The previous administration offered a narrow exemption—an accommodation—for churches, religious orders, and integrated auxiliaries (organizations with financial support primarily from churches). That accommodation was expanded in the Supreme Court’s decision in Hobby Lobby, for closely held for-profit organizations that had religious objections to covering some or all contraceptives. Under the accommodation, the entity’s insurer or third-party administrator was responsible for providing contraceptive services to the entity’s plan participants and beneficiaries.
In October 2017, the Trump administration acted to greatly expand the ability of any employer, college or university, individual, or insurer to opt out of the ACA’s contraceptive coverage requirement. You will read more about this later.
ACOG’s business case for contraception
Early in the Trump Administration, the White House released a statement saying, “Ensuring affordable, accessible, and quality healthcare is critical to improving women’s health and ensuring that it fits their priorities at any stage of life.”10 ACOG could not agree more, and we encouraged the President to accomplish this important goal by protecting the landmark women’s health gains of the ACA. Our call to the President and the US Congress was: “Don’t turn back the clock on women’s health.”
We made a business case for continued contraceptive coverage:
Contraception reduces unintended pregnancies and saves federal dollars.
- Approximately 45% of US pregnancies are unintended.11
- No-copay coverage of contraception has contributed to a dramatic decline in the unintended pregnancy rate in the United States, now at a 30-year low.12
- When cost is not a barrier, women choose more effective forms of contraception, such as intrauterine devices and implants.13
- Unintended pregnancies cost approximately $12.5 billion in government expenditures in 2008.14
- Private health plans spend as much as $4.6 billion annually in costs related to unintended pregnancies.15
Contraception means healthier women and healthier families.
- Under the ACA, the uninsured rate among women ages 18 to 64 almost halved, decreasing from 19.3% to 10.8%.16
- More than 55 million women gained access to preventive services, including contraception, without a copay or a deductible.16
- Women with unintended pregnancies are more likely to delay prenatal care. Infants are at greater risk of birth defects, low birth weight, and poor mental and physical functioning in early childhood.17
Increased access to contraception helps families and improves economic security.
- Women saved $1.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs for contraception in 1 year.18
- Before the ACA, women were spending between 30% and 44% of their total out-of-pocket health costs just on birth control.19
- The ability to plan a pregnancy increases engagement of women in the workforce and improves economic stability for women and their families.20
Administration expands religious exemptions to contraception coverage
Still, on October 6, 2017, the Trump Administration moved to curtail women’s access to and coverage of contraception with the Religious Exemptions and Accommodations for Coverage of Certain Preventive Services under the Affordable Care Act and Moral Exemptions and Accommodations for Coverage of Certain Preventive Services Under the Affordable Care Act. In November 2018, the Administration published a revised rule, to take effect in January 2019.21 The rule immediately was taken to court by more than a dozen states and, 1 month later, was subject to an injunction by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, blocking the rules from going into effect in those states.
Continue to: The rule vastly expands the Obama Administration’s religious accommodation...