Expanding Access to Emergency Contraception Through State Systems: The Washington State Experience

The proportion of unintended pregnancies resulting in live births among women receiving Medicaid assistance (61%) was nearly twice that among women not receiving Medicaid (32%), and births resulting from unintended pregnancies among women covered by Medicaid cost the state approximately $90 million a year.2 In the years that followed, as more pregnant women became eligible for services through First Steps, program expenses increased. State leaders, including a member of Washington's house of representatives who became a "legislative champion" for family planning, realized that the current approach-providing large numbers of women with Medicaid coverage that included family planning only after they were pregnant-was insufficient.\n DOH and DSHS Web sites provide information about emergency contraception, including locations where the method can be obtained and how it is covered by multiple state programs.