Republicans are making
another push to seem like they don't hate women, and it shouldn't be a surprise that it's ... not entirely honest. Sens. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) are promoting a bill that would make birth control pills available over the counter. Sounds great on the surface, right?
Funny story: You have to look below the surface.
One big question to ask is what happens to insurance coverage of contraception in Republican over-the-counter pill bills. Because, great! Now women can just walk into the store and pick up some birth control pills anytime, without going to the doctor first ... but their insurance won't cover the pills, meaning out-of-pocket costs actually rise.
Democrats are offering a competing bill that would make insurers cover over-the-counter contraceptives. That bill:
... is backed by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. ACOG came out against the GOP bill, saying it would take a “giant step in the wrong direction” because it doesn’t ensure insurance coverage.
Here's another way to think about
who to trust on birth control policy:
House Republicans released a budget proposal this week that would eliminate funding for the Title X program, a decades-old network of family planning providers offering birth control, cancer screenings, STD testing, and reproductive health treatment to millions of low-income women across the country.
These are the same people we're supposed to trust who want to make contraception more accessible? Ha.