HHS Doubles Down on Restricting Birth Control in Two Rules Issued Late Today
Agency also proposes new rule to further hobble women’s access to abortion
11.07.18 – Late today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued two final rules that would further empower employers to discriminate against their female employees by denying insurance coverage for birth control.
Not content with only attacking birth control, the agency also issued a proposed rule this evening that would further drive insurance coverage for abortion out of reach by forcing insurers who cover the procedure to charge women in a separate monthly bill.
Said Mary Alice Carter, Executive Director of Equity Forward:
“It’s no coincidence that less than a day after a record number of progressive women were elected to office and millions of voters stood up against the current administration’s rollback of our basic rights, Trump’s health department has taken sharp aim at women’s access to birth control and abortion.
“The political temper tantrum would almost be laughable if the repercussions on women’s health weren’t so serious.
“These brazen attempts to rob women of their birth control have become par for the course from Trump’s health department, which has consistently elevated a narrow ideology — one that doesn’t believe in basic facts and science — over what’s best for women and their families.
“Today’s rules are further evidence that Congress must hold HHS accountable for the great harm they are causing the millions of women and men who rely on the agency’s programs.”
Equity Forward has long been sounding the alarm on the ideological takeover at HHS, primarily via its HHS Watch campaign. Across the department, the Trump administration has appointed a group of unqualified and politically motivated ideologues who are unfit to run the programs they are tasked with overseeing, thereby endangering the millions of women, men, and families who rely on the department’s programs.
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