A few years ago Colorado passed a law allowing to get birth control pills without a prescription, including the morning after pill, and also provided low and no cost IUDS. The rate of unwanted pregnancies and abortions dropped hugely and was almost nil for women who participated in those programs. And the drop continues.





Abortion rates have dropped again in Colorado, and health authorities are crediting increased access to birth control statewide.

Pharmacists have written thousands of prescriptions for the birth control pill since 2017, when Colorado became only the third state in the nation to allow women to get prescriptions for oral contraceptives at the pharmacy instead of only from a doctor.

State and federal dollars are funding free and low-cost IUDs — intrauterine devices that prevent pregnancy for five years or more — for low-income women and teens who visit community health clinics across the state…

Perhaps even more than oral contraceptives, IUDs have contributed to the decline in abortions and unwanted pregnancies, public health officials said.

A landmark report from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment two years ago credited IUDs, which are T-shaped pieces of plastic inserted into the uterus, for a major decrease in unwanted pregnancies among teenagers.

The birth rate for girls ages 15 to 19 in Colorado dropped by more than half in an eight-year period, falling 59% from 2009 to 2017. The abortion rate among Colorado teens fell by 60% during those eight years.