(NBC News) – Free or low-cost contraceptives are becoming increasingly difficult for women to access as clinics close or struggle with funding problems and policy restrictions.

Years before the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, policy changes, flatlined funding and shuttering clinics put a strain on small family planning providers that have to fund the upfront cost of stocking a range of contraceptives, from birth control pills to injections to intrauterine devices, for their patients. That can reach around $30,000 for a clinic that dispenses birth control to about 50 to 75 patients a month, said Kate McCollum, senior director of the Trust Her initiative at the Child Poverty Action Lab in Dallas. (Read More)