Birth Control/Contraceptives

I have learned in the last few weeks about a new great threat to America’s national security and infrastructure. Perhaps you did too?

According to Congressional opponents of women’s reproductive health, birth control is going to destroy the Naval fleet and kill 2403 people. A woman getting an abortion will infiltrate our most secure databases and bring down our computer systems. And, abortion will have something to do with damage from rising waters . . . . . I can’t even come up with a snarky line for the last one.

If this all sounds outrageous, it is. Yet, yesterday, Rep. Mike Kelly (PA) compared the health care reform law’s coverage of contraception with no co-pay to Pearl Harbor. He even called its start date a “day that will live in infamy.” Read more »

Yes to Birth Control. No to Co-Pays.

Tell your Members of Congress you support women's access to preventive health services without co-pays or deductibles.

Women's lives are about to get a little easier (and less expensive). Thanks to the health care law, today a provision goes into effect requiring birth control and other preventive services that women need be covered without a co-payment or a deductible! Over time, as an increasing number of new plans come under the law's reach, more women could have access to these services with no extra cost.

Tell your Members of Congress today how much this means to you and that you support women's access to preventive health services without co-pays or deductibles.

The preventive health services included in new plans are: well-woman visits, breastfeeding assistance and supplies, domestic violence counseling, screening for gestational diabetes, testing for high-risk strains of HPV, screening for sexually transmitted infections including HIV, and all FDA-approved methods of contraception. Read more »

This month, I returned to the National Women’s Law Center after more than 10 years, and found myself dropped into one of the most critical fights of the day: protecting the contraceptive coverage benefit established in health care reform. While I am still amazed that people are attacking family planning in the year 2012, part of me cannot help but marvel at how far we have come. Read more »

Yesterday, the National Women's Law Center submitted comments on the Administration's proposed "accommodation" for organizations that have religious objections to covering contraception in their health insurance plans for employees. In our comments, we state that the priority in structuring the accommodation must be to ensure women have seamless access to contraception no matter where they are employed or enrolled as university students.

The backstory: back in August of last year, the Administration announced that contraception would be one of the eight women's preventive services that insurance plans would have to start covering without cost sharing in August of 2012. When the announcement was made, the Administration also announced a religious exemption to the rule requiring insurance plans to cover contraception. Those of us at the Law Center thought that the exemption should be eliminated completely as it has no basis under law and arbitrarily precludes certain women from having their needed preventive care. However, other groups complained that the exemption should be expanded to include hospitals and universities.

After receiving over 200,000 comments on the issue, the Administration announced in January that it was not changing the exemption. With a sustained backlash from certain groups and media outlets (culminating in the infamous Where Are the Women hearing, which denied Sandra Fluke the opportunity to testify), the Administration announced an "accommodation" to the requirement. Read more »

Your Voice is Crucial

Tell HHS all women deserve access to birth control without a co-pay!

Forty-seven years ago today, the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Griswold v. Connecticut established a right to use contraceptives without interference from the state. It's hard to believe that nearly a half century later, politicians are still trying to erect barriers to women's access to affordable birth control.

Tell the Department of Health and Human Services that all women, no matter where they work or go to school, need access to birth control without co-pays or burdensome obstacles.

Last summer, we secured a big victory when all FDA-approved contraceptives were added to the list of preventive health services that all new health insurance plans must cover without a co-pay or deductible. Unfortunately, 335,000 houses of worship received an exemption from the requirement, leaving their female employees without access to this critical benefit.

Now the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed an "accommodation" for other religiously affiliated organizations, which would shift the responsibility of providing contraceptive coverage without cost sharing to the insurance companies. HHS is asking for comments and we must make sure that any "accommodation" does not put additional hurdles in the path of women seeking contraception. Employees of religiously affiliated organizations must have access to contraception to the same extent as employees of other organizations and companies. Read more »

This blog post is a part of NWLC’s Mother’s Day 2012 blog series. For all our Mother’s Day posts, please click here.

Many of my friends will celebrate their first Mother’s Day being a mom this year. Others have recently expanded their families or have a first child on the way.

I’m happy that all these kids were born after the health care law was passed – because that means my friends can be secure that their kids will have access to health care. That includes my friend Robyn, whose son Jax had to have heart surgery when he was only three months old. Without the health care law, Robyn would have to worry about Jax hitting a lifetime limit on his insurance or being denied coverage for having a pre-existing condition.

The health care law also improves the health of women – like my friend Robyn and all my friends who are new moms.

Preventive Care with No Cost Sharing for New and Expecting Moms

All new health plans are already providing preventive services – such as cancer, diabetes and hypertension screenings – with no cost sharing. Starting this August, the list of preventive services will expand to cover women’s health services including many services important to expecting and new moms. These services include:

• Prenatal Care: Testing for gestational diabetes without cost sharing and a well-woman visit including prenatal care means that expecting moms will know what steps they need to take to have a healthy pregnancy.
• Breastfeeding Support and Supplies: New moms will have access to lactation counseling and rental of breastfeeding supplies without copays or deductibles. In addition to the preventive services, employers are now required to provide a clean space—that is not a bathroom—for new moms to pump.
• Contraceptive Coverage: The full range of FDA-approved contraceptive coverage, including birth control pills, rings, implants, tubal ligation and more will be provided by plans without cost sharing. This is important to new moms because birth control helps women plan pregnancies so moms can access preconception and prenatal care and space pregnancies to help have a healthy baby.

Read more »

Our Fight

Ask your mother, grandmother, aunt, or another loved one this Mother's Day about the challenges she had accessing birth control. Then, share her story or yours with us!

What challenges did I face accessing birth control when I was younger? My doctor told me taking the Pill could possibly kill me — apparently thinking this additional "fact" would help me make a more informed medical decision.

I'm still alive — so I guess he was wrong. And that doctor was not alone in putting up barriers for women trying to access reproductive health care.

TELL US: Have you ever asked your mom, aunt, grandmother, or another loved one in your life what challenges she had gaining access to birth control? We want to hear the stories!

It's been nearly fifty years since the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Connecticut v Griswold striking down state bans on birth control. Since then, contraception has become so central to women’s lives that 98 percent of us use it at some point during our reproductive years. Yet, politicians still re-litigate access to affordable contraception and other women’s health care needs. Read more »

While we’re still squabbling stateside about emergency contraception, women in London can now order Plan B online to be delivered to their home or office via bike messenger. (Note that we’re talking about Plan B, the “morning after pill,” not mifepristone, the chemical abortion pill that can end pregnancy of up to seven weeks, as Irin Carmon outlines at Slate.)

According to The Daily News, here’s how London-based women can obtain EC through this new service:

To get the emergency contraceptive in your hands quickly, the £20 (24 euros) service involves filling out a short online form that is assessed by an online doctor, with the prescription delivered by courier in as little as two hours.

I guess London didn’t want to be outdone by the vending machine in a university health center that distributes Plan B.

And here I thought it was handy that time I needed an urgent prescription refill the day I was leaving on a trip and was able to call my doctor’s office for a refill which was faxed over to my local CVS so I could pick it up on my way out of town. Read more »

Attacks on contraception have been all over the news lately — from attempts to defund federal and state family planning programs and providers like Planned Parenthood to efforts to block the health care law's coverage of contraception with no-copays or deductibles. It's shocking that more than 50 years after the birth control pill was approved, we're fighting to ensure that women don't lose access to it. Another startling front in the contraception battle? When you go to a pharmacy to get your contraception, you might be denied.

Women in at least 24 states report that their pharmacists have denied them access to birth control. Watch our new video and tell your leaders: My Health is NOT Up for Debate™!

Read more »

Thanks to everyone who participated in yesterday’s tweet chat with Sandra Fluke, National Women’s Law Center, and Law Student’s for Reproductive Justice! And yes, when I say everyone I even want to thank the people who were on who didn’t have the nicest things to say.

Everyone who contributed questions and were supportive- you all are amazing! A lot of really great questions were asked that drove an interesting and informative conversation. We had questions about the accommodation, what actions students can take on their campuses to ensure coverage as soon as possible, and specific questions about what preventive services are covered.