Washington, D.C. — Citing the importance of birth control access to completing high school and college for women and girls, the Center for American Progress today joined 11 leading education and youth development groups to state their opposition to the Trump administration’s recent rule that would roll back contraception access for women and girls.
In October, the Trump administration issued an interim final rule undermining the Obama administration’s benefit that provided 62 million women access to no-copay birth control, allowing schools and universities to now deny women this benefit based on religious or moral objection.
Today is the deadline to submit comment.
The groups include CAP, the American Association of University Women, the American Federation of Teachers, Champion Women, Democrats for Education Reform, Girls Inc., the National Urban League, the National Women’s History Project, the National Women’s Political Caucus, Young Invincibles, and YWCA USA.
The letter reads in part:
As representatives of the education and youth development communities, we write to express opposition to the Administration’s proposed rules (CMS-9925 and CMS-9940). These rules will allow employers, schools, or even individuals who object to providing birth control to deny contraceptive coverage to their employees and students. The proposal will have a deleterious impact on girls and women, possibly leading to unintended pregnancies that will make it harder for girls to complete high school and college, and ultimately impacting their ability to become economically independent, contributing, fulfilled members of society.
Over the past twenty years, the teen pregnancy rate has plummeted and simultaneously, the high school graduation rate has climbed to the highest point in history. College-going rates are at an all-time peak too. Today, the high school graduation rate is over 80% and the college enrollment rate for high school graduates is nearly 70 percent. The Trump Administration’s rollback of contraception coverage endangers that progress. …
As educators who are committed to helping all young people thrive, we believe strongly in the importance of allowing all girls and women to control their own childbearing decisions and to prioritize their education if they so choose. We urge the Trump administration to abandon these misguided Interim Final Rules and support access to affordable contraception for girls and women.
Click here to read the full letter.
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Devon Kearns at [email protected] or 202.741.6290.