The following article by Shilpa Phadke, Jamila Taylor and Nikita Mhatre was posted on the Center for American Progress website November 15, 2017:
On October 6, 2017, the Trump administration announced two rules that severely undermine the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) contraceptive coverage mandate.1 This attack on access to birth control and other forms of contraception is being touted as a protection of religious liberty, but it is really a justification to discriminate against individuals who want and need access to contraception. Under the ACA, religiously affiliated organizations could opt out of providing contraception but were required to notify the government or another third party that they were doing so.2 This guaranteed that employees would still have access to no-cost contraception through their insurance companies. The new rules, however, are much more expansive and allow any individual or organization—whether a private company, university, or insurer—to deny contraceptive coverage to their employees based on religious or moral objection. Employers no longer even have to report that decision to the government; they can simply deny birth control coverage to women who currently have it. Continue reading “Rhetoric vs. Reality: Why Access to Contraception Matters to Women”