A giant replica of a contraceptive pill packet stood at the front of the Nurses Hall in the State House yesterday to mark the 29th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision to legalize abortion.
The model was complete with 21 pills, each representing a reason to pass the Contraceptive Coverage Bill. Various state legislators each read a reason from the pack of the blue paper pills.
“It is time for the state to step forward and take a leadership position,” said Pam Nourse, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. “The access to basic women’s healthcare cannot be overlooked for one more day.”
Nourse is just one of the members of the Massachusetts Coalition for Choice, a group of seven organizations, including Planned Parenthood, dedicated to the promotion of reproductive freedom.
The contraceptive bill would require private insurance providers to cover contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy to the same extent as other prescription drugs. The bill was passed in October by unanimous decision in the House of Representatives and now faces the Senate.
“I want to make it clear that we are fighting for the freedom to make a choice, not for any one choice,” said Coalition Chairman Melissa Kogut.
Kogut also said the bill and the issue as a whole are not solely about women’s rights. The bill would not only provide a means of attaining contraceptives but make a statement about a woman’s right to prevent unwanted pregnancies, bear healthy children and obtain a safe abortion, she said.
“Choice is at the essence of what it is to be human and free,” Kugot said, expressing concern over President Bush’s future appointment of a new Supreme Court judge and the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The Coalition and members of Congress gathered not only to speak out for women’s healthcare rights but also to explain the social and economic benefits of the bill.
Women currently pay 68 percent more than men in out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, largely as a result of reproductive needs, according to Planned Parenthood. Over a lifetime, this difference averages to nearly $10,000. The purchase of contraceptives without the aid of private insurance coverage varies from more than $300 a year for the Depro-Provera shot to over $500 a year for the birth control pill.
Planned Parenthood estimates women today are in need of preventative contraceptives for three-fourths of their reproductive lives, between ages 15-44. Despite this need, each year there are 3.6 million unwanted pregnancies, half of which end in abortion, the organization reports.
In December, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission declared an employer’s failure to provide an insurance plan that includes coverage of prescription drugs an act of unlawful sex discrimination. In 1998, a study found insurance companies were three times more likely to cover the cost of the male potency pill, Viagra, than female preventative contraceptives.
“Birth control is finally legal, and now it is discriminatory because so many women still cannot afford it without the help of insurance providers,” Nourse said.
The coverage of contraceptive drugs, devices and services is estimated at an additional monthly cost of $1.36 per insured person, according to Planned Parenthood.
Private insurance companies in 17 states currently cover prescription contraceptives. Massachusetts is the only New England state yet to adopt the bill.
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