Listen to women on birth control, lawmakers

When President Trump recently rolled backed the Obamacare mandate that gave women no-cost access to birth control, some states were poised to help. Florida, sadly, was not.

Over the past year, six states — Colorado, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Virginia — anticipated the repeal of the birth control mandate and moved to fill the gap. Each passed a law requiring insurance companies selling group plans in the state to cover contraception along the lines of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Indeed, since the late 1990s — when women’s groups complained about health insurers covering Viagra but not The Pill — 28 states have passed some form of “contraceptive equity” laws that require group plans to cover birth control for women if they cover erectile dysfunction drugs for men.

Florida, however, requires no such equity.

The nonprofit Guttmacher Institute recently drove this point home in a colorcoded map that shows states with the best birth-control protection in red, those with limited protection in blue and those with no protection in gray. On this map, Florida is an embarrassing blob of gray.

Birth control is but the latest chapter in Florida’s long history of pooh-poohing women’s equality. In 1919, the Florida Senate rejected the amendment that gave women the right to vote. And in 1977, it dealt a fatal blow to the Equal Rights Amendment, which would have guaranteed equal rights for all citizens regardless of sex.

Truth is, today’s Republican-controlled Legislature cares more about making it harder for a woman to get an abortion than about helping her prevent an unwanted pregnancy.

“We spend all our time on the defensive with this Legislature, working against attempts to limit women’s reproductive choices and health care,” said Pam Goodman, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida. “It’s becoming more egregious, not less.”

Even more egregious is the failure to recognize that responsible family planning is the best preventive medicine for abortion. Plus, birth control can reduce infant mortality and high poverty rates for women and children. And it’s not just a woman’s issue. Birth control helps couples determine the number of children they want and can afford.

Under Obamacare, employers had to provide contraception coverage to women with no out-of-pocket costs. The law carved out exemptions for churches and religious groups. And after the arts-andcrafts chain Hobby Lobby took its case to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2014, the exemptions were expanded to include small, family-owned companies that oppose the birth control mandate on religious or moral grounds.

Now, in the name of “religious liberty,” the Trump administration has issued regulations allowing companies to end birth control coverage without having to seek a government waiver. All they have to do is notify their employees that their benefits have changed.

Many practicing Catholics oppose the mandate on religious grounds, for church teachings say it’s a sin to use contraceptive pills and devices that interfere with the divine plan for new life. Church leaders also have argued that contributing to an insurance pool, which includes others covered by the mandate, is tantamount to being forced to sin.

By contrast, evangelical Christians, a voting bloc that helped put President Trump in the White House, generally do not discourage the use of birth control. In many Protestant and evangelical congregations, contraception — including sterilization — is viewed as a normal and responsible practice for married Christian couples.

Most Americans support the birth control mandate. A 2015 Washington Post/ Kaiser Family Foundation poll found 77 percent of women and 64 percent of men support laws requiring health plans to cover the cost of birth control. This is not surprising given that in 2013 alone, it helped women save an estimated $1.4 billion, according to the National Women’s Law Center.

Earlier this month, U.S. House and Senate Democrats, including Rep. Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach, introduced the “Protect Access to Birth Control Act” to block the recent rollback. But minus Republican support, the bill stands no chance of passage.

In the big picture, Senate Republicans want the states — not the federal government — to decide what constitutes adequate health care coverage. In many ways, the birth control mandate is a test of how well the states would listen.

And in listening to women on birth control, Florida scores an F.