U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Calls on Trump Administration to Rescind Rule Denying Women Access to Birth Control Coverage

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin joined her colleagues in sending a letter to Acting Health and Human Services Secretary Eric Hargan, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin highlighting the hundreds of thousands of comments in opposition to the Trump administration’s interim final rule (IFR) significantly weakening the contraceptive requirements in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The letter, led by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Patty Murray (D-WA), calls on the Administration to rescind the rule, and requested answers on how it will address the impact that undermining birth control coverage will have on women’s health and economic freedoms. 

One commenter wrote, “My husband and I would not be able to handle a child today or in the near future while I pursue my career, and birth control keeps me as a productive member of society…Taking away birth control protections is a huge mistake for someone who claims to want a better economy.” 

According to another, “As someone with PCOS, a hormonal disorder that causes my ovaries to create cysts rather than eggs that potentially turn into cancerous tumors, birth control is essential to my treatment.” The Senators’ letter includes more personal anecdotes from commenters, demonstrating the vital role that birth control plays in Americans’ lives.

"Because of the ACA requirement that insurers cover birth control, millions of women have now gained access to contraceptive coverage. But the new IFRs issued by the Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury Departments “permit employers and universities to claim broad religious or moral exemptions to covering birth control. They also make the religious accommodation process voluntary—placing the birth control coverage of over 62.4 million American women at risk,” wrote the Senators. 

More than 500,000 commenters have expressed their opposition to the Administration’s birth control IFRs to the Department of Health and Human Services alone, with thousands more writing in to the Departments of Labor and Treasury. A federal court has halted their enforcement.

In addition to rescinding the rule, the Senators called on the Departments to provide answers on how they will address the threat posed by the IFRs to the economic and health benefits of birth control coverage no later than January 5, 2018.

In addition to Senators Baldwin, Warren and Murray, the letter was also signed by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jack Reed (D-RI), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Al Franken (D-MN).

Text of the letter is available here.