FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 6, 2017
Contact: Allie Aguilera, allie.aguilera@younginvincibles.org, 202-734-6529

Trump Administration Rolls Back Access to Affordable Birth Control

[WASHINGTON] Today, President Trump’s administration issued an interim final rule that allows any entity, including non-religious employers, to deny coverage of birth control based on that entity’s personal views on contraception. Under the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) contraceptive coverage requirement, only certain religiously affiliated employers had the ability to deny coverage.

An estimated 55 million women have benefitted from the ACA’s free preventive services like birth control. With the issuance of this rule, the Administration is opening the door to making the family planning and medical benefits of birth control unaffordable and inaccessible to these women.

The rule goes into effect immediately, but HHS will be accepting comments on the rule for 60 days, from today, October 6, until December 5, 2017.

Young Invincibles’ Southern Regional Director, Maggie Jo Buchanan made the following statement regarding the Trump Administration’s interim final rule rolling back the ACA’s improvements to birth control access:

“Before the ACA, more than half of young adult women had difficulty accessing birth control due to cost. The Trump Administration’s actions show a disregard not only for the health of young women but also for their financial well-being. Access to birth control has played a vital role in increasing young women’s college completion rates and has helped countless young women plan their careers and families in the way best for themselves.

The President and HHS have a responsibility to implement the ACA. Instead, the Trump Administration is dismantling the provisions that help Americans the most. Today’s decision is just another example of President Trump’s determination to roll back access to affordable health care, even after Republicans in Congress were thankfully blocked in their efforts to repeal the law. Young people oppose this decision and will continue to push back on actions like this that harm our generation.”