Birth Control

August brought with it a victory for women’s health. It was announced that all new health insurance plans would be required to coverage preventive services such as contraceptive coverage. However, in not so great news, the mandate included language that would allow religious employers to deny such coverage on the basis of religious or moral beliefs; also known as a “refusal clause.” Today, many religious institutions are pushing to expand the language, creating the opportunity to deny more woman necessary preventive services.

Needless to say I’m having a difficult time grasping what this so-called, “conscience clause” actually means. Call me silly, but it actually seems immoral to deprive a woman of contraception if those pills are necessary for her to maintain her health. It seems quite immoral to make a woman choose between receiving adequate health care coverage and her job. Do we honestly think it’s fair to deny contraceptive coverage to a teacher at a Catholic school or university even though she may not be Catholic herself? Read more »

In 2008 when then Senator Barack Obama was still campaigning for the presidency and there were notions that the Bush administration would offer a parting shot to women’s groups and the reproductive health community, Obama’s take on the proposed regulation to expand religious restrictions was clear –

“We need to restore integrity to our public health programs, not create backdoor efforts to weaken them. I am committed to ensuring that the health and reproductive rights of women are protected.”

But now, here we are three years later, and under President Obama, we are still having a very similar fight. Read more »

As you may have heard, the Catholic Bishops are urging the Obama administration to expand the religious refusal clause concerning contraceptives. This could allow religiously affiliated institutions that are not churches – such as hospitals, universities, Catholic Charities, and others – to refuse to cover birth control without co-pays for their students and employees. That’s even though birth control constitutes “preventive care” under the Affordable Care Act, which is mandatorily covered at no cost by insurance plans. And as we’ve been telling you, denying contraceptive coverage is harmful to women.

In response, today the HERvotes coalition is banding together for another blog carnival to fight the Catholic bishops’ push to expand the religious exemption for employer birth control coverage. After the jump, we have links to some of the posts in today’s blog carnival to get you started reading. While you’re at it, please make sure to take a moment to tell President Obama that all women need affordable birth control. For more information about contraceptive coverage and for more resources and blogs from the NWLC, please visit our contraceptive coverage overview page.

Last week, there was a hearing in Congress entitled “Do New Health Law Mandates Threaten Conscience Rights and Access to Care?” How about an alternative that really addresses what this is all about: “Are religious employers entitled to impose their “values” on their employees?” This hearing focused on the Affordable Care Act and the requirement that all health plans cover contraceptives. The Department of Health and Human Services issued a rule in August that exempted a narrow class of employees from having to comply with the law. Only employers who hire and serve people of the same religion, and have the purpose of instilling religious values qualify for the exemption. Read more »

Women are unique. Our time spent as full time employees often coincides with our time spent as family caregivers. We are more times than not bombarded with societal double standards. But, we deal. We deal with these things every day, no matter how frustrating.

Not surprisingly, our health concerns and needs are unique. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, we can be better prepared to deal with these as well.

Because of landmark legislation on the health care front, young women will now have the option to receive potentially life-saving screenings without a co-pay, making it easier for many women to access them. In fact, starting in January 2012, all new health insurance plans will be required to cover preventive care, such as STI screenings for young women at no additional cost. Read more »

All summer, we’ve been talking about getting contraception covered in all the new health insurance plans created under the Affordable Care Act. For a quick review: in July, a panel of non-partisan experts released their recommendations that included not only all FDA-approved methods of contraception, but also an incredible list of other needed preventive health services for women. A few short weeks later in August, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) adopted these recommendations in full, paving the way for millions of women to soon have access to contraception WITHOUT A CO-PAY! Read more »

After reading news reports on the recent Kaiser Family Foundation polling, you might think that the most important finding is that public support for the law is at a plateau, and that a large number of everyday Americans are still unsure how the law will directly benefit them. But, I was pleased as punch to see that 66% of those polled support the recent decision by the Department of Health and Human Services to cover contraceptives without co-payments. Read more »

Over 60,000 of you signed our petition to support no-cost birth control, and earlier today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it is adopting expert recommendations to require health insurers to cover contraception, along with a number of other preventive health services for women, without charging women co-payments. We got you covered – birth control without a co-pay will soon be a reality!

Thank HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for moving women’s health a huge step forward. Read more »

The Wall Street Journal has asked for comments on whether readers support the IOM’s recommendation that women be provided the full range of FDA-approved contraception without cost sharing. Read more »

*For horses. Not humans.

This week the House of Representatives has been debating H.R.1, the bill that would fund the government for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011. The proposed budget makes devastating cuts to programs upon which women and their families rely. Read more »