Tag: contraception

Efforts by Anti-Choice Advocates to Redefine and Limit Contraception

The following article by Osub Ahmed was posted on the Center for American Progress website March 26, 2018:

A woman holds a sign in front of the U.S. Capitol on International Women’s Day, March 2017. Credit: Getty/Melina Mara

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 landmark decision in Roe v. Wade was a critical step forward for women’s equality, establishing vital, constitutionally protected privacy rights that enable women to access abortion services. However, the ruling also became a target for anti-choice politicians and advocates to organize around. Since the Supreme Court’s decision, these groups’ attacks on abortion access have become an everyday reality that reproductive health advocates, providers, and patients must face. From targeted regulation of abortion provider (TRAP) laws to mandatory waiting periods and biased counseling, there is a well-organized and widespread effort to limit a woman’s ability to make decisions about her own reproductive health when it comes to pregnancy. What is less visible—but equally as disturbing—is an intentional strategy to attack access to birth control methods that is predicated on conflating abortion and contraception. This strategy of blurring the line between abortion and contraception is part of a radical agenda to assign personhood and constitutional rights at the point of fertilization, thus further imposing limits on reproductive health services. Continue reading “Efforts by Anti-Choice Advocates to Redefine and Limit Contraception”

Contraceptive Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act

The following article by Jamila Taylor and Nikita Mhatre was posted on the Center for American Progress website October 6, 2017:

Over the past several months, the Trump-Pence administration, as well as Congress, have attacked women’s health and rights numerous times. Greater access to affordable and effective contraception has been one of the hallmark achievements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But now, the current administration is threatening to limit these gains with the release of sweeping regulations that would allow any employer, insurance plan, school, or individual to use the guise of religious or moral objection to deny access to no-cost contraception.

By requiring coverage for contraceptives with no out-of-pocket costs, the ACA increased women’s access to a wide range of contraceptives. Continue reading “Contraceptive Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act”

President Trump Wants to Restrict Access to Contraception Under the Guise of Religious Liberty

The following article by Heidi Williamsona nd Claire Markham was posted on the Center for American Progress website June 22, 2017:

AP/Charles Dharapak — Protestors participate in a demonstration in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, March 25, 2015.

Last month, the Trump administration took two significant actions to curtail women’s access to reproductive health care. On May 4, the president signed an executive order that expands the power of religious refusals in denying access to health care. The order limits the actions that the government can take against individuals and organizations who assert religious beliefs as a reason to deny their employees health care coverage—namely, contraceptive coverage. The order also gives Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a longtime foe of progressive efforts to promote equality and pursue robust civil rights enforcement, broad authority to issue guidance interpreting religious liberty into federal law. Continue reading “President Trump Wants to Restrict Access to Contraception Under the Guise of Religious Liberty”