Birth Control
A Midnight Regulation by the Bush Administration Continues Its Assault on Women's Reproductive Health Care The Bush Administration established a policy that would prohibit entities that receive federal funding from refusing to hire medical personnel that refuse to provide abortion care -- and even some forms of contraception. (More on the proposal here.) Most alarmingly of all, the rule allows medical workers the ability to deny giving patients information or referrels without telling them such crucial information it is being withheld. Here in Washington, this rule will undermine our state law (that pro-choice people like you worked so hard to pass) that requires emergency rooms to offer emergency contraception to sexual assault victims. And it means that any federally-funded women's health clinics in our state may be forced to hire doctors or nurses who oppose a woman's right to access abortion care and contraception. Ensuring women access to birth control is essential to preventing unplanned pregnancy and reducing the need for abortion. Birth control is basic healthcare for many women, and therefore should be widely available and covered by insurance. Studies indicate that 40 million women of reproductive age are sexually active and wish to prevent unintended pregnancy. Nevertheless, the far right continues to block women’s access to contraception. Birth control costs have been rising across the country, leaving college students and low-income women particularly vulnerable to interruption of birth control methods. Additionally, some pharmacists in the U.S., including some in Washington, have refused to dispense safe and legal emergency contraception. Emergency contraception does not require a prescription for women over 18, but some pharmacists are refusing EC to women for personal, non-medical reasons. Electing pro-choice candidates is one way to ensure women's access to birth control. For example, former Republican candidate for governor Dino Rossi is opposed to birth control, and favors allowing pharmacists to refuse EC to women. Below, you can read more about NARAL’s work to increase the availability of emergency contraception, protect patients’ rights to have valid prescriptions filled without judgment or discrimination, and ensure family planning services are covered by insurance.
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