By Noah Johnson

njohnson@dailypress.net

ESCANABA — Michiganders statewide now have access to free contraception, including locations across the Upper Peninsula and Escanaba.

On Oct. 23, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced a new program, Take Control of Your Birth Control. The program provides families and individuals with access to free contraception, including over-the-counter birth control pills, emergency contraception, condoms, family planning educational resources and more.

“Everyone, no matter how much money they make, deserves to make their own decisions about their own reproductive health and future,” said Governor Whitmer. “With our family planning initiative, ‘Take Control of Your Birth Control,’ we are building on our work to protect reproductive freedom for all Michiganders. By expanding access to essential family planning tools, we are underscoring our commitment to ensuring Michiganders, along with their families and trusted health care providers, can make their own decisions about their own bodies and lives.”

Through the initiative, Michiganders can now visit 307 different locations to get free contraception.

Of the 307 current locations, 43 (14 %) are located across the Upper Peninsula.

Each location received a package containing 100 boxes of Opill (daily birth control), emergency contraception such as Plan B, 500 condoms, health care information and family-planning information.

Bay College and Delta County Health and Human Services (DHHS) are the two locations where resources are available in Delta County.

Bay is focusing on education, providing materials and condoms to students. As of now, the college is not distributing emergency contraceptives or birth control.

Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Travis Blume said the college is ironing out the final logistics but plans to announce the program to students this week.

“They’re based here in student services, but we’ll be announcing to students that they can come by and pick up materials,” Blume said.

Through the materials, students can find access to healthcare and turn their focus to academia.

The college was already working to connect students with healthcare resources, and now, thanks to the state, it can do even more.

He said he wants the program to help individuals become better and healthier students.

“Our students may or may not have access to healthcare, benefits, insurance, those kinds of things. So having access to better healthcare allows students to better focus on other things. So, if you’re worried about going to the doctor or having insurance, that can certainly take some time, you know, thinking about that, trying to do that. So just providing access to this, hopefully, will help them gain access to those kinds of benefits,” Blume explained.

The Chief Medical Executive for the State of Michigan, Natasha Bagdasarian, MD, explained that each of the 307 participating locations chose to participate in the program, and her office is seeing more interest from organizations.

“They gave us their information, and we ship them a box of supplies; it’s really as simple as that. And how they’re distributing the supply; it’s really up to them and the needs of their community. Every community is a little bit different,” Bagdasarian said.

It is important to contact the organization you wish to visit, as their services may vary.

While it is up to the distributing organization’s discretion, Bagdasarian said no credentials are needed to access resources.

“We want to make this as accessible to people as possible,” she said.

The list of participating locations may continue to grow as other organizations around the state are showing interest.

“We’re continuing to get interest from organizations on an ongoing basis. So, as long as we have these supplies, we will continue to send them out,” Bagdasarian said.

A full list of locations and an interactive map can be found at

www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/adult-child-serv/childrenfamilies/familyhealth/familyplanning/take-control-of-your-birth-control.