Congress Should Restore Affordable Birth Control

What if Congress passed a law raising the price of groceries by 900%? That's just what happened to the price of birth control for millions of women around the country. Congress made this mistake in the first place, yet Congress has done nothing in since to fix the problem.

Women are continuing to lose access to basic health care simply because they can't afford it! It's time Congress made the health care of students and low-income women a priority.

Legislation was introduced earlier this year in the U.S. House and Senate called the "Prevention Through Affordable Access Act" (H.R. 4054/S. 2347), that will create a no-cost, technical fix to the original law and restore affordable birth control to students and low-income women.

Congress needs to fix this problem NOW! Send the message below to your representatives today. Your help can ensure college students and low-income women once again have access to invaluable preventive care before it's too late.

Thank you!

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Restore Affordable Birth Control By New Year's Day

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I strongly urge you to restore access to affordable contraceptives and help women everywhere prevent an unintended pregnancy or serious health issues by co-sponsoring the Prevention Through Affordable Access Act (H.R. 4054/S. 2347).

Historically, Congress has expanded access to affordable prescription drugs for vulnerable populations by permitting pharmaceutical companies to offer low, or "nominally priced," drugs to certain safety-net health care providers such as university health centers.

Unfortunately, the federal Deficit Reduction Act inadvertently excluded these safety-net health care providers from being able to obtain these lower cost drugs - even though the pharmaceutical companies are willing to offer it to them.

A woman who wants or needs to prevent an unintended pregnancy or poor health outcomes should not have to lose access to birth control simply because she can't afford it.

Please help to fix this problem before its too late by becoming a co-sponsor of the Prevention Through Affordable Access Act (H.R. 4054/S. 2347). The bill will create a no-cost, technical fix that will restore affordable birth control access to students and low-income women everywhere.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
December 12, 2007

Background Information

For years, drug companies have been allowed to offer college clinics and safety-net health care providers birth control at low prices that were passed on to college students and low-income women.

Now, due the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA), every college and university health center and hundreds of health care safety-net clinics were unintentionally cut off from low-cost birth control. The result has been skyrocketing contraceptive prices, putting birth control out of reach for 3 million college students and 800,000 low-income women in need of preventive reproductive health services.

For more information, read the widespread newspaper coverage about how low-income women and students have been affected by the rise in birth control pricing.