Photo by Shape Magazine.
BY: JULIET SCHULMAN-HALL, SUMMER 2020 COLLABORATOR AT POWER IN PLACE
With more people stuck at home and less access to reliable forms of birth control, the inequalities of our society are being accentuated—specifically for women, and most especially for women of color. Tens of millions of people across the United States have lost their jobs due to the pandemic, many of whom can no longer afford health insurance. Without health insurance, the cost of birth control is anywhere between $240 to over $1,000 a year [1]. This cost is the reason “more than a third of female[s]...[have] struggled to afford prescription birth control at some point in their lives” [2]. The cost is not pocket change, it affects people’s lives.
Making matters worse, the United States Supreme Court ruled on July 8th that the Trump administration could “gut the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) requirement that health insurance plans cover women’s essential preventive services, which includes contraceptive care” [3] allowing any employer claiming a religious or moral objection to contraception to be exempted from the requirement that contraception be included in their employees’ health insurance plans. Seven of the nine United States Supreme Court justices voted to allow employers to violate women’s rights to control their own bodies, and to strip them of access to affordable and accessible birth control. The Supreme Court’s attack on women continues, as the justices have ordered a lower court to “reconsider two abortion victories,” involving “an Indiana forced ultrasound law and a law forcing teenagers to notify parents of their decision to seek abortion care” [3]. More and more, the United States government continues to infringe upon the private lives and rights of women.
The CDC reported that in “2015-2017, 64.9% of the 72.2 million women aged 15–49 in the United States were currently using contraception” [4]. Without a universal requirement that health plans cover contraception, many of these 64.9% of women will not be able to afford their birth control. Birth control is not only integral to preventing pregnancy but to eliminating the difficult and otherwise often untreated symptoms of disorders such as PCOS or endometriosis, among others [5]. Even if one does not need birth control for a disorder, it has been shown in a Guttmacher study that “a majority of women say birth control allowed them to take better care of themselves or their families (63%), support themselves financially (56%), complete their education (51%), or keep or get a job (50%)” [2]. Thus, the decision by the United States Supreme Court is not a small matter. It is one that directly targets and perpetuates gender inequalities in U.S. society, at a time when tens of millions of people are unemployed, and unable to afford proper healthcare.
The most immediate and obvious result of a radical increase in unemployment and an increase in the numbers of employers who are not required to provide birth control in their health plans, will be unplanned and unwanted pregnancies resulting from a lack of access to affordable birth control. Many of these unplanned pregnancies will stem from communities of color as the pandemic has been affecting these communities disproportionately. In fact, a study at the Guttmacher Institute found that a disproportionate number of women of color have lost their jobs, resulting in many having little to no access to affordable contraceptives [6]. Thus, the pandemic and ruling from the Supreme Court not only directly harms women, impinging on their rights and their independence, but is also highly likely to disproportionately harm women of color.
Nearly a century ago, on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, finally granting women the right to vote—half a century after black males were granted the right to vote in the Fifteenth Amendment, adopted in 1870. A century after women’s suffrage was won, the fight for women’s rights continues [7]. Today, many women not only lack control of their own fates, but are even kept from exercising the freedom to control their own bodies.
References
[1] Kosova, Elly. “How Much Do Different Kinds of Birth Control Cost without Insurance?” NWHN, November 30, 2017. https://www.nwhn.org/much-different-kinds-birth-control-cost-without-insurance/.
[2] Parenthood, Planned. “7 Facts You Need to Know About Birth Control and Costs.” Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Accessed July 16, 2020. https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/birth-control/facts-birth-control-coverage.
[3] Manian, Maya, Feminist Newswire, and Nan Aron. “Reproductive Justice Under Assault at the Supreme Court.” Ms. Magazine, July 10, 2020. https://msmagazine.com/2020/07/09/reproductive-justice-under-assault-at-the-supreme-court/.
[4] Daniels, Kimberly. “Products - Data Briefs - Number 327 - December 2018.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, February 14, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db327.htm.
[5] “Medical Uses of the Birth Control Pill.” Center for Young Women's Health, June 22, 2020. https://youngwomenshealth.org/2011/10/18/medical-uses-of-the-birth-control-pill/.
[6] Lindberg, Laura, Alicia VandeVusse, Jennifer Mueller, and Marielle Kirstein. “Early Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from the 2020 Guttmacher Survey of Reproductive Health Experiences.” Guttmacher Institute, June 24, 2020. https://www.guttmacher.org/report/early-impacts-covid-19-pandemic-findings-2020-guttmacher-survey-reproductive-health.
[7] Panetta, Grace. “Today Is National Voter Registration Day. The Evolution of American Voting Rights in 242 Years Shows How Far We've Come - and How Far We Still Have to Go.” Business Insider. Business Insider, September 24, 2019. https://www.businessinsider.com/when-women-got-the-right-to-vote-american-voting-rights-timeline-2018-10.
Juliet Schulman-Hall is a rising junior at Smith College majoring in English Language & Literature, minoring in Sociology, and concentrating in Poetry. At Smith, she is involved in Emulate Magazine, the club volleyball team, and the Sophian Newspaper. She is passionate about criminal justice reform and animal rights and advocacy and is the Communications Lead for an animal nonprofit called Global Strays.