Remarks to the Institute of Medicine Committee on Preventive Services for Women

“My name is Aram Schvey, and I serve as Policy Counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights. The Center is a global human rights organization that uses constitutional and international human rights law to promote women’s equality by establishing and protecting their access to reproductive healthcare and their control over reproductive health decisions as fundamental rights that all governments around the world must respect, protect, and fulfill. We work in the U.S., Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia on a wide range of reproductive health and rights issues, including the right to access contraception, and the obligation of governments to fund contraception. Our recent work includes a study on European standards for government funding of contraception, documentation of the human rights violations stemming from the Manila municipal government policy to bar contraception in government clinics, and successful litigation against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception.

Because the Center dedicates itself equally to addressing domestic and international reproductive rights violations, it is uniquely positioned to address the subject of my remarks—the human rights basis for why contraception and family planning services constitute preventive services that should be included in the insurance plans.

Download the full statement below.