Nearly 33,000 Women in Wyoming Live in Contraceptive Deserts

(Washington, D.C.) — Newly-released data from Power to Decide reveals 32,820 women living at or below 250% of the poverty level in Wyoming live in contraceptive deserts, counties in which there is not reasonable access to a health center offering the full range of contraceptive methods. Currently, more than 19 million women in need live in such areas across the United States.

“In Wyoming, nearly 33,000 women must overcome significant barriers to get the birth control they need and deserve in order to decide if, when and under what circumstances to get pregnant and have a child,” said Power to Decide CEO Raegan McDonald-Mosley, MD, MPH. “For women already struggling to make ends meet, the costs associated with getting to the nearest health center that offers the birth control that works best for them—transportation and child care costs, combined with unpaid time off from work—can easily become too much to manage.”

In this challenging landscape, Wyoming can take proactive steps to expand access. Expanding Medicaid to low-income adults would help decrease the percentage of uninsured women, and by extension, give them the contraceptive coverage they need to live healthy lives. In addition, allowing pharmacists to prescribe contraception, and requiring insurance to cover an extended supply of prescription contraceptives can make it easier to access some contraceptive methods. Wyoming can also guard against additional barriers to access by enacting policies that protect insurance coverage of the full range of contraceptive methods. 

Visit Power to Decide for state-by-state information on these and other reproductive health access policies.

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Power to Decide is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to advance sexual and reproductive well-being for all by providing trusted information, expanding access to quality services and catalyzing culture change.