CU Student Government passes bill to provide free contraceptives to students
CU Student Government passed a bill that will provide free contraceptives to CU Boulder students. The bill, authored by Nimisha Mallela, Elizabeth Craig and Sally Webster, proposes free and subsidized emergency contraceptives to CU students.
“Across the nation, we’re seeing bodily autonomy rights being taken away from women and other people who are able to get pregnant. Unplanned pregnancies can have such detrimental effects on mental health,” CMCI senator Gabbie Burton said.
Contraceptives will be available at the Apothecary Pharmacy in Wardenburg Health Center at no cost and markets across campus such as Kittredge Market, Sewall Market, Farrand Market and Village Market will have them available for $2 – 3, according to Mallela. An identification, Buff One Card or Buff Portal, must be shown in order to receive the contraception but no records of the student will be held.
CUSG emphasized the timeliness of the bill with the overturning of Roe V. Wade in 2022 and its effects on marginalized communities.
“We have seen that unattended pregnancies have disproportionate effects on black and Latina women and this evens the playing field for them. This bill is going to have such a great impact on the communities that have already been disproportionately affected by the loss of reproductive rights nationally,” Nimisha Mallela said.
Funds from the CU Helmet fund, which no longer exists, have been reallocated towards the pilot program, the emergency contraceptive’s trial run. Students will have the choice of the Mckesson pill, with a weight limit of 165 pounds, or the Ella pill, with a weight limit of 195 pounds.
CUSG plans to launch the program in the final weeks of the Spring semester, according to Mallela. However, prior to announcing an official date for the launch of the program, packaging and cooperation between the administration and CUSG must be planned.
If the pilot program proves to be successful, CUSG will consider its permanence at the university.
