The President’s Record on Contraception

As part of the Affordable Care Act, starting August 1st, many insurance plans will be required to fully cover birth control without co-pays or deductibles as part of women's preventive care. This step will help more women make health care decisions based on what's best for them—not their insurance company—and could save them hundreds of dollars every year.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced that certain religious organizations, including churches, will be exempt from the rules, and other religious organizations will not have to pay for their insurers to cover birth control.

Here's a look at how the new birth control policy will affect women and religious institutions.

• More than half of all Americans already live in the 28 states that require insurance companies to cover birth control.

• Most women—including 98 percent of Catholic women—who have had sex have used birth control, according to a study by the Guttmacher Institute.

• Some religiously-affiliated hospitals and universities already provide birth control coverage to their employees.

• A majority of Americans support including birth control coverage in health plans at no cost to women.

• Health care experts like the American Medical Association and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend birth control as a preventive service.

• Under the new provisions in the Affordable Care Act, women will have access to the care and family planning services they need without worrying about the cost.

• Women using birth control reduce their risk of developing ovarian and endometrial cancers to about half the rate of the rest of the population.

• Churches and other houses of worship are exempt from the new law.

• Other non-profit organizations, like religiously affiliated hospitals and universities that employ or serve people regardless of their faiths may qualify for a one-year transition period to prepare for the new law.

• No individual health care provider will be forced to prescribe birth control.

• No one will be forced to buy or use birth control.

• Drugs such as RU-486 that cause abortion are not covered by this policy. The President remains committed to maintaining strict limits on federal funding for abortions.

• While the monthly cost of birth control for women ranges between $30 and $50, insurers and experts agree that the savings would more than offset the costs.

• It will also save employers money. The National Business Group on Health estimated that employers would pay 15 to 17 percent more not to provide coverage than they would to provide it.

Let us know how the new policy will impact your life.

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act:

• Insurance companies will no longer be able to discriminate against women, who previously had to pay as much as 150% more for health insurance than men
• New health insurance plans will cover women’s preventive services such as well-woman visits, mammograms, birth control pills, and screenings without copays or deductibles
• More than 1.1 million young women now have the security of health coverage under a provision that allows Americans to stay on their parents’ insurance plan up to age 26
• Women will receive insurance rebates if their provider doesn’t use at least 80% of their premiums for patient care

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan won’t stand up for women’s health. They would repeal Obamacare and go back to letting insurance companies play by their own rules.

The President has repeatedly stood behind a woman’s right to choose:

• Reversed the global gag rule, ending the ban on government aid for international groups that provide abortion information
• Fought against Republican attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, one of the largest providers of women’s health services in the country

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would turn over some of women’s most personal health care decisions, like birth control coverage, to their bosses, defund Planned Parenthood, and let government intrude on women’s health rights and freedoms. The Republican Party platform includes a human life amendment to ban abortion nationwide, without exceptions for rape and incest.