Nate Grigg / CC

The provincial NDP is pushing to get all forms of birth control covered through OHIP for everyone in the province.

A motion will be voted on next week.

Currently, birth control is covered only for those under 25.

Leader Marit Stiles would like to follow in the footsteps of B.C., which now covers birth control as of last April and Manitoba, which plans to enact a similar policy in the future.

“There’s no doubt that lowering the barriers to accessing contraception can have a huge impact on people’s ability to have control over their family plans and their bodies at a time of an affordability crisis. Helping people save money, especially on something this essential, is something we can all agree on,” says Stiles.

The NDP, then under Andrea Horwath as leader, proposed the measure in the last provincial election.

In the first six months of the program’s implementation in British Columbia, thousands of people, mostly between the ages of 20-29, received free birth control through their provincial health care plan.