Planned Parenthood of Montana is suing to overturn a law that prohibits the Children’s Health Insurance Plan from funding prescription birth-control.

According to Planned Parenthood, Montana is one of only four states in the country that prohibits the Children’s Health Insurance Plan from covering prescription birth control. As a result, Planned Parenthood recently filed a complaint with the state Human Rights Commission, asking it to overturn the law because it discriminates against women.

Lindsay Love, of Planned Parenthood, says, “Based on our complaint, we find that the CHIP policy violates the Montana Constitution, the Montana Human Rights Act, and also Montana’s Unisex Insurance Policy.”

Survey data shows that CHIP covers nearly 2,000 girls ages 15 or older, and approximately half are sexually active. Montana has one of the highest teen-pregnancy rates in the nation, and Planned Parenthood claims it doesn’t make sense to deny birth-control coverage for teen-agers covered by CHIP.

Love explains, “I think this really is just about our patients, and we never want to be in a situation where we have to tell a patient, who’s taking responsibility for their reproductive health care, that we can’t help them with that. We’ve been trying to address this issue for almost ten years, legislatively, and unfortunately we’ve been met with sort of a political brick wall. For this issue, it seems that politics and ideology seems to trump common sense and prevention.”

There are still those who have their doubts about Planned Parenthood’s complaint. Gregg Trude, who serves as executive director for Right to Life Montana, says that Planned Parenthood has it all wrong.

According to Trude, “Planned Parenthood is not telling the whole truth. Girls right now can get contraceptives under the CHIP program, but they have to get a doctor’s prescription, so if a young girl needs her period to be regulated, or needs contraceptives for whatever reason, she can go to her doctor and she can get them prescribed right now, so they’re not telling the truth about it.”

Planned Parenthood continues to stand firm, despite its critics.

Trude adds, “Planned Parenthood has their own agenda and people need to look and see, what is their agenda.”

Currently, the Montana Human Rights Bureau has an attorney reviewing the complaint. An informal investigation could take up to 180 days.