The Student Health Services building is offering multiple birth control options for free the entire month of January.
Robeson county’s health department supplied the student health center with multiple free birth control options such as the IUD, Implant, Depo Shot, NuvaRing, Birth Control Pills and the Patch.
However, this is not the first time the informational class sessions and free birth control options have been offered on campus.
“It’s been about four to five years since we’ve had the health department come on campus and offer these options to our students,” said Student Health Services Director Cora Bullard.
According to Bullard, when these services were first introduced, the health department received a number of women that were searching for shorter birth control options, like the pills offered. Years later and the number of women searching for longer birth control options has expanded significantly.
The amount of people that have attended these sessions so far have left the student health center completely “booked for appointments,” and the health department “had to bring in 2 doctors to aid with the program,” said Bullard.
After seeing the success the first year of the program brought in, the health department developed a grant that included free services, including feminine products and free birth control options.
Sessions started off with filling out paperwork that took about 30 minutes to complete and setting up a time to schedule the clinical appointment birth control option of your choice. The sessions on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays include STD prevention and protection, as well as how to conduct self breast exams.
“Self breast exams should be once every month,” said Robeson County Health Department Educator Jeneen Sinclair.
Sinclair highlighted the importance of safety for students and encouraged more attendance at the weekly sessions.
According to a 2016 Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study, pregnancy between the ages of 15 and 19 dropped to an all time low. The drastic drop in teen pregnancies couples with the new wave of young women taking various birth control options.
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