You might have to start paying for your birth control again soon

October 7, 2017 7:10 PM

The Trump administration is rolling back a mandate that allowed more than 55 million women to access free BC.

If you have health insurance, you’ve probably enjoyed access to free or low-cost birth control for years now. Unfortunately, that’s now in jeopardy.

The Trump administration is planning to roll back the federal requirement for employers to provide birth control coverage as part of their health insurance plans for employees, according to the New York Times. This allows companies to refuse to cover birth control as part of health insurance based on moral or religious objections. The new rules could be issued as soon as Friday, per the Times.

If you have a vagina, this affects you. Currently, more than 55 million women are able to obtain birth control without co-payments thanks to the Obamacare mandate. And, the Times says, hundreds of thousands of women could stand to lose this.

Under the new rule, employers or insurers can refuse to cover contraception “based on its sincerely held religious beliefs” or if they have “moral convictions” against covering birth control. The latter is pretty vague and basically allows companies to refuse to cover birth control as a cost-saving measure if they use morality or religion as the reason.

“As an ob-gyn and women’s health advocate, I think these are the kinds of regulations that impede women’s health, not progress them,” says Jessica Shepherd, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology and director of minimally-invasive gynecology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago. As for allowing employers to refuse coverage on moral and religious convictions, “these two things in general should not interfere with what you allow your employees to access,” she says. “It should just be healthcare, rather than healthcare with stipulations.”

Shepherd points out that the administration has also tried to defund organizations that provide low-cost birth control options to women like Planned Parenthood, making it even more difficult for women to access birth control that they can afford.

The Trump administration also says in the new ruling that allowing easy access to birth control could promote “risky sexual behavior” among teens and young adults, which Shepherd calls “the most asinine statement I have ever heard.” “What it promotes is more accountability in decision making and decreases unintended pregnancies,” she adds.

If you’re concerned about your ability to access affordable birth control in the future, Shepherd recommends talking to your doctor about long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs) such as the implant or an IUD. “That will cover you for a long period of time,” she says.

According to the Times, the ruling will go into effect as soon as it’s published in the Federal Register.