On January 20, the Obama administration announced that it would protect access to affordable birth control for millions of women and not further expand the refusal provision to the birth control coverage benefit under the Affordable Care Act. This is very good news for women and families.
The President’s decision is grounded in sound medical science and health policy and ensures that millions of women will have access to affordable birth control, including women who are employed by a religiously affiliated hospital, university, or other religiously affiliated organization that serves the broader public.
Birth control use is nearly universal in the United States, even among Catholic women. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 99 percent of all women and 98 percent of Catholic women will have used birth control at some point in their lives.
As you may remember, an integral part of the Affordable Care Act is the new benefit requiring health plans to cover preventive health care, including cancer screenings, immunizations, and birth control, with no co-pays.
Last summer, the respected, nonpartisan Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended birth control be covered as a women’s preventive service because it is fundamental to improving women’s health and the health of their families. Increased access to birth control is directly linked to declines in maternal and infant mortality, as well as other health benefits and positive health outcomes. Among other things, birth control can protect women against debilitating symptoms of endometriosis and can reduce the risk of ovarian cancer.
Unfortunately, over the past several months, conservative House members and Catholic bishops have been lobbying the Obama administration for an enormous and harmful expansion of the refusal clause in the new Affordable Care Act that would undermine millions of women’s access to affordable birth control.
They wanted to exempt religiously affiliated universities, hospitals, social service agencies, and schools from the birth control with no co-pay benefit and cut off access to affordable birth control for nurses, secretaries, teachers, and other workers of all faiths, intruding on individuals’ ability to practice their own religion or faith, including their personal decisions about health care.
Fortunately for women and their families, the Obama administration rejected this effort. Our victory did not come without a lot of passion and hard work from Planned Parenthood affiliates, supporters from across the country, and our friends on the Hill. Everyone from college students to top donors participated in this effort, and we generated so many calls that the White House had to literally shut down their phone lines. Thank YOU for making your voice heard!
