Who pays for birth control?

Who pays for birth control?

It's about equal access to care.

Photo by: American Life League

Women need access to birth control from their employer for there to be equal access to care.

This past week American citizens turned back the clock just one hour while the Trump administration turned back the clock several years for us all as well. 

On November 7th, 2018, the Trump administration wrapped up a policy that would revise the Obamacare birth control mandate made in 2012. The Affordable Care Act demanded that most employers' health plans must cover birth control at no charge to their employee with few exceptions made. However, over time, several employers have also chosen to opt out  of providing such coverage for religious or moral causes, and the Trump administration has been allowing it. Now, the entire policy has been revised, and in two short months, the Departments of Health and Human Services states that 200 employers with religious or moral objections will now be exempt. 

Women need access to birth control from their employer for there to be equal access to care. 

What the Trump administration is doing is putting the power of making the decision about who gets birth control into the hands of the employer rather than letting the individual women decide. 

To start, contraception options vary by cost and so does insurance coverage. In the past, most employers chose to give women the state minimum requirements such as the pill. If a woman wanted a more expensive birth control method, such as the IUD, she had to pay for it and shop around herself. However, not every woman had these funds. Many low income women were stuck with what they got. This is may be the pill, which has a failure rate of 9%. But if the federal government does not demand the employer gives any birth control, then the employer will be more likely to simply choose not to give their employees birth control, and this may vary from women to women to effect them all uniquely. This is worse than giving women the bare minimum. This is not giving women anything. Which means what? If you can't afford it, you don't get it. Which means what? An abortion? How is this the preferable option?

Sexual health is part of your overall well being, and many women take birth control for reasons outside of lifestyle choices. According to CNN, Rachel Janargin, 30, had her ovary removed because of endometriosis. She now takes birth control to keep her disorder in check, essentially so it does not spread. This is part of her necessary healthcare. Rachel should not have to tell her employer that she needs birth control because of her disorder. That should be kept between her and her doctor. However, an employer can now choose to deny Rachel of her necessary birth control because of the rollback. 

Rachel states, "I deserve to have affordable medications for a condition that I have no control over. I have always been an advocate for access to health care, and it's frustrating that I may have to fight or pay more for health care than I already do." But there are issues other than just endometriosis such as ovarian cysts that effect women all over the country. They need access to birth control. It's not a luxury. It's the basics.

Furthermore, the employer should not have the choice to decide whether their employees should get birth control or not because many women experience severe pain as a result of cramps. They take birth control to manage that. Jennifer Lawson, who also spoke with CNN, is a woman who experienced this, stating in an email that  her cramps were "so severe they made me physically sick. A doctor put me on birth control pills to help and it made a big difference. I still had cramps and nausea but they were finally manageable to the point that I wasn't missing days of school and falling behind in life." The thought of a woman having to tell her employer that she experiences extreme pain can cause serious discomfort and embarrassment for her in that moment and in the future. She shouldn't have to. It's none of their business. If the employer is a male, then he may have a harder time understanding what she may be feeling and her needs. If the employer needs to cut some funds, he may not hesitate to cut on her healthcare. Why not just stop covering her birth control? What's the worst that could happen? It's legal now. This gives unequal access to care because some women may have employers who understand the circumstances women are in and some may not. It's not fair to women who are not employed by those who have experiences with women with cramps. This is the basics.

On another note, the employer should not have the choice to decide whether their employees should get health care or not because there are racial disparities in this patriarchal society. Specifically, Rewire.News reports that only 6% of women of color have used IUDs in America because of its high cost while 78% have used the pill. Many women of color cannot afford to pay for contraception on their own. They earn an average less than white women, and they make up 16% of female minimum wage workers. For them, birth control could be a month of rent. It should also be noted that black women have maternal mortality rates three times higher than white women. When black women are denied access to birth control, their lives are risked. If racism is such a part of this country, you can believe that black women will be given poorer access to birth control when the employer gets to decide if they get it or not. This rollback gives a license to discrimination. Giving them access to birth control is the basics to healthcare.

Next, women need access to birth control not dependent on their employers personal religious or moral beliefs because objections to premarital sex is unrealistic. Whether the employee believes that premarital sex is morally or religiously wrong, it is not their place to force their thoughts on others. In fact, 9 out of 10 women will use contraceptives sometime in their lives. There is religious freedom in this country, but there is no need for religious tyranny. One persons beliefs do not need to interfere with anothers right to healthcare. 

With this all said, women need equal access to birth control because all women need autonomy over their body. They have the right to choose with informed consent what they put into their bodies and how they treat it. They have the right to take birth control. This is reproductive justice.  With Donald Trump also cutting back funding on resources women can turn to such as Planned Parenthood, according to the Center for American Progress, the options for access to contraception narrow even more. 

Photo by: Pablo Martinez

In short, women need access to birth control from their employer. Women have limited biopower as it is, and this rollback issued by the Trump administration perpetuates patriarchal control over women's bodies and lives. It curtails the sexual freedom of women, discourages patient privacy, gives license to discrimination, instills religious tyranny, and narrows access for women even more than what has been done in the past. Women's reproductive health is part of their overall health. Giving them birth control is the minimum if they choose it, and this country needs to re-evaluate how those outside of health of women and their daily lives control it for a reason. Who pays for my birth control? As many women have already stated, it's not my boss's business.

For relevant course readings, please see: 
Takeshita, Chikako. The Global Biopolitics of the IUD: How Science Constructs Contraceptive Users and Women's Bodies. The MIT Press, 2012.