Take Action: Restore Access to Affordable Birth Control NOW!

Students and low-income women need your help.
Tell Congress to restore access to affordable birth control now.

Restoring access to affordable birth control is a simple and popular decision Congress can make right now. It's a commonsense measure to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies! But we can't afford to wait any longer. Millions of college-age and low-income women have lost access to affordable birth control — a basic form of health care. These women are counting on Congress to act now.

You can help. Fill out the form on this page to send a letter to your representative urging Congress to restore access to affordable birth control NOW.

Subject:

Dear [ Decision Maker ],

(Edit Letter Below)

I strongly urge you to speak with congressional leadership to insist that affordable birth control be restored immediately to millions of low-income women and college students.

For over 20 years, drug companies have made it possible for college health clinics and safety-net providers to purchase birth control at low prices in order to pass along the savings to the college students and low-income women who rely on them.

Beginning last year, however, women picking up their monthly supplies of birth control found that the cost had jumped from just $5-10 to $40-50 per pack, making it far more difficult to afford. Due to a provision included in the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA), as of January 1, 2007, every college and university health center and hundreds of safety-net providers were unintentionally cut off from accessing low-cost birth control and passing on the low price to college women and low-income women. Skyrocketing prices are putting birth control out of reach for the college students and low-income women in need of family planning services to help them prevent unintended pregnancy.

That is why I am writing you today. The Prevention Through Affordable Access Act (H.R. 4054 / S. 2347) -- legislation that would make a no-cost, technical fix to the DRA and restore safety-net and university clinics' ability to access low-cost contraceptives -- has 170 cosponsors in the House, and 35 in the Senate. This legislation would not cost either the federal government or state Medicaid agencies anything. It would merely allow drug manufacturers to offer deeply discounted prices to safety-net health care providers. If you have not done so already, please co-sponsor the Prevention Through Affordable Access Act and tell congressional leadership that this problem must be resolved immediately.

As your constituent, I strongly urge you to support this bipartisan effort to fix the affordable birth control crisis affecting college health clinics and safety-net providers.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

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