The Trump administration just announced its intention to rollback portions of the Obamacare mandate that requires most employers to include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans. It’s a mandate that has guaranteed 55 million women free birth control since 2010, and saved women billions of dollars on birth control pills alone.
The new interim final rules released on Friday are steeped in hypocrisy. In the same week that team Trump said it would support a 20-week abortion ban that passed the House and is now headed to the Senate, it announced a change that will only make it harder for women to determine if and when they want to become pregnant.
Which is what birth control does.
The abortion rate in the United States is the lowest it has been since Roe v. Wade passed in the 1970s, thanks in part to greater access to birth control. If the question is how to prevent abortions, contraceptive access is a major part of the answer.
But preventing pregnancy is not the only thing birth control does. Birth control, in its many forms, is health care. It’s medication that 14 percent of women turn to for strictly non-contraceptive reasons. Like...
Reducing PMS.
Reducing premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).
Regulating irregular cycles...
...And treating heavy periods.
Reducing menstrual migraines.
Managing acne.
Managing the pain of endometriosis.
Managing the symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
Lowering the risk of anaemia.
Controlling the symptoms of uterine fibroids.
Helping to prevent certain cancers.
Yet despite the many benefits of birth control, some employers seem ready to pounce on the change.
According to data released by the Center for American Progress in August, 45 entities requested exemptions to the birth control mandate between 2014 and 2016, following the Supreme Court decision that for-profit companies with certain religious and moral beliefs do not have to offer employees birth control. More than half of the companies seeking an exemption were for-profit corporations, while far fewer were non-profits or educational institutions with religious affiliations. Many indicated they were specifically seeking an exemption from providing the most expensive (and also the most effective) forms of birth control, like IUDs.
As Dr. Anne Davis, consulting medical director for Physicians for Reproductive Health, said in a statement on Friday—joining a chorus of reproductive rights advocates who are outraged by the rule: “An employer’s beliefs have no place in these private decisions, just as they would not in any other conversation about a patient’s health care.”
Also on HuffPost
You Can Get It For Free
Inconsistency Is A Big Problem
You May Have To Monitor Side Effects
IUDs Are Most Effective
Odds Are, The Pill Didn't Cause Your Weight Gain
Other Meds Matter
You Can Use Birth Control Indefinitely
Stopping? You Can Get Pregnant Right Away
You Can Get Protection 5 Days After Unprotected Sex
Affluent Americans may want to double-check how much of their bank deposits are protected by government-backed insurance. The rules governing trust accounts just changed.
Former NBA guard Darius Morris has died at the age of 33. He played for five teams during his four NBA seasons. Morris played college basketball at Michigan.
Jason Fitz, Charles Robinson and Frank Schwab talk about which quarterback rooms concern them and which they find interesting heading into the 2024 NFL season.
Teams have made their big splashes in free agency and made their draft picks, it's time for you to do the same. It's fantasy football mock draft time. Some call this time of year best ball season, others know it's an opportunity to get a leg up on your competition for when you have to draft in August. The staff at Yahoo Fantasy did their first mock draft of the 2024 season to help you with the latter. Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens are here to break it all down by each round and crush some staff members in the process.
It’s key to note that we’re not saying the “best team” or “best roster.” Instead, we’re talking about the best confluence of factors that can outline a path for survival and then success.
With free agency and the draft behind us, what 32 teams look like today will likely be what they look like Week 1 and beyond for the 2024 season. Matt Harmon and Scott Pianowski reveal the post-draft fantasy power rankings. The duo break down the rankings in six tiers: Elite offensive ecosystems, teams on the cusp of being complete mixed bag ecosystems, offensive ecosystems with something to prove, offenses that could go either way, and offenses that are best to stay away from in fantasy.
Jake Mintz & Jordan Shusterman discuss the Padres-Marlins trade that sent Luis Arraez to San Diego, as well as recap all the action from this weekend in baseball and send birthday wishes to hall-of-famer Willie Mays.
In the most anticlimactic way possible, Nintendo on Tuesday confirmed years of rumors: The Nintendo Switch 2 console is on the way. "We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year," wrote Shuntaro Furukawa, the president of Nintendo, on X. Rather, Furukawa wanted to warn users not to expect the actual announcement in next month's Nintendo Direct livestream.