Contraceptive Coverage Expanded: No More ‘Moral’ Exemptions for Employers

Ari Blaff

Yahoo News

Originally posted 30 JAN 23

Here is an excerpt:

The proposed new rule released today by the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and Treasury would remove the ability of employers to opt out for “moral” reasons, but it would retain the existing protections on “religious” grounds.

For employees covered by insurers with religious exemptions, the new policy will create an “independent pathway” that permits them to access contraceptives through a third-party provider free of charge.

“We had to really think through how to do this in the right way to satisfy both sides, but we think we found that way,” a senior HHS official told CNN.

Planned Parenthood applauded the announcement. “Employers and universities should not be able to dictate personal health-care decisions and impose their views on their employees or students,” the organization’s chief, Alexis McGill Johnson, told CNN. “The ACA mandates that health insurance plans cover all forms of birth control without out-of-pocket costs. Now, more than ever, we must protect this fundamental freedom.”

In 2018, the Trump administration sought to carve out an exception, based on “sincerely held religious beliefs,” to the ACA’s contraceptive mandate. The move triggered a Pennsylvania district court judge to issue a nationwide injunction in 2019, blocking the implementation of the change. However, in 2020, in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court, in a 7–2 ruling, defended the legality of the original Trump policy.

The Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, in its Dobbs ruling, played a role in HHS’s decision to release the new proposal. Guaranteeing access to contraceptions at no cost to the individual “is a national public health imperative,” HHS said in the proposal. And the Dobbs ruling “has placed a heightened importance on access to contraceptive services nationwide.”

The info is here.

NYC schools dispensing morning-after pill to girls

By By Karen Matthewslindsey Tanner
Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Originally published September 26, 2012


 It's a campaign believed to be unprecedented in its size and aggressiveness: New York City is dispensing the morning-after pill to girls as young as 14 at more than 50 public high schools, sometimes even before they have had sex.

The effort to combat teen pregnancy in the nation's largest city contrasts sharply with the views of politicians and school systems in more conservative parts of the country.

Valerie Huber, president of the National Abstinence Education Association in Washington, calls it "a terrible case once again of bigotry of low expectations" — presuming that teen girls will have sex anyway, and effectively endorsing that.

But some doctors say more schools should follow New York's lead.

Emergency contraception is safe and effective "if you use it in a timely fashion. It provides relief or solace to a young woman or man who has made a mistake but doesn't want to have to live with that mistake for the rest of their lives," said Dr. Cora Breuner, a Seattle physician and member of an American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on teen health.

The entire story is here.

Illinois cannot make pharmacists give 'morning after' pill: court

By Mary Wisniewski
Reuters
Originally published September 21, 2012

An Illinois appellate court Friday affirmed a lower court finding that the state cannot force pharmacies and pharmacists to sell emergency contraceptives - also known as "morning after pills" - if they have religious objections.

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"We are dismayed that the court expressly refused to consider the interests of women who are seeking lawful prescription medication and essentially held that the religious practice of individuals trumps women's health care," said ACLU spokesman Ed Yohnka. "We think the court could not be more wrong."

The entire story is here.

Abortion Rates Fall When Birth Control Is Free

By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Health News 
Originally published on October 4, 2012


Abortions and unplanned pregnancies dropped dramatically in a new study when women and teenaged girls were provided birth control at no cost.

The women and girls were also more likely to choose IUDs or contraceptive implants when cost was not an issue.

Family planning advocates say the study shows the potential of the health reform law (now known by both supporters and opponents as Obamacare) to reduce unplanned pregnancies nationwide.

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About half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned, and about half of these pregnancies happen when birth control is not used.

The rest happen when contraception is used only some of the time or is used incorrectly.

The new study, published online today in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, included close to 9,300 sexually active women and teen girls at risk for having an unplanned pregnancy.

While the women were offered any FDA-approved method of contraception at no cost, the researchers made sure they knew that IUDs and implants were the most effective.

Researcher Jeff Peipert, MD, of Washington University in St. Louis, says around 3 out of 4 study participants opted for the long-acting methods.

“That was a shocker,” he says. “We had hoped to get maybe 15% of the women to choose IUDs or implants, but it was closer to 75%. That made all the difference.”

The entire story is here.

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Committee on Gynecologic Practice opinion can be found here.