Gretchen Borchelt, Senior Counsel & Director of State Reproductive Health Policy

Yesterday, a divided 10th Circuit Court of Appeals put at risk access to contraception for more than 13,000 individuals. A majority of the court reversed a decision of a lower court which told the for-profit crafts store chain Hobby Lobby it has to comply with the federal contraceptive coverage benefit, just like other insurance plans across the country. But Hobby Lobby's owner doesn’t want to treat his employees like everyone else. He thinks he should be able to decide whether female employees and dependents can access insurance coverage for certain forms of contraception. 

While the court did not grant Hobby Lobby the right to get out of the benefit — it sent the case back to the lower court to decide whether or not to grant a preliminary injunction — a majority of the 10th Circuit made it clear that it believes there is merit to the claim that bosses should be able to impose their religious beliefs on their employees. 

Two of the dissenting judges think otherwise, making it clear that the contraceptive coverage benefit only applies to what insurance plans cover. No one will be forced to buy or use contraception.

Oh no he didn’t! Virginia Governor McDonnell Monday night added a ban on insurance coverage of abortion to a health care bill passed by the Virginia legislature. The underlying bill was meant to bring the state into compliance with the federal health care law – in other words, to help ensure affordable and comprehensive coverage for people, not take benefits away. But that’s exactly what Governor McDonnell’s amendment would do. And he’s not the only one.

Abortion insurance coverage bans have been introduced so far this year in at least 10 states. Some of these states are already among the 21 states that have such bans. But this year abortion opponents in those states want to prohibit even more women from obtaining abortion insurance coverage. Like Alabama, where a bill has been introduced to expand their exchange ban to all private plans and to take coverage away from survivors of rape and incest.