AccessBC launched a grassroots advocacy campaign that helped make prescription contraception free in British Columbia. By mobilizing supporters through coordinated email-writing campaigns and sustained public pressure, organizers pushed policymakers to adopt the policy in 2023. Since then, more than 370,000 people have accessed contraception at no cost.
Overview
AccessBC successfully fought to make prescription contraception free in British Columbia. Beginning in 2017, organizers mobilized supporters through coordinated email-writing campaigns to elected officials, including the Premier, the Minister of Health, and Members of the Legislative Assembly.
After years of sustained advocacy and public pressure, the policy was implemented in April 2023. Since then, more than 370,000 people in British Columbia have accessed contraception at no cost, significantly expanding access to reproductive healthcare.
A conversation around a kitchen table
In 2017, a small group of friends gathered around a kitchen table in British Columbia and began talking about contraception.
The conversation quickly turned to cost.
“We were talking about how the most effective forms of contraception are often the most expensive,” recalls Dr. Teale Phelps Bondaroff, Chair and Co-founder of AccessBC.
An intrauterine device, or IUD, costs hundreds of dollars. Implants cost hundreds more. Even birth-control pills could cost $20 to $50 a month.
“For many people,” Bondaroff says, “that’s a real barrier.”
He had recently returned from graduate school in the United Kingdom, where prescription contraception is free.
“That experience made us ask a simple question,” he says.
Why isn’t this the case in British Columbia?
At first, the idea felt abstract.
“But then we said someone should do something about it,” Bondaroff remembers.
“And then we realized that someone was us.”
In 2017, that conversation became AccessBC, a grassroots campaign advocating for free prescription contraception.
The lesson that changed the campaign
Early in the campaign, AccessBC met with officials from the BC Ministry of Health to discuss the proposal.
The response was encouraging.
Officials agreed the policy idea made sense. But they also delivered an important reality check.
“They said this is a good policy idea,” Bondaroff explains.
“But governments have lots of good policy ideas.”
What actually moves a policy forward, they said, is public pressure.
The message reshaped the campaign’s strategy.
“So we went home and launched our first letter-writing campaign,” Bondaroff says.
That moment marked the beginning of the campaign’s central tactic: mobilizing supporters to contact decision-makers directly.
Turning public concern into political pressure
Email-writing campaigns soon became the backbone of the AccessBC strategy.
But the organizers didn’t run just one campaign.
They ran multiple advocacy waves over several years, each targeting different political actors.
First supporters wrote to the Premier and the Minister of Health.
“With New/Mode, someone can send a letter in just a few clicks,” he explains.
Supporters could still personalize their message, but they didn’t have to start from scratch.
“That dramatically increases participation.”
The slow work of building a movement
Policy change rarely happens quickly.
In British Columbia, multiple political parties expressed support for free contraception as early as 2020. But the policy itself wasn’t implemented until 2023.
During those years, AccessBC focused on sustaining momentum.
“One of the things we noticed is that people often start with a small action,” Bondaroff says.
They might send an email.
Then they might send another.
Eventually, they share the campaign, donate, volunteer, or recruit others.
“That’s how movements grow.”
By the end of the campaign, tens of thousands of emails had been sent to elected officials across British Columbia.
What began as a small volunteer effort had grown into a province-wide movement.
The power of personal stories
Another key part of the campaign was encouraging supporters to personalize their messages.
Those personal stories often made the strongest impression.
Bondaroff now serves as an elected municipal councillor himself, which gives him a different perspective.
“When someone includes their lived experience in an email, it stands out,” he says.
Policymakers read many messages, but authentic stories are harder to ignore.
“They make the issue human.”
The policy victory
In April 2023, British Columbia became the first province in Canada to make prescription contraception free.
The results were immediate.
Between April 2023 and June 2025:
• 370,000 people accessed contraception at no cost • Use of long-acting contraceptives like IUDs and implants increased by 49% • Overall prescription contraception use increased by 10%
Research from theUniversity of British Columbia’s Contraception and Abortion Research Team shows the policy expanded access for thousands of people who previously faced cost barriers.
The campaign’s impact also extends beyond British Columbia.
Several provinces and territories are now expanding contraception coverage through Canada’s National Pharmacare program.
“What started as a conversation between friends has grown into something much bigger,” Bondaroff says.
What other advocacy campaigns can learn from
Looking back, Bondaroff believes the campaign’s success came down to a few key principles.
Make it easy for supporters to take action. Lower barriers lead to higher participation.
Run campaigns in waves. Sustained pressure keeps issues visible to decision-makers.
Target multiple decision-makers. Pressure from different directions increases influence.
Encourage personal stories. Authentic voices resonate with policymakers.
A reminder of what grassroots organizing can achieve
AccessBC began with a conversation around a kitchen table.
Six years later, that conversation helped change healthcare policy for an entire province and improve access to contraception for hundreds of thousands of people.
It’s a reminder that grassroots organizing, when sustained over time, can reshape political priorities and create real change.
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