Contraception

20 Jul 2011 3 Comments

by fredtopeka in healthcare, politics, religion Tags: contraception, health insurance, politics, religion

A government panel has recommended that contraception now be available without a copay:

Virtually all health insurance plans could soon be required to offer female patients free coverage of prescription birth control, breast-pump rentals, counseling for domestic violence, and annual wellness exams and HIV tests as a result of recommendations released yesterday by an independent advisory panel of health specialists.

Hopefully it’s progress that they couldn’t get a politician to object, just the crazies (I’m probably wrong, it’s early after all):

Jeanne Monahan, director of the Center for Human Dignity at the socially conservative Family Research Council, said that many Americans may object to birth control on religious grounds. “They should not be forced to have to pay into insurance plans that violate their consciences,’’ she said. “Their conscience rights should be protected.’’

Just as troubling, Monahan said, was inclusion of emergency contraceptives such as the so-called morning-after pill sold as Plan B and the more recently approved drug sold as Ella. Both work primarily by inhibiting ovaries from producing eggs. But abortion  opponents argue that there is evidence the drugs can also prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb, which they consider equivalent to abortion.

and:

President Barack Obama’s health care law already requires most health plans to provide standard preventive care for people of both sexes at no additional charge to patients. Women’s health recommendations were considered new and politically sensitive territory, so the nonpartisan institute was asked to examine the issue.

Nonetheless, a fight over social mores is brewing. Catholic bishops and other religious and social conservatives say pregnancy is a healthy condition and the government should not require insurance coverage of drugs and other methods that prevent it. (Most health plans already cover contraception.)

The conservative Family Research Council said the recommendations could lead to a federal “mandate” for abortion coverage, since emergency contraceptives such as Plan B and Ella would be covered. But the Food and Drug Administration classifies those drugs as birth control, not abortion pills. Panel member Alina Salganicoff, women’s health policy director for the Kaiser Family Foundation, said abortion drugs are not included in the recommendations.

One of the reasons politicians try to stay away from the anti-contraception people is that contraception is very popular:

For instance, Sonfield said, a Guttmacher study found that 98 percent of sexually active Catholic women and nearly 100 percent of evangelicals have used contraception at some point, compared  with 99 percent of women overall.

In any case, this is a good step.

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