- Rep. Boebert said she decided it was "cheaper to have a kid" after seeing the price of birth control.
- The Colorado GOP congresswoman had her first child when she was in high school.
Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado made an eyebrow-raising comment on Wednesday: that she first began having children after balking at the price of birth control at a local pharmacy.
"My staff is probably gonna talk to me about this later," Boebert quipped as she began recounting the "fun little story" during a House Oversight Committee hearing on prescription drugs on Wednesday.
Boebert asked witness Kevin Duane, the owner of a pharmacy in Jacksonville, Florida, if he'd seen patients leave their prescribed medicines at his pharmacy due to being unable to pay — before saying that she had done just that.
"I left a prescription at a pharmacy once — I went to get birth control," said Boebert. "I was there at the counter, and went to pay for it, and the price was very, very high."
Boebert said she initially thought the cost may have been for a three to six-month prescription, but was informed that it was just for one month.
"And I said, 'it's cheaper to have a kid,'" Boebert recalled. "And I left it there, and now I have my third son, Kaydon Boebert."
"It turned out to be a really great thing," Boebert added.
—Acyn (@Acyn) May 23, 2023
Boebert, who recently filed for divorce from her husband of 20 years, dropped out of high school after becoming pregnant with her first child in 2004. The Colorado congresswoman later made the local news for delivering her third son, Kaydon, in a pick-up truck.
According to Planned Parenthood, birth control pills can cost up to $50 per month, depending on health insurance coverage.
Boebert has spoken publicly about growing up in relative poverty, saying her family received government assistance when she was a child and that she learned the values of hard work from her job at McDonald's.