BOULDER - Women's Health has received a three-year, $2.3 million grant from an anonymous foundation to promote the use of long-term, reversible methods of birth control.

The grant will fund the Contraceptive Continuity Initiative at Women's Health, a program that will allow women and teens access to longer-acting forms of birth control, such as IUDs and Implanon, which can prevent pregnancy for anywhere from three to 10 years. 

"Unfortunately, in the past, Women's Health has not been able to provide these methods of birth control to all our patients who wanted them because of the high upfront cost," said Susan Levy, executive director of Women's Health. "Now, this grant allows us to provide these highly effective forms of birth control to all our patients, including abortion patients, at the time of their appointment."

Women's Health provided reproductive health care to more than 5,000 women, teens and their partners in 2007, primarily to low-income and uninsured patients. The nonprofit is based in Boulder with a teen clinic in Longmont.

The grant will also provide funding to extend hours at both the Boulder and Longmont locations.