FILE - The University of Utah Health Orthopedic Center in Salt Lake City on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (Ben B. Braun/Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — University of Utah Heath says the demand for birth control is up and they have a new clinic hoping to get women faster access. They also report an uptick in vasectomies in the wake of the Roe v. Wade decision.
Dr. David Turok with the U’s OB-GYN department says the Rapid Access Contraception Clinic came about because a family medicine doctor at the university noticed an increase in requests for appointments to get contraceptives following the decision to overturn Roe v wade.
“That announcement came on a Friday,” he says. “By Monday she had a system set up to see more people.”
Furthermore, Dr. Turok discussed the morning-after pill as a contraceptive, saying it has nothing to do with abortion.
“The morning after pill, emergency contraception, is contraception,” he said. “It is widely known and acknowledged through every medical entity that has made a statement on this that emergency contraception is not an abortifacient.”
In addition to the Rapid Access Contraception Clinic, Dr. Turok says people can obtain morning-after pills, free of charge, from any of the nine University of Utah pharmacies.
U Health patients can now sign up through their MyChart app if they need to get an IUD or other implant quickly.
Dr. Turok says the U’s Rapid Access Contraception Clinic mainly provides IUDs for women needing birth control quickly. It does not offer any male contraception or perform vasectomies.
He says that there are currently 131 people scheduled for appointments to receive contraception.
Devin Oldroyd contributed to this article.