Ohio May Take Away Low-Income Women’s Access To The Most Effective Form Of Birth Control

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/06/04/3444814/ohio-lawmakers-insurance-iuds/



The Ohio legislature is currently considering a measure that would institute a sweeping ban on insurance coverage for abortion in state residents’ public and private health plans. Restricting women’s ability to use their insurance plans to pay for abortion is becoming an increasingly popular anti-choice strategy — and Ohio’s proposed legislation may actually go even further. The measure would also make it harder for low-income women to afford the most effective form of birth control.

House Bill 351, which was the subject of a committee hearing on Tuesday, seeks to prohibit insurance plans from covering “drugs or devices used to prevent the implantation of a fertilized ovum.” That definition effectively bans several types of contraception, like the birth control pill and the IUD.

Residents with public insurance — which includes state government employees as well as low-income individuals who rely on Medicaid — are already prevented from using their coverage for most abortions. But since HB 351 stipulates they also can’t use it for any drugs that inhibit implantation, the legislation could end up functioning as a birth control ban for public insurance plans.

Rep. John Becker (R), who sponsored the bill, said during Tuesday’s hearing that birth control pills should not be banned under HB 351. But he still wants IUDs, which are long-acting forms of birth control that are inserted in the uterus, to fall under the ban because he considers IUDs to be a form of abortion. “This is just a personal view. I’m not a medical doctor,” he said.