Washington — U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley, a Democrat of New York, introduced legislation today to reverse recent increases in the cost of birth-control pills on college campuses.

Changes in Medicaid reimbursement rules in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 had the unexpected consequence of causing the price of oral contraceptives offered at college health clinics to double and triple this past January, when the legislation went into effect.

The price increase has caused some campus clinics to stop offering prescription birth control and sparked concern among women’s health advocates that the lack of affordable contraceptives could lead to an increase in unintended pregnancies.

Mr. Crowley’s bipartisan “Prevention Through Affordable Access Act” — also sponsored by two Democrats, Adam Schiff of California and Tim Ryan of Ohio, and two Republicans, Jim Ramstad of Minnesota and Mark Kirk of Illinois — asks Congress to amend Medicare nominal pricing restrictions to permit drug companies to provide low-cost birth control to college health centers and “safety net” health-care providers without penalty.

This “common sense reform,” said Mr. Crowley, would correct a “bureaucratic mistake” that has affected three million college-age women and had a disproportionate impact on low-income students. —Paula Wasley