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ENGL 1010
There has been a recent debate regarding a mandate from the Department of Health and
Human Services during the Obama administration. The mandate required employers to provide
insurance coverage for birth control, or the employer to notify the government that they were
opting out so women could seek contraception through government funded programs like
Medicaid. There were a lot of people that agreed with the mandate, but there were others that
objected. Those that objected said it was an assault on their religious liberty. There were others
that were more in the middle. That group believed that while all women should have access to
affordable birth control, the cost should not be shifted to someone else such as an insurance
Another group that supports the mandate has a variety of reasons for their belief. In her
article “Reducing Poverty by Cutting Unplanned Births” Isabel Sawhill discusses the correlation
between unplanned pregnancies and poverty. She goes on to say that women that get pregnant
before they are financially and mentally ready are more likely to stay in the lower class . Sawhill
also argued that women that have access to birth control and better family planning are more
successful. In “A Wellness Perspective on Birth Control: Education is Better than Ignorance” the
author argues that things have changed and birth control is necessary for family planning because
with religious or moral objections to birth control believe that they should not be required to
provide insurance coverage for birth control and that the option to opt out but not notify the
government is not a reasonable accommodation. In “Birth Control at the Supreme Court: Does
Free Coverage Violate Religious Freedom?” Nina Totenberg examines the argument by the Little
Sisters of the Poor, a religious organization that did not agree with providing coverage for their
employees and were not satisfied with the option to opt out. They argued that their name would
still be on it, and they did not want their name associated with birth control (Totenberg).
Supreme Court case regarding a baker that did not agree with same sex marriage and compares it
to the birth control debate. Anderson mentions the religious organizations affected by the HHS
mandate, and argues that the mandate may cause these organizations to lose tax exempt status
Still another group believes in affordable birth control, but they have slightly different
views than the first group. The argument in this case is that while birth control should be made
more affordable, it should not be done by just shifting the cost to someone else. In “End the Ban
on Over-The-Counter Oral Contraceptives” author Jeffrey Singer states that making oral
contraceptives available over the counter would reduce the cost by eliminating the doctor’s visit
After researching the question, I agree with the HHS mandate. In “The High Costs of
Birth Control” there is a chart with the costs of the different types of birth control. It had a chart
that broke down the costs of different types of birth control from the pill to sterilization. It really
drew attention to the issue, and made me think about the women that cannot afford it by
themselves. If they cannot afford birth control on their own, then they are not going to be able to
support a child. I also think that because organizations were provided with the option to opt out
as long as they notified the government it is reasonable. They do not have to provide coverage
they just have to notify the government so women employed by these groups still have access to
Exploring the different views on birth control access really drew attention to the issue. I
did not realize how many people were affected by lack of birth control or difficulty paying for it,
and I did not realize that there were people that were fighting back against the solution that the
Works Cited
Anderson, Ryan. “The Continuing Threat to Religious Liberty.” The Heritage Foundation,
www.heritage.org/religious-liberty/commentary/the-continuing-threat-religious-liberty.
libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=f6h&AN=6628792&site=eds-live.
Rogers, Melissa. "New Trump Contraception Rules Not a Win-win Solution." Brookings.
win-solution/.
births/.
contraceptives.
“The High Costs of Birth Control.” Center for American Progress, 17 Feb. 2012,
www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/news/2012/02/15/11054/the-high-costs-of-birth-
control/.
Totenberg, Nina. "Birth Control At The Supreme Court: Does Free Coverage Violate
https://www.npr.org/2016/03/23/471003272/birth-control-at-the-supreme-court-does-free-
coverage-violate-religious-freedom.