Biden administration nixes plan to expand birth control access
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Birth control pills. Photo: Lou Benoist/AFP via Getty Images
The Biden administration on Monday withdrew its proposed plans to reverse a Trump-era policy that made it easier for employers to refuse to offer birth control coverage in company-sponsored health plans.
Why it matters: With Democrats' loss of the White House and Congress in the 2024 elections, Republicans are in a strong position to undermine President Biden's legacy — including his administration's work to bolster reproductive rights post-Roe.
Driving the news: The Department of Health and Human Services said in a Federal Register notice on Monday that it's withdrawing the proposed regulations "to focus their time and resources on matters other than finalizing these rules" in the administration's final weeks.
- The plan would have made some 130,000 people eligible to receive coverage for contraceptives, Politico reports.
Context: During President-elect Trump's first term, his administration rolled back the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive mandate — allowing organizations to opt out of coverage, citing moral objections. Before that, exemptions were limited to religious grounds.
- The Biden administration's proposed rule would have scrapped the "moral" exemption and retained the "religious" one.
- It also would have created an "independent pathway" for people who have insurers with religious exemptions to access birth control through a "willing contraceptive provider" at no cost, the HHS said when announcing the plan last year.
The big picture: Patients have been rushing to get reproductive care — including getting IUD replacements, backup contraception and abortion pills — before the incoming Trump administration takes office next month.
- Access to reproductive health care more broadly could be in jeopardy, especially under a conservative Supreme Court, experts say.
- Republicans, who will soon control Congress, have vowed to restrict abortion care. They're likely to try to restrict access to medication abortion and could attempt to pass a national abortion ban.
- But Trump, after waffling on the issue, said he'd veto a national ban and prefers to leave the issue of abortion to the states. He also recently vowed for the first time to ensure the FDA does not block access to abortion pills.
- Millions of women of reproductive age could be impacted if the cost of care increases or access to contraceptives is limited.
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