Dear MoveOn member,
We are not exaggerating: Americans could lose the right to birth control. In a recent attempt to control our bodies and our lives, Republicans in Congress voted NO to advance protections for contraception.1 This is extreme—and it goes against the values of voters across the political spectrum, who broadly support the right to birth control.
Republicans in Congress know that restricting access to birth control is a losing strategy—which is why they are trying to hide their true intentions.2 But we know that they will chip away at access the same way they did with abortion. And they are waiting for the opportunity to push it completely out of reach.
Birth control is already under attack—it's evident, from the attempts to slash federal Title X family planning funding to threats to reinforce the Comstock Act, which would make it illegal to deliver birth control through the mail.3 And in states like Texas, Missouri, Idaho, and Iowa, legislators are already trying to undermine access to emergency contraception.4
Last year, Iowa even cruelly stopped funding Plan B for survivors of sexual assault through the Crime Victim Compensation Program.5 It's inhumane and immoral, and we have to fight back.
These legislators and elected officials who are determined to roll back reproductive freedoms have already shown us what they are capable of doing. And it's clear they are waiting for the opportunity to push birth control access completely out of reach. Now it's up to us to show them that we won't let them. We're taking the fight for birth control directly to Congress, but we need your help.
Thanks for all you do.
–Americans for Contraception
P.S. See our email from June for more information about the Right to Contraception Act and why it's critical we pass protections now!
Sources:
1. "Senate Republicans block bill to protect access to contraception," NBC News, June 5, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/193978?t=5&akid=407161%2E40999114%2Eq3iCos
2. "The Republican Party Is Coming for Birth Control," The American Prospect, June 6, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/197086?t=7&akid=407161%2E40999114%2Eq3iCos
3. "How American Women Could Lose the Right to Birth Control," Time, May 20, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/197087?t=9&akid=407161%2E40999114%2Eq3iCos
4. "The Right to Contraception: State and Federal Actions, Misinformation, and the Courts," KFF, May 23, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/197105?t=11&akid=407161%2E40999114%2Eq3iCos
5. Ibid.
Dear MoveOn member,
First, abortion. Then, IVF. Now, conservative lawmakers are putting contraception at risk. Last Wednesday, Senate Republicans shamefully blocked the passage of the Right to Contraception Act, a bill that would enshrine the right to use basic birth control like IUDs, Plan B, condoms, and the pill.6 Champions in Congress are pushing back, but they need help from constituents.
A discharge petition is circulating in the House of Representatives that, if they get enough signatures, would force the Republican majority to bring the Right to Contraception Act to a vote in the House. Will you add your name to urge your representative to support the right to contraception, sign the discharge petition, and fight for our freedom to plan our families and our futures?
Around 65% of women in the U.S. report using at least one method of contraception in the past year.7 Birth control is an important tool for people of all genders to plan their families, manage their health, and decide their futures. Every American should have the freedom to use contraception if and when they need it—and the assurance that the government will never take it away.
Republicans in Congress have been spreading misinformation about birth control for years, with members like Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene falsely claiming that emergency contraception like Plan B induces abortions (it doesn't).8 And while attempts to slash access to contraception have swept the country in states like Missouri, Louisiana, and Idaho, senators like Marco Rubio have been advocating for federal legislation that would undermine it, including allowing employers to refuse to provide contraception due to "moral objections."9,10
Access to contraception is not just under threat—it's already being threatened. About 19 million women who rely on federal funding to access birth control live in "contraception deserts," places without reasonable access to a full range of birth control options. And we know the need is even greater.
Our legislators should be fighting to protect and expand access to birth control—not voting against commonsense legislation that would codify this right.
Thanks for all you do.
–Americans for Contraception
Sources:
6. "Republicans block bill to protect contraception access as Democrats make election-year push," Associated Press, June 5, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/193920?t=18&akid=407161%2E40999114%2Eq3iCos
7. "Contraceptive Use in the United States by Demographics," Guttmacher Institute, May 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/193921?t=20&akid=407161%2E40999114%2Eq3iCos
8. "The GOP's complicated contraceptive dance," Politico, October 23, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/193917?t=22&akid=407161%2E40999114%2Eq3iCos
9. "Conservative attacks and misinformation on birth control could threaten access," Anchorage Daily News, June 5, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/193918?t=24&akid=407161%2E40999114%2Eq3iCos
10. "Exclusive: Rubio Weighs In On Contraceptive Controversy," CBS News, April 12, 2012
https://act.moveon.org/go/193919?t=26&akid=407161%2E40999114%2Eq3iCos
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