Affordable Contraception on Trial
The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act included a mandate for employers to provide copay-free contraception to its workers, effectively putting birth control within the reach of millions more women—and potentially saving billions in health care costs that arise from unintended pregnancies. That hasn’t stopped businesses run by anti-choice extremists from trying to abdicate their responsibility to women employees. Those legal challenges are making their way through the federal court system, with four circuit courts hearing appeals over the next three weeks, according to a story in Politico:
More than 60 lawsuits have been filed on the issue—about half by for-profit businesses and half by nonprofit institutions. Legal experts on both sides agree the for-profit cases hitting the appeals court level now are very likely to go before the Supreme Court.
The cost of and access to a woman’s essential reproductive health care shouldn’t be dictated by her employer. That is one of the cornerstones of our Bill of Reproductive Rights, and we are urging President Obama in our recently released Forward video to defend his mandate relentlessly and ensure that all women have access to modern contraception.