CORTEZ MASTO, MURRAY, HIRONO REINTRODUCE BILL TO EXPAND COVERAGE OF BIRTH CONTROL IN AMERICA AND SOUND THE ALARM ON TRUMP'S RELENTLESS ATTACKS ON CONTRACEPTION AND FAMILY PLANNING

The following information was released by Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto:

Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai'i) to reintroduce their bicameral Affordability is Access Act. This legislation would require insurers to fully cover over-the-counter birth control without any fees or out-of-pocket costs, once it's FDA-approved. This reintroduction comes as the Trump administration continues their senseless attacks on reproductive care, family planning, and contraception, including moves to cancel teen pregnancy prevention grants, attempts to decimate Title X, and the State Department's extremist decision to falsely label birth control products as abortifacients.

"Congress must pass theAffordability is Access Actto expand Americans' reproductive freedomseven asthis Administration tries to shrink them,"said Senator Cortez Masto."Birth control has helped thousands of Nevadans and millions of Americans live healthy lives. It's past time we made sure every woman who wants it has an affordable over-the-counter option they can buy."

"When it comes to birth control, the challenge we face isn't just to stop Trump from setting up new barriers. We have to tear down the barriers that have been standing for far too longlike cost," said Senator Murray. "We have to put forward our own vision for the futurenot just reject Trump's far-right dystopia. That's why we are re-introducing the Affordability is Access Act. This bill would require insurance to fully cover safe, over-the-counter birth control for patients. And this year we made a big update: our bill will also make sure all other FDA-approved forms of contraception are covered for patients. No fees. No hurdles. No out-of-pocket costs. This is especially important because, as of March 2024, there is an over-the counter birth control pill that women can buy at pharmacies and grocery stores. Trump has made his vision painfully clear, he wants to take women's rights away, he wants to set birth control on fire. Well, this bill is our vision as Democrats. We want to protect women's rights. And we want to protect your birth control."

"As the Trump regime continues to attack reproductive freedom, fighting for contraception access has never been more important,"said Senator Hirono. FDA approval of over-the-counter birth control is a major step forward, but approval alone does not guarantee access. By requiring insurance companies to cover over-the-counter contraception at no cost and without a prescription, this legislation will help to ensure women nationwide have the power to control their bodies and their lives.

The Affordability is Access Act also includes a new provision to require health insurance to cover every FDA-approved contraceptive drug or drug-led combination product without cost sharing unless the health plan also covers a therapeutically equivalent generic without cost sharing. This would significantly eliminate barriers that some patients face in accessing contraceptives prescribed by their provider.

Under the Affordable Care Act, all private health insurance plans are required to fully cover without copays or out-of-pocket costs prescribed U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved, granted, or cleared methods of contraception. The Affordability is Access Act would change this to apply to over-the-counter birth control that women can get without a prescription. The Affordability is Access Act would also maintain the FDA's sole authority to determine the safety and efficacy of drugs and make them available over the counter without a prescription, and ensure retailers provide contraception without a prescription. The legislation states that any retailer that stocks contraception that the FDA has approved, granted, or cleared without a prescription may not interfere with a consumer's access to or purchase of such contraception.

Read the bill here. Additional cosponsors include Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawai'i), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The legislation is also led by Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.-07), Congressman Ami Bera (D-Calif.-06), and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.-14) in the House of Representatives.

Senator Cortez Masto has been a fierce advocate for women's reproductive rights. Last November, Cortez Masto sent a letter to Health and Human Services SecretaryKennedyand former FDA Commissioner Makary expressing alarm over the Trump administration's plans toconduct"its own review of the evidence" on the safety and effectiveness of mifepristone. The Senator recently re-introduced her Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act, which would block anti-choice states and localities from limiting travel for abortion services and protect those helping women seek abortion care. She's championed legislation to repeal theComstock Act, an arcane 1873 law that anti-choice extremists have repeatedly invoked as a backdoor means to effectively ban abortion nationwide without a single act of Congress. In the last Congress, the Senator also cosponsoredlegislation to codify the right to contraceptionandIVF.