Secretary Sebelius Approves No-Cost Birth Control
Moments ago, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that she had accepted a medical expert panel's recommendation that family planning be considered preventive health care. Now, newly issued insurance plans must cover the full range of FDA-approved contraception without a copay!
Today's decision by the Obama administration is a major step forward for American women. One in three women struggles with the high cost of birth control at some point in her life.
That's why NARAL Pro-Choice America has been rallying grassroots support for no-cost birth control since the beginning of the year. We launched a public-education campaign in partnership with our state affiliates that reached 35 college campuses.
In June, we unveiled a BC4ME Facebook app that more than 26,000 people have used. The app lets you find out how much you or a woman you know would save if you didn't have to pay out-of-pocket costs for prescription birth control.
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, praised Secretary Sebelius' decision:
Secretary Sebelius' decision to follow a science-based recommendation will improve women's access to affordable basic health care, including contraception. Women will realize the importance of this decision every time they go to the pharmacy counter and pick up their birth control without paying a copay. Currently, one in three women finds it difficult to pay for birth control, and the United States has a far higher unintended-pregnancy rate than other industrialized countries. The vast majority of Americans supports making family-planning services available at no cost. They know this change in policy will help millions of women prevent unintended pregnancy and thereby reduce the need for abortion.
NARAL Pro-Choice America also notes with reservation that the administration is proposing to allow certain employers to opt out of the requirements. We believe that all women should have access to contraceptive coverage.
Tags:
bc4me, Birth control, birth control for me, contraception, health reform, hhs, Institute of Medicine, iom, Kathleen Sebelius, no cost birth control, Obama administration, Preventive medicine, United States Department of Health and Human Services,
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"Science-based recommendation," "Sound Science"?
"The question of human procreation, like every other question which touches human life, involves more than the limited aspects specific to such disciplines as biology, psychology, demography or sociology. It is the whole man and the whole mission to which he is called that must be considered: both its natural, earthly aspects and its supernatural, eternal aspects. And since in the attempt to justify artificial methods of birth control many appeal to the demands of married love or of responsible parenthood, these two important realities of married life must be accurately defined and analyzed. This is what We mean to do, with special reference to what the Second Vatican Council taught with the highest authority in its Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today."
I encourage you to read the whole text for it comprehends an entire science.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html
"Science-based recommendation" vs "Supernatural and eternal" Sounds like a conflict of church and state (cue streetfighter soundtrack). Maybe someone should have made some kind of memo to keep those two separated. OH WAIT...