government to fulfil a promise to cover the cost of prescription contraception, and for it to be included in the next provincial budget.

A B.C. advocacy group says it's going to push the government to fulfil a promise to cover the cost of prescription contraception, and for it to be included in the next provincial budget.

The B.C. NDP promised to make prescription contraception free for all as part of its 2020 campaign, in what would be a first for a provincial government.

The promise was made again in Health Minister Adrian Dix's original 2020 mandate letter, and is repeated in a new mandate released this week.

Teale Phelps Bondaroff, chair of the Access B.C. campaign, says covering contraception was approved at an NDP convention in 2017, and the BC Liberals and Greens have also endorsed some form of the idea.

He says the question now is when the policy will be implemented, and Access B.C. will campaign for it to be covered in the next budget.

A study conducted in 2010 estimates that paying for prescription contraception would save the B.C. government about $95 million a year through reductions in abortions, prenatal visits and social supports.

Phelps Bondaroff said it was promising to see free prescription contraception in the minister's mandate letter again.