New rule ignores science, doctors, researchers say
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s new birth control rule is raising questions among some doctors and researchers, who say it overlooks known benefits of contraception while selectively citing data that raise doubts about effectiveness and safety.
“This rule is listing things that are not scientifically validated, and in some cases things that are wrong, to try to justify a decision that is not in the best interests of women and society,” said Dr. Hal Lawrence, CEO of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a professional society representing women’s health specialists.
Two recently issued rules — one addressing religious objections and the other, moral objections — allow more employers to opt out of covering birth control as a preventive benefit for women under the Obama health care law.
But it’s on the science that researchers are questioning the Trump administration. Morning-after pill: “Many persons and organizations” believe emergency contraception methods cause “early abortion,” FDA regulations say.
“The actual medical evidence is that it blocks ovulation,” or the release of an egg from the ovaries, explained Lawrence, the ob-gyn. “If you don’t ovulate, there is no egg to get fertilized.”
Effectiveness of birth control: The Trump administration’s rule suggests that some studies did not show a direct cause-and-effect link between increased birth control use by women and a decline in unintended pregnancy.
But Adam Sonfield of the Guttmacher Institute said solid research does in fact exist.
Sexual revolution: The Trump administration’s rule suggests there may be a link between birth control and promiscuity. It cites a study finding that between 1960 and 1990, “as contraceptive use increased, teen sexual activity outside of marriage increased.”
“The world of birth control in 2018 is about as similar to the world of birth control in 1960 as a Ralph Nader Chevy Corvair is to a space shuttle,” said Lawrence.