With government-sponsored healthcare programs constantly changing, the contraceptive policies within the programs are typically modified as well. Recently, President Donald Trump has repealed the Obama-era mandate that employer-provided health insurance must include contraceptive options at no additional cost to female employees. The policy change in itself is very controversial because it is seen as the government playing a role in women’s health and influencing the availability of affordable contraceptives that many women use (Guttmacher Institute, 2017). As always, there are compelling arguments on both sides of the fight. President Trump’s change to the Affordable Care Act’s policy for contraceptives and birth control was strictly for religious …show more content…
These policy changes are extremely important, even if they may only impact a minority of women currently, because it sets the precedent that employers do not need to be required to provide contraceptives and other necessary health care benefits to women through insurance at no additional cost. The availability of affordable contraceptives is extremely important to furthering women’s rights, but also in cutting down on the prevalence of poverty in America. Research has found that women with incomes below the federal poverty line (poor women) have much higher unintended pregnancy and birth rates than wealthy women (incomes above 200% of the federal poverty line) (Guttmacher Institute, 2017). Experts are examining limiting family sizes and waiting until marriage to have children, both of which revolve around contraception, as legitimate solutions to America’s poverty problem (Sawhill, 2016). As changes are occurring and the future is approaching, it is important to consider the big-picture implications of contraceptive policy changes and how these changes could impact the United States of America as a