Supreme Court Limits Birth Control Access

July 24, 2020

The Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations (OIIR) vehemenlty opposes the U.S. Supreme Courts' ruling to uphold rules that would allow employers to declare themselves exempt from the Affordable Care Act's requirement for healthcare plans to cover birth control. OIIR works to improve campus climate for students, staff, faculty and community members, and this ruling directly counteracts OIIR's mission.

Creating barriers and limiting access to contraceptives is an attack on public health, including but not exclusive to, reproductive rights. The Courts' ruling offers employers the power to determine how their employees can and cannot use their health insurance, allowing them to intrude on their employees' private matters. While we continue to grapple with a global pandemic, this decision is another extension of the heightened attack on the health womxn, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and Black and Brown folx, inevitably creating disproportionate health disparities for our most marginalized community members and furthering our current health crises.

OIIR supports the vital right of self-determination; allowing companies and universities to employ their religious beliefs to block employees' and students' birth control coverage is discriminatory and prevents care which becomes all the more essential during a global pandemic. OIIR is committed to ensuring students, staff, faculty and community members have access to information and resources regardless of an employer's restriction upon their health.