Contraception is health care: Pennsylvania House passes bill to expand birth control access

With employer-provided insurance no longer required to cover birth control, many in Pennsylvania are struggling to pay for necessary medical care. The Contraceptive Access for All Act aims to change that.

A bill that could reshape contraceptive access in Pennsylvania is headed to the state Senate after clearing the House with bipartisan support.

House Bill 1140, known as the Contraceptive Access for All Act, passed the state House last week by a vote of 116-87. The legislation requires health insurance providers to cover all FDA-approved birth control methods, including emergency contraception and over-the-counter options, without any copays, deductibles, or other out-of-pocket costs.

“Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2020, we’ve seen more and more states restrict women’s healthcare by limiting their access to research-backed contraceptives and reproductive healthcare,” said Rep. Leanne Krueger (D-Delaware), the bill’s primary sponsor. “Contraceptive use goes beyond the ability to control whether or when a woman gets pregnant. A significant percentage of contraceptive users in the United States use contraception for a reason completely unrelated to preventing pregnancy, such as treating a medical condition like endometriosis.”

Birth control used to be covered by insurance under the Affordable Care Act, but that all changed during the summer of 2020, when the US Supreme Court upheld Trump-era regulations granting employers broad rights to deny workers no-cost coverage for birth control by claiming religious and moral objections.

As a result, as many as 126,000 women in Pennsylvania lost coverage for free birth control through workplace health plans, according to the state government.

“There are currently no protections in state law for contraceptive access, and it is more urgent than ever that we need to make sure that Pennsylvanians have access to the medications they need,” Krueger said.

The bill also proposes a statewide standing order for over-the-counter contraceptives, such as Plan B, allowing Pennsylvanians to access emergency contraception without needing an individual prescription. In addition, the bill includes provisions to protect patient privacy and allows religious exemptions for insurance plans, provided the contraception is not prescribed for a medical condition.

The bill now heads to the Republican-controlled Senate for approval.

“Contraception is healthcare, plain and simple, and regardless of why a woman needs or wants to use it, that should be her choice,” Krueger said.