Kaine Introduces Bill To Ensure Reproductive Care Services For American Servicewomen

by: Senator Tim Kaine (D - VA)

Washington, D.C. - April 10, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined Senator Jeanne Shaheen to re-introduce the Access to Contraception for Women Servicemembers and Dependents Act to ensure that all women who receive care though the United States military have access to all forms of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved contraception with no health insurance co-pay. This bill would overhaul current Department of Defense (DoD) policy on contraceptive coverage and family planning counseling by making sure health care provided by the military is in line with current law for civilian populations

“Servicemembers and their families deserve the same access to contraception and family planning resources as other Americans,” said Kaine. “This bill helps ensure that women serving in the military receive comprehensive, affordable health care.”

The Department of Defense provides health care to approximately 1.1 million women of reproductive age, including servicewomen on active duty, in the guard or reserves, and their dependents. Studies have shown that women in the military have a higher rate of unplanned pregnancy (50 percent higher) than the general population. The studies have also shown that servicewomen face unique challenges accessing their preferred method of contraception and family planning counseling, especially when deployed. Additionally, although the Women’s Health Amendment to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) guarantees civilian women coverage of women’s health preventive services, without cost sharing, this policy does not apply to many servicewomen and dependents covered through military health insurance (TRICARE).

The Access to Contraception for Women Service Members and Dependents Act would:

Require that all women who receive health care through the military are treated the same as civilian women, and have access to all forms of FDA-approved contraception and family planning counseling services with no health insurance co-pay;

Require the Department of Defense to develop a comprehensive family planning education program for all servicemembers, ensuring that military families have the information necessary to make informed family planning decisions; and

Enhance access to emergency contraception for survivors of military sexual assault.

The bill has been endorsed by numerous organizations, including: the American Civil Liberties Union, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Catholics for Choice, Center for Reproductive Rights, Guttmacher Institute, Jacobs Institute of Women's Health, MomsRising, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Council of Jewish Women, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, National Health Law Program, National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH), National Network of Abortion Funds, National Organization for Women, National Partnership for Women & Families, National Women's Health Network, National Women's Law Center, Not Without Black Women, People For the American Way, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Population Connection Action Fund, Power to Decide, Service Women’s Action Network, Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) and URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity. A letter of support for the legislation on behalf of the organizations can be read here.

Text of the legislation can be read in full here.

Pro-Choice Caucus Leaders Blast Trump Administration for Preventing Refugees from Accessing Legally-Allowed Reproductive Health Services

Washington, D.C. - October 17, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY, 25th) and Congresswoman Diana Degette (D-CO, 1st), co-chairs of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, have blasted the Trump administration for moving to prevent refugees in federal shelters from accessing safe and legal reproductive health services even in cases of rape and incest. The federal government is currently forcing a refugee in Texas to continue her pregnancy despite the fact that she has adhered to all state and federal laws while trying to access abortion services.

“The law is clear. The federal government is required to provide reproductive health services, including abortion services, to refugees in federal shelters. More than 65 million people were displaced around the globe last year alone, with many women and girls escaping unconscionable circumstances in their home countries. They should not reach American soil only to find the administration ignoring the law. That is exactly what’s happening right now in Texas, where a refugee that has met all legal requirements for an abortion under state and federal law is being held against her will in a federal shelter and forced to continue with her pregnancy. That is despite the fact that no federal funds would be used to pay for the abortion she is seeking. The administration should follow the law and allow refugees access to the reproductive health care the law requires,” said Slaughter.

“My heart goes out to this refugee, detained in Texas and trapped by the Trump administration’s increasingly draconian and cruel efforts to block reproductive rights. It is unacceptable that Trump administration officials subjected her to egregious delays in obtaining care, including requiring her to visit an anti-choice ‘crisis pregnancy center’ where she was urged to continue her pregnancy. These federal officials had no legal right to block her access to an abortion. Their unconscionable actions must be challenged on behalf of the individual in question and others who could face similar situations,” said DeGette.

Related News:

Access to Reproductive Health Care for U.S.-Based Refugees
Center for American Progress
The Trump administration and congressional Republicans have taken actively hostile stances against both immigrant and refugee communities as well as reproductive rights. President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders, currently held up in court, which block the entry of immigrants into the United States from six predominantly Muslim countries and prevent refugees in general from entering the country.1 In addition to blocking the entry of refugees, these executive orders also attempted to reduce the refugee admissions target for the current fiscal year from 110,000, set in 2016, to 50,000—the lowest number ever set in a presidential determination since the enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980.2 On World Refugee Day, it is critical that we examine the ways in which refugees can feasibly access the resources that they need to live healthy, sustainable lives once resettled. Refugees face many intersectional threats from the Trump administration, and refugee communities would be significantly harmed by many of the administration’s proposed actions.
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