Protect access to birth control

Protect access to birth control

The Issue

Time and time again, extreme anti-choice groups have put pressure on the Obama administration and won rollbacks on women's health care. Now these same groups are targeting women's access to contraceptives.

Under the new health care law, the Department of Health and Human Services must decide which preventive services are to be covered by insurance companies at no additional cost.

The well-respected Institute of Medicine concluded that contraceptives are critical to women's health, and recommended that they should be considered preventive health care.

But the final decision about the designation rests with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Tell Secretary Sebelius: Protect women's health by designating contraceptives as preventive care.

The medical community is strongly in support of access to birth control, with the president of The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists saying that "unimpeded access to affordable contraceptives for all women is foundational."

But the anti-women theocrats on the right are up in arms because they literally oppose birth control, and are demanding that Secretary Sebelius reject the findings of the medical community.

This small but vocal anti-contraception fringe is fighting to turn a medical decision into a political one. And they are trying to muddy the waters by turning this into a debate about abortion.

Without a strong public outcry in support of women's right to access birth control, the Obama administration could decide to side with the extremists once again and throw women under the bus.

Tell Secretary Sebelius to do the right thing for women and designate birth control as preventive care for women.

avatar of the starter
CREDO ActionPetition StarterAt <a href="http://Change.org" rel="nofollow">Change.org</a> I am Senior Director of Client Services. Before joining the team at <a href="http://Change.org" rel="nofollow">Change.org</a>, I worked as Senior Campaigner at Care2 and for two years I worked as Senior Consultant at M+R Strategic Services. My foray into online organizing began in 2004, when I co-founded Equality Ohio, an LGBT rights organization and a member organization of the national Equality Federation. In my spare time I tend a small flock of chickens in my Oakland backyard.
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The Issue

Time and time again, extreme anti-choice groups have put pressure on the Obama administration and won rollbacks on women's health care. Now these same groups are targeting women's access to contraceptives.

Under the new health care law, the Department of Health and Human Services must decide which preventive services are to be covered by insurance companies at no additional cost.

The well-respected Institute of Medicine concluded that contraceptives are critical to women's health, and recommended that they should be considered preventive health care.

But the final decision about the designation rests with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Tell Secretary Sebelius: Protect women's health by designating contraceptives as preventive care.

The medical community is strongly in support of access to birth control, with the president of The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists saying that "unimpeded access to affordable contraceptives for all women is foundational."

But the anti-women theocrats on the right are up in arms because they literally oppose birth control, and are demanding that Secretary Sebelius reject the findings of the medical community.

This small but vocal anti-contraception fringe is fighting to turn a medical decision into a political one. And they are trying to muddy the waters by turning this into a debate about abortion.

Without a strong public outcry in support of women's right to access birth control, the Obama administration could decide to side with the extremists once again and throw women under the bus.

Tell Secretary Sebelius to do the right thing for women and designate birth control as preventive care for women.

avatar of the starter
CREDO ActionPetition StarterAt <a href="http://Change.org" rel="nofollow">Change.org</a> I am Senior Director of Client Services. Before joining the team at <a href="http://Change.org" rel="nofollow">Change.org</a>, I worked as Senior Campaigner at Care2 and for two years I worked as Senior Consultant at M+R Strategic Services. My foray into online organizing began in 2004, when I co-founded Equality Ohio, an LGBT rights organization and a member organization of the national Equality Federation. In my spare time I tend a small flock of chickens in my Oakland backyard.

The Decision Makers

Sec. Kathleen Sebelius
Sec. Kathleen Sebelius

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Petition created on July 21, 2011