WI CAN News Digest
June 5, 2020 - July 17, 2020
National
State policy trends at mid-year 2020: Reproductive health and rights take a back seat to pandemic
In the first six months of 2020, the United States faced three cataclysms: the global coronavirus pandemic, the unprecedented job losses and recession, and the racist killings of Black Americans that sparked nationwide demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice. In the wake of these developments, legislation on reproductive health received less attention than it has in recent years. So far in 2020, 113 provisions related to all aspects of reproductive health and rights have been enacted, compared with 151 in the first half of 2019. 7.15.20
Supreme Court lets employers opt out of birth control coverage
The Supreme Court upheld a Trump administration regulation that lets employers with religious or moral objections limit women’s access to birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act. As a consequence of the ruling, about 70,000 to 126,000 women could lose contraceptive coverage from their employers. 7.8.20
Seeing the whole pattern: Coordinated federal attacks on birth control coverage and access
The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to make a ruling for the third time since 2014 on the issue of private health insurance coverage for birth control, and that is no accident. This issue is before the Court again in the cases of Trump v. Pennsylvania and Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania because the Trump administration and its socially conservative allies are engaged in a coordinated campaign to eliminate affordable access to contraception and to tar contraception as immoral. 6.26.20
Early impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from the 2020 Guttmacher Survey of Reproductive Health Experiences
The Guttmacher Institute released the first comprehensive study on COVID-19’s impact on how people feel about pregnancy, family size and their access to contraception. The study finds that as a result of COVID-19 and the ensuing financial, job and social insecurity, many U.S. women want to delay getting pregnant or have fewer children. At the same time, the findings indicate that the pandemic has heightened the barriers many people already face—because of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or income—to getting contraception or other sexual and reproductive health services. 6.24.20
Potential impacts of delaying “non-essential” reproductive health care
Recent Kaiser Family Foundation polling data finds that 54% of US women reported they or a family member have skipped or postponed medical care due to the coronavirus outbreak. Within reproductive health, large declines in patient encounters have been observed, particularly for preventive health
services, infertility care, contraception and sexually transmitted infections. 06.24.20
News Archive
4.1.20-6.4.20
2.15.20-3.30.20
1.15.20-2.14.20
12.15.19-1.14.20
11.15.19-12.14.19
10.15.19-11.14.19
9.15.19-10.14.19
8.15.19-9.14.19
7.15.19-8.14.19
6.15.19-7.15.19
5.13.19-6.14.19
National
State policy trends at mid-year 2020: Reproductive health and rights take a back seat to pandemic
In the first six months of 2020, the United States faced three cataclysms: the global coronavirus pandemic, the unprecedented job losses and recession, and the racist killings of Black Americans that sparked nationwide demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice. In the wake of these developments, legislation on reproductive health received less attention than it has in recent years. So far in 2020, 113 provisions related to all aspects of reproductive health and rights have been enacted, compared with 151 in the first half of 2019. 7.15.20
Supreme Court lets employers opt out of birth control coverage
The Supreme Court upheld a Trump administration regulation that lets employers with religious or moral objections limit women’s access to birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act. As a consequence of the ruling, about 70,000 to 126,000 women could lose contraceptive coverage from their employers. 7.8.20
Seeing the whole pattern: Coordinated federal attacks on birth control coverage and access
The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to make a ruling for the third time since 2014 on the issue of private health insurance coverage for birth control, and that is no accident. This issue is before the Court again in the cases of Trump v. Pennsylvania and Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania because the Trump administration and its socially conservative allies are engaged in a coordinated campaign to eliminate affordable access to contraception and to tar contraception as immoral. 6.26.20
Early impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from the 2020 Guttmacher Survey of Reproductive Health Experiences
The Guttmacher Institute released the first comprehensive study on COVID-19’s impact on how people feel about pregnancy, family size and their access to contraception. The study finds that as a result of COVID-19 and the ensuing financial, job and social insecurity, many U.S. women want to delay getting pregnant or have fewer children. At the same time, the findings indicate that the pandemic has heightened the barriers many people already face—because of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or income—to getting contraception or other sexual and reproductive health services. 6.24.20
Potential impacts of delaying “non-essential” reproductive health care
Recent Kaiser Family Foundation polling data finds that 54% of US women reported they or a family member have skipped or postponed medical care due to the coronavirus outbreak. Within reproductive health, large declines in patient encounters have been observed, particularly for preventive health
services, infertility care, contraception and sexually transmitted infections. 06.24.20
News Archive
4.1.20-6.4.20
2.15.20-3.30.20
1.15.20-2.14.20
12.15.19-1.14.20
11.15.19-12.14.19
10.15.19-11.14.19
9.15.19-10.14.19
8.15.19-9.14.19
7.15.19-8.14.19
6.15.19-7.15.19
5.13.19-6.14.19
