We are the experts on our bodies, lives and needs—not politicians. Enshrining birth control in law would be a huge step toward recognizing our reproductive rights.
World Contraception Day is Sept. 26. This year, birth control is under systematic attack in the United States, and now more than ever, it’s essential to enshrine the right to it in federal law.
Birth control enjoys overwhelming public support in the U.S. Eighty-seven percent of adults believe that “everyone deserves access to the full range of birth control methods,” and 99 percent of women who have ever had vaginal intercourse with a male partner have used birth control at some point in their lives, and that does not include many LGBTQI+ people who also use birth control and deserve tailored, culturally competent reproductive care. Contraception gives people agency over their bodies, empowering them to plan their futures on their own terms.
Yet many in the U.S. still face significant barriers to obtaining contraception and medically accurate information about their options.
- About 1 in 3 adult women who have ever sought a prescription for birth control experienced access barriers.
- More than 19 million women in need live in “contraceptive deserts”—counties lacking at least one health center per 1,000 women who are eligible for publicly funded contraception.
- Millions of uninsured Americans lack access to birth control, with 20 percent of uninsured women ceasing use due to cost in 2022.
The situation stands to get much worse. Project 2025, the conservative policy agenda spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, aims to block 48 million women in the U.S. from accessing emergency contraception. Meanwhile, a case advancing through federal courts could strip teens of birth control access nationwide. Anti-rights extremists are methodically and insidiously orchestrating efforts to further erode the reproductive rights of the most marginalized, including contraceptive access.
Individuals at the intersections of marginalized identities often face compounded barriers to care, including racism and classism in medical settings. Doctors are more likely to pressure Black, Latina, young, and/or low-income women to use long-term contraceptives, and “to refuse to remove them when requested.” This reflects the United States’ long and violent history of reproductive oppression rooted in anti-Blackness. White supremacy, cis-heteropatriarchy, colonialism, and other “interlocking” systems of oppression disproportionately restrict access to comprehensive contraceptive care for groups including Black people, Indigenous people, the LGBTQ+ community, those who are economically marginalized, young people, immigrants and people with disabilities.
Any and all barriers to accessing the full spectrum of contraceptive choices violate people’s fundamental right to bodily autonomy. To uphold this right, we need a range of measures to improve contraceptive equity. A critical one is to pass the Right to Contraception Act, which would codify the right to contraception into federal law. It would safeguard access to all kinds of birth control, including patches, implants, IUDs and sterilization. It would establish a statutory right for individuals to access and use contraceptives without coercion.
But let’s be frank. We can’t count on Congress to enact it. Senators who are against reproductive freedom blocked it from coming to a vote in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and 195 members of the House of Representatives voted against it when it came to the floor soon after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
However, thanks to bold advocacy and grassroots mobilization, we have scored significant victories in the fight for contraceptive equity outside of Congress. After the Free the Pill coalition fought for it for decades, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finally approved the first over-the-counter oral contraceptive last year. Washington, D.C., California, Colorado, Florida and 11 other states enshrined the right to contraception in law.
We have the power to effect change at the state and local levels and in our own networks. We can stay informed and vigilant about attacks on birth control, and follow efforts to codify the right to contraception. We can share what we learn with people in our networks. We can support grassroots organizations and mutual aid groups championing our right to bodily autonomy. Abortion funds are doing life-saving work every day to protect abortion access in the face of a severe funding crisis. Grassroots college networks are filling healthcare gaps, with student activists expanding access to contraceptives on campuses through initiatives like peer-to-peer emergency contraception distribution programs. We can support them, join them, work to amplify their efforts.
We are the experts on our bodies, lives and needs—not politicians. All political interference with our bodily autonomy and reproductive healthcare decisions is cruel and unjust. Enshrining birth control in law would be a huge step toward recognizing our reproductive rights, and ensuring all of us can exercise them fully and without obstruction.
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