It’s far from coincidental that timed with Donald Trump’s move into the White House as President of the United States, women marched for reproductive rights. Trump made it part of his campaign to defund organizations like Planned Parenthood, as well as create a healthcare system that could drastically impair women’s rights to even birth control. Women not only participated in the historical march in Washington this year, but they exercised their rights to protest in states across the nation. It worked.
Take Nevada, where women marched for rights to contraceptives in January. By June, Republican Governor of Nevada, Brian Sandoval, had signed a mandate requiring healthcare providers to offer women 12-month increments of birth control with no copayment. The typical time frame for a refill is three months. Other states have required that 12-month birth control option, including Washington and Colorado.
Just recently, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo advised he would be taking emergency measures to ensure that contraceptives would be readily available for women at no cost. Both New York and Massachusetts are pondering “contraceptive equity bills” that would expand beyond women to include men’s vasectomies free of charge.
While the ACA initially didn’t include free birth control, it has since provided 55 million women with free birth control. California in 2014 established the right to free birth control under the ACA. Vermont, Illinois, and Maryland followed suit with their own laws. By 2018, Maryland hopes to have the most expansive contraceptive equity laws, where everything from birth control to vasectomies will be free under healthcare plans.