Joe Biden to sign executive order to expand birth control access

Washington, Jun 23 (RHC) President Joe Biden will sign an executive order Friday to increase access to contraception and family planning.

The order is part of the administration’s efforts to promote reproductive health care and comes one day ahead of the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

It will also be the administration’s only policy response to mark the anniversary, according to The Hill.

The order directs the secretaries of the Treasury and Labor Departments, as well as Health and Human Services (HHS), to consider new steps related to birth control, such as ensuring private health insurance covers all contraceptives either approved, cleared, or granted by the Food and Drug Administration.

In all 50 states, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) guarantees coverage of women´s preventive services, including free birth control and contraceptive counseling.

There are 18 contraceptive methods approved by the FDA, but the law requires insurers to cover only one product per category, so Biden´s new executive order could allow agencies to require insurers to cover additional birth control products.

Among other provisions, the order also calls for agencies to look at ways to improve access to affordable over-the-counter birth control, such as Plan B emergency contraception.

Overall, polls have generally shown broad bipartisan support for access to contraception, yet there has been opposition equating some contraception to abortion.

Some anti-abortion supporters claim that intrauterine devices and emergency contraception are “abortifacients” that prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in a woman’s uterus. (Source: Prensa Latina)