Will this be available over the counter?
The reaction to U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner’s legislation aimed at making certain forms of birth control available over the counter was met with criticism and skepticism by several groups, including .
The Republican rookie — who on the campaign trail last year — on Thursday announced he was sponsoring the Allowing Greater Access to Safe and Effective Contraception Act with Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.
Although the text of the bill hasn’t been posted online yet, various groups are already claiming what the bill will do — claims that could be called into question once the fine print is known.
The criticism:
Dr. Mark S. DeFrancesco, president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
Access to contraception is essential for women’s health, and evidence has repeatedly proven that oral contraceptives are safe for use over the counter. However, while we applaud Senators Gardner, Ayotte, Heller, Ernst, Burr, Johnson and Tillis for their recognition of this, their bill does not do much to increase access to contraception — and, in fact, includes details that will take a giant step in the wrong direction.
The Affordable Care Act removed many barriers to preventive care that keeps women healthy. By making contraceptives available to women without a co-pay, it has truly increased access to contraception, thereby decreasing unintended pregnancies, and allowing women to better plan their futures. Unfortunately, instead of improving access, this bill would actually make more women have to pay for their birth control, and for some women, the cost would be prohibitive.
As women’s health care providers, we welcome robust and productive dialogue about the indisputable role that contraceptives play in the health, well-being, and productivity of American women. We would welcome any legislation that would do what this proposal purports to do — help women. As it stands, however, we cannot support a plan that creates one route to access at the expense of another, more helpful route.
Karen Middleton, NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado
As we saw throughout his career and campaign — when he denied a ‘personhood’ bill he cosponsored even existed — Cory Gardner can’t be trusted when it comes to Colorado women and their health care.
With this legislation, he’s trying to limit women’s access to contraception by undermining the Affordable Care Act and double-billing them, first for insurance then for full retail cost of their birth control. This adds up to hundreds, even thousands, of dollars many women don’t have in their budget — and if birth control isn’t affordable, it isn’t accessible.
If Gardner was serious about ensuring access to birth control, he’s stop supporting anti-choice bills and get behind the Affordable Care Act to ensure all women can choose and AFFORD the birth control that’s best for them.
Ilyse Hogue, NARAL Pro-Choice America
The Gardner/Ayotte bill is a specifically designed to deceive voters into thinking these anti-choice legislators are on the side of women, when their track records tell a starkly different story. This legislation hurts women by making affordable birth control less accessible while forcing women to pay twice for the same services. This effort is nothing but political pandering to trick women and families into thinking we are covered while dismantling one of the most critical gains in the Affordable Care Act.
Senators Gardner and Ayotte know they are imposing a tax on women for critical health care, and if they thought that we wouldn’t notice, they were sorely mistaken. Instead of hiding from the anti-choice views, they should own them and let the voters decide.
Women in this country know what family planning options work best for us and we deserve to have access to a wide range of birth control without paying extra.
Gardner’s bill would encourage drug manufacturers of “routine-use contraceptives” to file an application with the FDA to sell their products over the counter. Their bill also would repeal the Affordable Care Actap restriction on the use of health, medical and flexible savings accounts to purchase over-the-counter drugs without a prescription.
Democratic Sen. Mark Udall and his challenger, GOP Congressman Cory Gardner, shake hands before a debate last year. Women’s reproductive rights were a central issue during the campaign. (Brent Lewis/The Denver Post)
