Barriers to Reproductive Care

Women continue to face restrictions when they try to access the reproductive health care they need. We're working to defend access to reproductive care and to oppose challenges such as pharmacy refusals and religious restrictions by those imposing their beliefs on women.

Highlights

Fact Sheet | Requiring Crisis Pregnancy Centers to Disclose Limits on Care Is Part of a Long Tradition of Protecting Women’s Decision-making and Access to Reproductive Health Care

April 9, 2013

Women face many obstacles to receiving comprehensive, affordable, quality health care, including when individuals and institutions refuse to provide health care services.   Some even go so far as to refuse to inform women about their health care options or even to notify women that there are certain services or information that they will not provide.  This prevents women from participating fully in their own medical decision-making.  Not only are their rights compromised, their health may be harmed.

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Legal Briefs & Testimony | NWLC Amicus Briefs Supporting the Contraceptive Coverage Benefit

April 30, 2013

The Center is filing friend of the court briefs in lawsuits challenging the federal contraceptive coverage benefit, brought by employers who want to deny their employees this important benefit.  These cases involve suits brought under the First Amendment to the US Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.  These cases will decide whether a boss’s religious beliefs trump women’s health and women’s access to the health care they need.

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Fact Sheet | If Opponents of Birth Control Have Their Way, Millions of Women Would Lose Access to Birth Control

September 14, 2012

Opponents of birth control in Congress are working night and day to enact new laws and policies that would deny millions of women access to birth control -- including access already guaranteed to women by law. Thankfully, so far, supporters of birth control have stopped the worst of these Congressional attacks.  Although the anti-birth control efforts have taken several forms, they all would have the same effect: taking birth control coverage away from women nationwide. A comparison of opponents’ and supporters’ legislative priorities makes the difference clear: while opponents of contraception would take it away from women, supporters work to ensure that women have access to affordable birth control.

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Fact Sheet | Accessing Non-Prescription Emergency Contraception: The Basics

April 22, 2012

This factsheet provides basic information on types of emergency contraception and answers frequently asked questions regarding obtaining and using EC. 

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More Resources

Fact Sheet | The Rubio Bill Would Allow Any Employer to Take Away Women’s Insurance Coverage of Contraception, Harming the Health of Women and Their Families

February 09, 2012

The Rubio Bill, S. 2043, introduced in the Senate in January 2012, allows any corporation of any type, any other entity of any type, or any individual to refuse to provide contraceptive coverage and services to their employees on the basis of religious beliefs.  Called the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012,” it would take away the right of millions of women to have any insurance coverage for contraception, based on an employer or health plan’s religious beliefs – whether affiliated or not with any religious entity.

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Fact Sheet | Letter to the President Opposing the Religious Employer Exemption

November 30, 2011

The undersigned organizations, representing millions of health care consumers, patients and providers, strongly supported passage of the Affordable Care Act and are working to protect the Act from efforts to undermine or repeal it. To that end, we are writing in opposition to the religious employer exemption issued as an Interim Final Rule on August 3, 2011, to the requirement that all new health insurance plans provide coverage for contraceptives without cost-sharing, and to urge you to reject calls to deny additional women the coverage they need.

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Resource Page | Preventive Services, Including Contraceptive Coverage, Under the Health Care Law

November 02, 2011

All Women Should Have Access to Preventive Health Services, including Contraception, Without a Co-Pay, and Have It No Matter Where They Work

The health care law makes preventive care more accessible and affordable to millions of Americans by making certain preventive services, including all FDA-approved contraceptive methods, available without co-payments or other cost sharing requireme Read more...

Fact Sheet, Webinars & Presentations | Resources for "If You Care About..., Then You Should Care About Reproductive Justice" Series

November 02, 2011

The National Women’s Law Center and Law Students for Reproductive Justice have developed a series of webinars for law students that look at the intersection of reproductive justice with other progressive advocacy issues. We hope that through this series, students will start thinking of the social justice and human rights underpinnings of progressive work, and how we can all work together toward our common goals.

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Webinars & Presentations | If You Care about Criminal Justice, You Should Care about Reproductive Justice

October 26, 2011

A webinar with Jill Morrison (Senior Counsel, NWLC) and Lynn Paltrow (Executive Director, National Advocates for Pregnant Women) where they discuss the intersection between reproductive justice and criminal justice.

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