Donald Trump is now moving to take away birth control coverage from up to 55 million American women by eliminating a federal rule that mandates most employers to provide free birth control coverage to women under their insurance plans.
According to The Huffington Post, “The White House Office of Management and Budget posted on its website that it is reviewing an interim final rule that would allow religious employers to deny contraception coverage to their female employees. The details of the rule have not been announced, but Gretchen Borchelt, the vice president of the National Women’s Law Center, said it is certain that ‘some women will lose birth control coverage.'”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi responded to the administration’s “sickening” move, saying, “The draft rule announced today attempts to tear away women’s control over their own private health decisions and put that control in the hands of employers and politicians.”
What’s particularly troubling about Trump’s move is that the Obama-era mandate it plans to eliminate provides coverage to over 55 million women. The Huffington Post notes that the benefit saved them $1.4 billion on contraceptive coverage the first year it took effect. The rule has also pushed the abortion rate in the United States to the lowest level since abortion became legal.
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HuffPo notes that the Center for Reproductive Rights plans to challenge the expected move by the administration, with the group saying, “Countless women will lose their basic right to prevent pregnancy and plan when they have children.”
Trump is making a move that clearly panders to his base of voters, but it’s a move that will hurt millions of women in America and make abortion more frequent – two things people of both political parties should oppose.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
