Fairbanks pols take over busy corner to protest governor’s veto of ‘free birth control’ for all

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David Guttenberg, right, looks surprised at the camera during a NewsCenter Fairbanks interview with protesters who want free birth control

David Guttenberg, running for Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly, joined a small handful of protesters on Friday at the corner of Peger Road and Airport Way in Fairbanks to express dismay at Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of House Bill 17, Rep. Ashley Carrick’s crowning achievement.

The bill would have forced private insurance companies to provide one free year of birth control pills. Dunleavy said that was government overreach and that “contraceptives are widely available, and compelling insurance companies to provide mandatory coverage for a year is bad policy.”

Most birth control is already free with most health insurance plans, according to Planned Parenthood, and for those who are on government programs, such as Medicaid. Birth control pills are prescribed and mailed to people in Alaska and most other states using the Planned Parenthood Direct app.

Carrick serves House District 35, which includes the Ester Lump. Her primary focus during the 33rd legislature was HB 17. While her constituents reached out to her for help with legislation on squatters taking over their properties, she chose to use her resources on a bill that was not even needed, rather than her broader constituency.

Her opponent is Ruben McNeil, a well-known property rights activist. 

Guttenberg, a Democrat, who waved a sign during the protest, previously served as a state House representative for a part of the district now represented by Carrick.

During his time on the Assembly, Guttenberg’s votes have been to raise property taxes. He has aligned with Presiding Officer Savannah Fletcher’s radical agenda to refashion the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly into an Anchorage style government, controlled by tax-increasing leftists. 

Guttenberg is currently running for re-election for Assembly against against retired U.S. Army veteran Miguel Ramirez. Ramirez is currently a civilian working for the Department of Defense to help military families find housing. 

33 COMMENTS

  1. “Free” birth control.

    Democrats keep using that word, “Free”, but it doesn’t mean what they think it does.
    Someone somewhere is always paying for your “free” stuff.

    • We the taxpayers, we the workers of America, we the citizens are paying for ALL FREE GOVERNMENT POLICIES.
      There is no free ride, pay your own way, pay for your own vices, mommy and daddy need to close the checkbook and send their “children” to WORK FOR THEIR OWN MONEY to PAY THEIR OWN WAY. like we adults of the past, you need to start adulting.

  2. Once again, the article misses the entire point. Carrick’s bill–which was supported by a wide bipartisan majority in the legislature and was supported by the insurance industry–was not to provide “free contraceptives.” Health insurance pays for prescription contraception. The bill was to require insurance companies to allow women to obtain a full year’s supply at one time, instead of having to make four trips a year to the clinic to obtain 3-months supply at a time. The insurance industry was in favor of the bill because it would have lowered their costs. Instead of having to pay for four clinic visits in a year, they would only have had to pay for one a year.

    Also–“Ester Lump” is a road service area in the Fairbanks North Star Borough. It is not the name of any recognizable voting district. Perhaps you mean the village of Ester?

    • Esteroid, if the bill required insurance companies to do something they are in favor of, why wouldn’t they just do it without the need for the bill? Help us understand your comment because it sounds like double-talk.

    • Why should what I pay for Health Insurance go to pay for someone else’s vices? By telling health insurance they have to provide this who do you thinks gets charged? Here is a hint those of us that pay are own insurance. I’m 60 years old and I don’t need to be mandated to pay for something I do not need just so someone else can feel good.

    • Esteroid, this is clearly a solution looking for a problem and in my opinion a total waste of time.

      Are today’s child-bearing age women this dumb that they can not manage to keep track of when to pick up a refill at the pharmacy, clinic or mail-order? At the same time if they can supposedly not keep track of picking up their pills, can we trust them to keep track of them at all for an entire year??
      Generally insurance doesn’t pay for a “visit” to the pharmacy, they pay for the medication.

      I support the veto for two major reasons one as stated above and the other is the fact that most medications are dispensed at a 90 day interval to prevent waste and abuse, if a medication is not tolerated or the dose changed. While this is rare with birth control, it does happen and then you have 11 mos of medication floating around to be potentially passed on indiscriminately.

      Lastly do we in this state have no other problems than hand-holding young women, who supposedly are adults free to make their own choices in managing their own affairs?

      A dumb idea is still a dumb idea even if it has so-called bipartisan support.

  3. Free birth control is there for all… men keep you pants on… women keep your pants on. There you go!! It’s totally free.
    No bills need to be passed, no using tax dollars to murder unborn children ,no bipartisan arguments. It’s all your choice.

  4. When I first saw the headline, I was a little confused. “Pols” ? you mean people from Poland? Or somebody pushing a blockchain scheme? Now I see. How about free diet pills for Guttenberg?

  5. Well, there is a simple solution, if you can’t keep track of your birth control pills, or are too lazy to make a trip to the pharmacy, consider a different method like an IUD or…. novel thought just DO NOT HAVE SEX!!
    I swear these people must think having sex is more important than breathing and food the way they are fixated on it.
    All joking aside, I think this is another incremental step to making birth control pills an over-the-counter product, taking the physician out of the loop and granting access for all age groups.

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