Later in the afternoon back in Lewiston, Hayes coaxes a 19-year-old named Destiny Burnell, who had already had one baby after an unplanned pregnancy, to consider long-acting contraception. After discussing several options, Destiny makes an appointment for an implant in her arm.
To those who think we can’t afford family planning services, remember: An IUD or implant like Destiny’s costs about $1,000, while a single Medicaid birth costs the public about $13,000. Each dollar invested in family planning yields $7 in savings for the public later on.
There are 2.8 million unintended pregnancies a year in the U.S.; among people living in poverty, 60 percent of pregnancies are unplanned. One study found that when Texas cut funding for Planned Parenthood and similar clinics, Medicaid births rose by 27 percent in one group of affected women.
The Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights, estimates that without Title X funding for family planning clinics, there would be, in a year, an additional 900,000 unplanned pregnancies — and 325,000 more abortions.
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