Sierra Club Newsletter:
SC-ACTION #29 >DEFENDING THE ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA >May 15, 1998 > "There's nothing optional about contraception. It's a medical necessity for women during 30 years of their lifespan. To ignore the health benefits of contraception is to say that the alternative of 12 to 15 pregnancies during a woman's lifetime is medically acceptable." Luella Klein, MD American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Director of Women's Health Issues
POPULATION: COVERAGE FOR IMPOTENCE BUT NOT REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH >Health insurance companies are debating whether or not to pay for the impotence drug Viagra, yet incredibly, many of these same companies refuse to pay for contraceptives such as birth control pills. Senator Olympa Snowe (R-ME) and Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) have introduced legislation, the Equity in Prescription Coverage Act (EPIC), which would remedy this inequity by ensuring that health care providers that provide coverage for prescription drugs also cover contraceptives. Yet, remarkably, this sensible and equitable piece of legislation has not been able to get a hearing. The media coverage of Viagra, the impotence drug, has illuminated the discrepancies in coverage for male impotence versus female reproductive issues. Women pay about 70 percent more for their health care than do men, mostly related to reproductive problems. America's unintended pregnancy rate of 60 percent is double that of other developed countries. More than 3.6 million unintended pregnancies occur in the U.S. each year and 45 percent of these unintended pregnancies end in abortion. These pregnancies could easily be avoided if women had access to affordable contraceptive options. Many health insurance companies will pay for tubal ligations, abortions, or vasectomies, but will not pay for the pill, which is one of the most popular forms of contraceptives for women of child-bearing age. On Tuesday, May 12, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) supported contraceptive coverage legislation, noting that "health insurers exclusion of contraception from coverage in health plans places an unfair burden on women, a practice that amounts to gender bias". Senator Reid noted that the contraceptive coverage has not gotten a hearing. As Reid noted, "I am here today to speak for American women who have been treated so unfairly by male-dominated legislatures for the last many decades". Senator Reid hopes that the legislation will have the benefit of a hearing in the Labor and Human Resources Committee.
TAKE ACTION: Contact Senators on the Labor and Human Resource Committee and urge them to hold a hearing on the EPIC legislation. Committee members are: Arlen Specter, Chair (R-PA) Tom Harkin, Ranking Member (D-IA) Thad Cochran, (R-MS) Ernest Hollings (D-SC) Slade Gorton (R-WA) Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Christopher (Kit) Bond (R-MO), Dale Bumpers (D-AR) , Judd Gregg (R-NH) , Harry Reid (D-NV) ,Lauch Faircloth (R-NC) , Herbert Kohl (D-WI), Larry Craig (R-ID), Patty Murray (D-WA), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX). Thank you!