After free contraception program, Colorado teen birth rate plummets

Outstanding news in Colorado:

A state health initiative to reduce teen birth rates by providing more than 30,000 contraceptive devices at low or no cost has led to a 40 percent drop in five years, Gov. John Hickenlooper said Thursday.

The Colorado Family Planning Initiative, funded by a private anonymous donor for five years, has provided intrauterine devices and other implants to low-income women at 68 family-planning clinics across Colorado since 2009.

The clinics are in local health departments, hospitals and private nonprofit facilities. The program also provided training and technical assistance to family planning clinics statewide.

"When families are planned and women have children when they're ready and want them ... it's really a better situation for everyone," Hickenlooper said during his state Capitol news conference.

What a novel idea! It's cost-saving for the state of Colorado as well:

Costs to Colorado’s Economy: Unintended pregnancy burdens Colorado’s health and economy, costing Colorado more than $160 million annually in Medicaid expenditures. Nationally, for every public dollar spent on family planning services, $3.74 is saved in Medicaid costs for pregnancy-related services and newborn care.