Message to President Obama: Stand Strong in Support of Women's Access to Contraception

As President Obama arrives in the Granite State, the state's leading pro-choice political and grassroots organization called on the commander-in-chief to resist pressure from anti-contraception groups asking the administration to allow some employers to block insurance plans from covering birth control.

"We believe all women should have access to contraceptive coverage, regardless of where they work," said Laura Thibault, interim executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice New Hampshire. "The Obama administration must stand firm against anti-birth-control organizations that want to deny women the ability to make the health-care decisions that are best for them and their families. The women who would be affected work as nurses, administrative staff, janitors, and professors. They should not be denied the option of insurance plans that cover birth control simply because their boss opposes contraception."

In early August, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) adopted the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that family-planning services be recognized as preventive-health care for women that should be covered by insurance plans without copays or deductibles. Since HHS' adoption of the IOM's recommendations, organizations like the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are demanding that the no-cost contraceptive coverage be eliminated, or for the proposed refusal provision to be expanded to include religious hospitals, universities, social-services organizations, among others. Anti-choice members of the House of Representatives even held a hearing to increase the visibility of their call for a broader refusal.

NARAL Pro-Choice New Hampshire is part of a nationwide campaign that has mobilized thousands of Americans in support of insurance coverage of birth control without a copay or deductible.