PROVIDENCE – The Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services’ new rules eliminating the mandate that all businesses provide coverage for birth control on their health care plans has drawn criticism and protest from New England and Rhode Island health organizations.
On Oct. 6, the department announced the new rule eliminating the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that all insurance plans must cover birth control without a copay or otherwise ensure access to birth control coverage for women whose employers or schools can legally opt out of providing coverage.
“Birth control is not controversial – it is basic health care the vast majority of women will use in their lifetime. We are talking about a fundamental right – to be able to decide whether and when someone wants to have children. We cannot let the government and politicians take that right away from millions of people in this country in a blatant attempt to roll back the progress women have made over the past century,” said Amanda Skinner, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England.
“Women should be able to make their own health care decisions regardless of where they work. The Affordable Care Act advanced women’s rights by recognizing that birth control ought to be fully covered by insurance. President [Donald] Trump’s new rule is a step backwards, particularly for women struggling to make ends meet who can’t afford to pay for birth control out of pocket. It seems the Trump administration is working on all fronts to tear up decades of hard-fought progress,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.
Dr. Emily White, vice chair of the Rhode Island section of American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said contraception is an integral part of preventive care and a medical necessity for women during approximately 30 years of their lives. Since the Affordable Care Act increased access to contraceptives, our nation has achieved a 30-year low in its unintended pregnancy rate, including among teens, she said.
“Any move to decrease access to these vital services would have damaging effects on public health and would essentially turn back the clock on women’s health,” she added.
In the R.I. General Assembly, Rep. Katherine Kazarian, D-East Providence, introduced House Bill No. 5486 to allow for prescribing of contraception for a full year and to retain in Rhode Island law the provision of the Affordable Care Act that prevents patients from being charged cost sharing for birth control, said Craig O’Connor, Rhode Island director of public policy and government relations for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England.
“We encourage Senate President Dominick Ruggerio and House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello to pass this legislation in 2018,” O’Connor said.
Nationally, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of members of the ACLU and Service Employee International Union-United Health Care Workers West, who are at risk of losing their contraception coverage because of where they work or where they go to school.
“The Trump administration is forcing women to pay for their boss’s religious beliefs,” said ACLU senior staff attorney Brigitte Amiri. “We’re filing this lawsuit because the federal government cannot authorize discrimination against women in the name of religion or otherwise.”
Rob Borkowski is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Borkowski@PBN.com.
