VANCOUVER—The federal NDP has pledged to fund universal access to prescription contraceptives for all Canadians by 2020, if elected.

NDP health critic Don Davies, who made the announcement outside of the Women Deliver conference in Vancouver, said that the plan would form part of a national public pharmacare strategy if the NDP forms government in the upcoming federal election.

Davies said that improving access to contraceptives was not only a matter of “women’s equality” but economically beneficial.

“Every dollar invested internationally returns at least double that in savings,” he said.

According to the Canadian Paediatric Society, the cost of an adult unintended pregnancy was more than $2,000 and that the total cost for unintended pregnancies in youth was likely more than $125 million every year in Canada.

A 2009 study of 955,000 women in California published in the American Journal of Public Health found that funding contraceptives saved public money over time, often exceeding the cost of the contraceptive, with the implant and IUD contraceptive saving nearly seven times the amount that was spent.

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“It’s economically smart, it keeps young women in school, in the workforce and keeps them healthy and able to plan their families,” said Davies.

He also said that the barriers to accessing contraceptives in Canada can be “complex” and include “cultural and religious stigma” but that moving toward making contraceptives “a core part of our health system” would fight that stigma.

The NDP is not the only organization promoting the idea. In May 2019, the Canadian Paediatric Society released a position statement calling for free and confidential access to contraception for all Canadians until the age of 25, with data showing that more than one in four youth who do not want to be pregnant reported not using contraceptives.

Dr. Jerilynn Prior, a professor at the University of British Columbia and founder of the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research, said that she “strongly commends” Davies on the initiative but said that it was important to ensure it included all contraceptives.

“In addition to free provision, we also need to know that we are offering women the full range of effective options,” she said, which includes hormonal contraceptives, both hormonal and non-hormonal IUDs and barrier methods such as condoms.

Dr. Vanessa Brcic, a family physician and health researcher based in Vancouver, said that universal coverage would improve patient care because many plans do not cover basic contraceptive options.

“There’s some really simple and effective forms of contraceptives, like the copper IUD, and it’s often excluded from plans,” she said.

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Brcic said that with universal access, doctors would not have to worry about the cost before recommending a form of contraceptive that would be best for the patient.

“I want to be able to prescribe an IUD that will work for the person and not just the one that is affordable ... that’s not good medicine, and yet that’s how it works when you’re having to worry about cost.”

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