Sex

Congresswomen Reintroduce Military Contraception Equity Bill

Democratic congresswomen reintroduced a bill on Wednesday that would guarantee equal access to contraception for all women who depend on the military for their health coverage.

Democratic congresswomen reintroduced a bill on Wednesday that would guarantee equal access to contraception for all women who depend on the military for their health coverage. Shutterstock

Democratic congresswomen reintroduced a bill on Wednesday that would guarantee equal access to contraception for all women who depend on the military for their health coverage.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) reintroduced the Access to Contraception for Women Servicemembers and Dependents Act, first introduced in July 2014.

The bill would give military servicewomen, as well as family members who get their insurance through the military, the same access to contraceptive care as women insured through the Affordable Care Act.

“No woman should be worried about how they will afford their contraception or find family planning services, and it’s time we come together to fix that for our women in uniform and military families,” Shaheen said in a statement.

The bill would also require the Department of Defense to provide family planning counseling and guaranteed access to emergency contraception for sexual assault victims.

The military’s health insurance program, TRICARE, doesn’t cover all birth control methods. Depo-Provera and the vaginal ring, for instance, are covered under the ACA but not covered under TRICARE.

For the methods TRICARE covers with no co-pay, women have to pick up the birth control at military clinics. That leaves out dependents and servicewomen who aren’t on active duty.

Military servicewomen experience 50 percent more unplanned pregnancies than the general population, and seven times the rate of sexually transmitted infections, largely because they don’t have access to adequate counseling and contraception.

Congress has managed to pass a few incremental improvements in reproductive health care for servicewomen in recent years.

Both military servicewomen and Peace Corps volunteers have gained access to abortion coverage in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment, the same access other federal employees have. But with such staunch opposition to the ACA and its no co-pay contraception access in the Republican majority, the bill’s future is uncertain.