Increasing Access to Long-acting Reversible Contraception Brings Lasting Gains for Oklahoma Women and Girls

Choosing when and whether to have children is an important decision for Oklahoma families. When families are given more power to plan pregnancies and births, they are shown to attain more education, earn higher incomes, and develop stronger marriages. Read more... [More...]

New issue brief assesses benefits of increasing access to long-acting reversible contraceptives

[Go to the full report] The decision of when and whether to have children is one of the most consequential choices a family can make. When better able to plan pregnancies and births, women attain more education, earn higher incomes,… Read more [More...]

Affordable Care Act repeal plans threaten chaos for Oklahomans’ health care

Repealing the Affordable Care Act has been a hallmark of Republican platforms since the signature health care reform law passed in 2010. Now, with the GOP holding both houses of Congress as well as the White House, efforts have already… Read more [More...]

Medical marijuana won’t fix Oklahoma’s budget problems

The movement to legalize marijuana is riding high. This year voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada joined Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska in legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, while Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and North Dakota voted to allow… Read more [More...]

Sonya’s story as a child of incarcerated parents

Sonya (her name has been changed due to the sensitive nature of her story) grew up as a child of incarcerated parents and went on to be Valedictorian of her high school class, student council president, and drum major of the… Read more [More...]

Does Oklahoma rely too much on foster care to prevent child abuse and neglect?

Tara Grigson was an OK Policy summer intern. She is a psychology and Spanish major at the University of Tulsa and previously worked as a Mission Impact Intern at YWCA Tulsa. Nearly 11,000 Oklahoma children have been removed from their… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma has an efficient way to make sure everyone has health care… if we choose to fund it

We’ve written before about why Oklahoma’s federally-qualified community health centers (FQHCs) are a foundation of our health care safety net. FQHCs have to meet very specific criteria: they have to reach an underserved area or population, provide comprehensive services, have… Read more [More...]

Inconvenient alcohol laws are no substitute for funding addiction treatment (Capitol Updates)

Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol. You can find past Capitol Updates archived  on his website. State Agencies are working on… Read more [More...]

New Census data shows Oklahoma improves on poverty and uninsured rates but still lags behind nation

New Census data shows Oklahoma made some progress in reducing the percentage of families living in poverty in 2015. In 2014, nearly one out of six Oklahomans (16.6 percent) were making less than the poverty line ($24,000 a year for… Read more [More...]

At the intersection of hunger and health (Guest Post: Effie Craven)

Effie Craven serves as the State Advocacy and Public Policy Director for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, where she advocates for programs and policies that promote access to nutritious foods and… Read more [More...]