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The VICE Guide to Right Now Podcast

How the Trump Administration Could Create More 'Contraception Deserts'

The administration is proposing changes to Title X that could leave low-income women without access to basic birth control.
Image: Surija Sray/Flickr

It's no surprise that the Trump administration has tried to curb access to abortions, but now the government is also attempting to crack down on contraception by proposing sweeping changes to Title X, the only source of federal funding directed at providing birth control for low-income women. Under the direction of Diane Foley, former president of Life Network, a Christian organization that operates anti-abortion pregnancy centers, the administration is backing women's health centers that focus on fertility, but eschew any of sort birth control, be it IUDs, pills, or shots.

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The result could cause contraception deserts—communities left with no access to contraception within 30 minutes—and would hit women in marginalized communities the hardest. And as the data has proven time and again, this could also backfire on the conservative agenda, since less birth control could lead to more abortions.

Here's Tonic editor Susan Rinkunas discussing the shift with Kaiser Health News reporter Sarah Varney.

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