Plan B One-Step, the emergency contraceptive, is $46.99 at Target. Credit: Nora Igelnik | Lantern Reporter
On the 51st anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, President Joe Biden announced his plan to expand contraception and abortion access.
According to a White House Fact Sheet released Monday, Jan. 22 — the day of Roe’s anniversary — the Department of Treasury, Department of Labor and Department of Health and Human Services are issuing new guidance to insurance providers to support expanded coverage of contraceptives for free under the Affordable Care Act, a law passed in 2010 that provides subsidies to make health care more affordable and expands the Medicaid program.
Additionally, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra sent a letter to private health insurers, state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs and Medicare plans outlining their obligation to cover contraception.
“[This coverage] would really change a lot of things, especially for students who are on their parents’ insurances, and they want to be able to get [contraception] without having a lot of paperwork to go through,” Gabby Evans said, a fourth-year in neuroscience and treasurer of Planned Parenthood Generation Action.
Ohio State’s Planned Parenthood Generation Action is a student organization that educates college students about threats to reproductive rights. It is part of a network of over 350 campus groups nationwide.
The White House is also expanding its efforts to educate patients and providers about their rights under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, also known as EMTALA, which requires hospitals to give emergency treatment to patients no matter their ability to pay. This emergency treatment includes abortion if it is the necessary treatment to stabilize a pregnant patient, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Knowing the law may not be enough for patients and providers to have access to emergency abortion care, said Maria Gallo, professor of epidemiology, associate dean for research at the College of Public Health and researcher for the Ohio Policy Evaluation Network, a group that looks at the impact of policy on reproductive health care in Ohio.
“Part of their plan is to help promote this and help explain it to people that it’s the law, but this isn’t really what’s going to help,” Gallo said. “We need to have some clarity about whether people have a right to have treatment that involves abortion care.”
Abortion treatment under EMTALA has run into legal challenges in Texas and Idaho. Idaho has a near-total ban on abortion, and emergency room doctors are subject to jail time, fines and loss of medical license if they perform an emergency abortion, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.
On Jan. 5, the Supreme Court agreed to hear an Idaho case regarding protections for medical providers who have to perform emergency abortions to stabilize a patient. The case will be argued in April.
The current inconsistency that exists under EMTALA can cause medical providers to “think twice” before performing an emergency abortion, Gallo said.
“That is the situation that we’re working under,” Gallo said. “Providers are unclear what their responsibilities are.”
One year before Biden’s recent announcement, he issued a Presidential Memorandum — a directive used to manage the actions of federal departments and agencies — to support pharmacies, providers and patients in prescribing and accessing medication abortion. Now, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Justice and Homeland Security will report on their efforts under the memorandum.
Gallo said Biden’s announcement did not necessarily change the state of contraception access but instead clarified organizations’ responsibilities.
“There can be a gap between passing a law and having it actually be carried out in day-to-day practice,” Gallo said. “And that’s what this guidance is trying to get at.”
