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Dear John,
Now is our chance to help make certain everyone can get the birth control they need without out-of-pocket costs.
Last month, the Biden administration proposed a rule that could improve access to contraceptives for people whose employer or university objects to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirement that contraception be covered in health insurance plans. Importantly, this proposed rule gets rid of the Trump administration’s sweeping moral exemption that allowed any employer to deny this critical coverage for any reason. Rescinding this exemption will help ensure people don’t go without the no-cost coverage that allows them to plan if and when to get pregnant and helps improve their financial security.
The Biden administration’s proposed rule isn’t perfect. It leaves in place the Trump administration's exemption for employers who have religious objections. But recognizing that employees’ access to contraception shouldn’t be determined by their employers’ religious views, the rule proposes a new way for people in those plans to get birth control—something called the Individual Contraceptive Arrangement. We need to make sure the Biden administration guarantees that the Individual Contraceptive Arrangement actually works for people, so they can get access to no-cost contraception even if their employer has a religious objection to covering it.
Let us be clear: the proposed rule still lets far too many employers and universities discriminate against their employees and students by excluding birth control coverage from health insurance plans based on religious beliefs. But by putting the Individual Contraceptive Agreement in place, people would have an alternate way to get birth control without out-of-pocket costs. It’s important that the Biden administration hears from you now—about the harm of that discrimination, and the need to ensure any alternate arrangement works properly to secure birth control access.
Everyone deserves access to the birth control they need without barriers. Coverage for birth control shouldn’t be determined by where you work or attend school. This proposed rule isn’t everything we wanted, but it can help some people get the birth control they need. Submitting your comment is important, and it will only take a minute.
Sincerely,
Mara Gandal-Powers
she/her/hers
Director of Birth Control Access
National Women's Law Center
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