Family Planning

Access to reliable contraception and other preventive reproductive health care services is an essential part of basic health care for women.  We’re working to ensure that women have access to affordable contraceptive care, including emergency contraception, to help protect their health, prevent unintended pregnancies, and improve their lives.

For more information and resources on insurance coverage of contraception, please visit http://www.nwlc.org/preventive-services-including-contraceptive-coverage-under-health-care-law.

Highlights

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 | Women’s Access to Preventive Services Affirmed by HHS

February 22, 2013

On February 20, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services released a set of Frequently Asked Questions which clarified many issues related to implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s preventive services requirement.  The FAQ is an important step towards ensuring that insurance plans and issuers implement the Women’s Preventive Health Services provision so that women get the comprehensive and affordable services guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act.  While the FAQ leaves some implementation questions unanswered, the National Women’s Law Center is pleased that the Department addressed several major issues to make sure that women have the coverage required by the law.  The charts below summarize implementation issues and how the FAQ responds to them.

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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

Reports & Toolkits | Ask! Will the Moral or Religious Beliefs of Your Health Care Providers Limit Your Access to Health Care or Endanger Your Life or Health?

December 22, 2010

Are you getting the care you need? More and more often, the moral and religious beliefs of certain health care providers are limiting the public's access to health care. Many consumers are unaware that these providers refuse to perform certain services or give information that patients want, even when the law requires that they do so. Consumers do not find out about limits on services until they are denied care. By then it is often too late to do anything about it. This brochure arms consumers with the information they need before they make health care decisions.

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Webinars & Presentations | Making the Grade on Women's Health 2010 Webinar

December 09, 2010

This resource contains the slides from the Making the Grade on Women's Health 2010 webinar.

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Fact Sheet | Guaranteeing Contraceptive Coverage In All New Health Insurance Plans

November 18, 2010

A factsheet on guaranteeing contraceptive coverage as a preventive service for women through the Affordable Care Act.

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Legal Briefs & Testimony | Testimony by Judy Waxman, Before the Institute of Medicine Committee on Preventive Services for Women

November 16, 2010

Testimony of Judy Waxman before the Institute of Medicine's panel on what women's preventive services to include at no-cost sharing in all new health plans as defined by the Affordable Care Act.

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

October 27, 2010

A webinar with Jill Morrison (senior counsel, NWLC) and Kimberly Inez McGuire (senior programs and policy associate, Reproductive Health Technologies Project)

Watch the full webinar

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