LANSING, Mich — While out on a story this month, I found out that the Women's Center of Lansing won't be receiving anymore birth control and emergency contraceptives. I wanted to know why. I'm sharing what the free funding has done for people across our neighborhoods and asking state leaders why they didn't renew funding.
- Michigan ended its free birth control program that distributed over 460,000 contraceptives to community centers.
- Women's Center of Greater Lansing lost access to free emergency contraceptives that cost $35-50 in stores.
- State officials say the initiative raised awareness for Medicaid and Plan First programs, with possibility of future funding
"Around 15 months ago we got an email from the state of Michigan saying hey any community centers or other places if you're willing to distribute this, we will start sending you boxes, we said absolutely," said Rebecca Kasen, the executive director of the Women's Center of Greater Lansing.
WATCH BELOW: Michigan ends free birth control program that distributed 460,000 resources to community centers
Kasen told me they've been able to consistently provide birth control and emergency contraceptives to people free of charge.
"Not everyone has access to medical insurance and doctors," Kasen said.
She said it was made possible through MDHHS' Take Control of Your Birth Control initiative, distributing over 460,000 resources in November of 2024.
"The big one is emergency contraceptives. That in the supermarket for non-name brand is $35 or more and name brand starts at $50. That's just not affordable," Kasen said.
But Kasen was told that service centers like hers are no longer receiving these items. So I reached out to MDHHS to see why. I spoke to Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the chief medical executive for the state of Michigan, who says the initiative was a way to raise awareness for programs like Plan First and for people to sign up for Medicaid.
"With this we were really trying to raise awareness of these tools existing in communities and some ways you can find these tools in a low cost or free type of way," Bagdasarian said.
Bagdasarian says though the funding has been used, there's always a possibility the state could bring it back. She says neighbors can still access some supply at various centers.
"With Medicaid or Plan First or other types of enrollment, that is one way to ensure you have reproductive healthcare access moving forward," Bagdasarian said.
Back with Kasen, she hopes that some sort of steady funding will come back in the future. But in the meantime will work with other local organizations to provide as much as she can.
"I'm glad that all of these other entities can step up and we can continue, but that is not guaranteed funding, products, and not one consistent place," Kasen said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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