On Friday, President Biden issued an Executive Order calling for increased access to affordable contraceptives and family planning services. This is the President’s first executive order centered on contraceptives and his third on reproductive health care. His two previous Executive Orders focused on securing access to reproductive health care services, and were issued shortly after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in June 2022.
The White House’s Fact Sheet in this new Executive Order declares that “contraception is an important part of reproductive health care that has only become more important in the wake of Dobbs and the subsequent crisis in women’s access to health care.” Some of the key measures the President plans to implement include improved access to contraceptives for women with private health insurance, increased access to over-the-counter contraceptives, and improved access to contraceptives and services. on family planning through Medicaid and Medicare.
The Executive Order also announced a new public-private partnership between the Department of Health and Human Services and Upstream USA. Upstream is a nonprofit organization that, as such website states, “was founded in 2014 to expand opportunity and reduce unplanned pregnancy across the United States.” The White House said this partnership will help expand access to contraceptives while also supporting Upstream’s mission to “transform contraceptive care” in more than 700 health centers by 2030.
According to Guttmacher Institute, 29 states and the District of Columbia require insurers that cover prescription drugs to also provide coverage of FDA-approved contraceptives. Despite inclusive mandates like these, federal law still allows for some religious employers with both nonprofit and for-profit businesses to deny employees contraceptives through a given health care plan. . While the Trump administration dismantled the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) contraceptive mandate and expanded this law, the Biden administration is working to reverse it.
The Biden administration is also committed to undoing the Domestic Gag Rule, which prohibits Title X-funded reproductive health centers from referring patients for abortion or providing abortion and family planning services in the same clinic. The Executive Order proposes that assistance be provided to Title X clinics through the Reproductive Health National Training Center and the Clinical Training Center for Sexual and Reproductive Health. Additionally, the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request includes $512 million to go toward the Title X Family Planning Program.
The President’s Executive Order comes on the first anniversary of the Dobbs decision, demonstrating the Biden administration’s continued commitment to providing affordable, quality reproductive health care. While steps like this are slowly being taken, we must continue to speak out and take action to resist unjust laws that violate our reproductive rights.
