Still settling into Paris, but I received a great email about updates to policy regarding contraceptives in Ireland from one of my contacts there! As I mentioned before, I visited the Little Museum of Ireland, and I spoke with my tour guide, Sarah (also one of the museum directors), about my project. We exchanged contacts, and we discussed more about the culture and history of contraceptives in Ireland. Sarah emailed me an article that legislation was passed on July 25th to establish free contraceptives for women 17-25 years old. This age group is the primary consumers of contraceptives, and those usually most impacted by unintended pregnancies. Although some women are able to afford birth control through the General Medical Services (GMS) card based on their socioeconomic status, this policy will expand access for those that are above that financial threshold and young people who are dependent on parents/guardians. While I read through this policy, I am impressed with how comprehensive it is. They included coverage of costs for long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs), such as IUDs, and birth control consultations are covered as well. This is all great news for the people of Ireland! I plan on following up with this by reading their news and staying in touch electronically with my contacts because the next step is implementation. The training of providers to offer comprehensive birth control consultations and patient experience evaluations are the challenging steps to ensure day-to-day action of this legislation, but they are also some of my favorite parts to study of this work.
Moreover, this news further emphasizes the appropriate time that my project is coming in. I truly believe we are seeing a revolution in reproductive rights internationally, and policies like this give me great hope. I am excited to do this work at such a time, but I can’t help but consider how this project could be done in another 5-10 years with completely different updates about the state of birth control internationally with the way changes are working. Progress is being made every day by those committed to reproductive justice, and I am thrilled to live and experience it in real-time.