SHAHEEN JOINS EFFORT TO EXPAND COVERAGE OF BIRTH CONTROL AS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CONTINUES ATTACKS ON CONTRACEPTION AND FAMILY PLANNING

The following information was released by New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen:

U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) helped introduce the bicameral Affordability is Access Act, which would require insurers to fully cover over-the-counter birth control without any fees or out-of-pocket costs, once it is Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved. The introduction comes as the Trump Administration continues its senseless attacks on reproductive care, family planning and contraception, including moves to cancel teen pregnancy prevention grants, attempts to decimate Title X and the U.S. State Department's extremist decision to falsely label birth control products as abortifacients.

"As the Trump Administration continues its relentless efforts to strip women of our bodily autonomy and limit access to basic reproductive health care, we must do all we can to increase access to contraception and family planning methods," said Senator Shaheen. "Our legislation would build on successful provisions in the Affordable Care Act that have made birth control more readily available by ensuring over-the-counter options are also available at no cost."

Under the Affordable Care Act, all private health insurance plans are required to fully cover without copays or out-of-pocket costs prescribed 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.

Senator Shaheen is an unrelenting advocate for women's reproductive rights. Shaheen is a longtime cosponsor of the Women's Health Protection Act which would guarantee a woman's right to access an abortion free from medically unnecessary restrictions that interfere with a patient's individual choice or the provider-patient relationship. Shaheen has also joined her Senate colleagues in opposing Senate Republicans' effort to restrict access to reproductive health care, including their push last year to pass legislation that would have significantly interfered with the doctor-patient relationship and posed unnecessary and harmful obstacles to a woman's right to make her own decisions about her reproductive health. For years, Shaheen has fought to expand coverage of women's preventative care, including through her legislation to reduce the cost of contraception for servicewomen and dependents in military families.