Opinion: Support Obama's Decision to Protect Access to Affordable Birth Control

Dear Editor,

Last week Planned Parenthood saw an incredible amount of support in response to the Susan G. Komen Foundation grants policy decisions. The public made it loud and clear that they do not want politics to interfere with women’s health.

The same groups that targeted the Susan G. Komen Foundation are now attacking women’s access to birth control.

The Obama administration made a sound medical and health policy decision to protect access to affordable birth control for millions of women and reject efforts to further expand the refusal provision in the birth control coverage benefit. This decision means that millions of women who would otherwise pay $15 to $50 a month will have access to affordable birth control.

Doctors and public health experts agree that increased access to birth control is not only of the best ways to prevent unintended pregnancies; is also improves health outcomes for women and their families.

Women of all faiths – even Catholics – use birth control. In fact, 98 percent of sexually active Catholic women have used birth control at some point in their lives.

The law already includes a strong exemption which allows approximately 335,000 churches to refuse to provide birth control for their employees. However, hospitals and universities that operate as businesses and serve and employ individuals of different faiths and backgrounds should not be allowed to refuse the birth control coverage benefit.

Women deserve to have access to contraception and have it without a co-pay, no matter where they work.

Susan Musich, Planned Parenthood Board Member

Glenview, IL

773-259-6139