More people are talking about reproductive health than ever – and for good reason.

Half of all pregnancies in South Carolina are unintended.

Research shows that if current trends continue, over half of all US women will experience an unintended pregnancy by age 45.

It’s worse for women with incomes below the poverty line. For those women, that rate is more than 5 times as high as women above the poverty line.

New Morning Foundation is a Columbia-based nonprofit aiming to help women take control of this.

The organization launched its “Choose Well” program. It’s the largest contraceptive access program in South Carolina history. The goal is to reduce unintended pregnancies 25% by 2021.

That will save SC taxpayers more than $79 million a year. It will save the federal government $195 million.

The Guttmacher Institute, an independent research organization which studies reproductive health, published a study in 2016 which supports New Morning’s claims.

The Guttmacher report “State Facts about Unintended Pregnancy in South Carolina” found:

• In 2013, 8.3 million women received publicly-funded family planning services. These services helped women avoid 2 million unintended pregnancies, which would likely have resulted in approximately 1 million unplanned births and nearly 700,000 abortions. The remainder would have resulted in miscarriages.

• Publicly-funded family planning services saved taxpayers $13.6 billion in 2010, or $7.09 for every $1 spent.

• In 2010, 57% of unintended SC pregnancies resulted in births and 29% in abortions. The remainder resulted in miscarriages.

• In 2010, 18,900 or 78.6% of unplanned SC births were publicly funded, compared with 68% nationally.

• In 2010, the federal and SC governments spent $411.2 million on unintended pregnancies. Of this, $327.3 million (70%) was paid by the federal government and $84 million by the state.

• By averting unintended pregnancies, publicly -funded family planning services provided by safety-net health centers in South Carolina helped save taxpayers $202 million in 2010.

The Choose Well initiative is 100% privately funded by the New Morning Foundation. They have partnered with Lexington County DHEC to provide county residents safe access to reproductive care.

For more information, visit www.nodrama.org or www.choosewellsc.org .