McCain Leaves Contraception Question Still in Doubt for Wisconsin Women
Vague Answer Could Leave Women Denied Coverage – More Unintended Pregnancy
Madison, WI – Senator John McCain’s confusing answer in Racine to a contraceptive equity question, asked by a college student concerned about access to her birth control, has women across the country alarmed, says the state’s leading political reproductive rights organization.
“Wisconsin women deserve straight talk about whether John McCain’s anti-choice record threatens our contraceptive coverage,” said Carmen Marg-Patton, NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin’s Political Director. “Senator McCain’s new position could leave working women across the state without access to basic health care, like birth control pills.”
McCain has been under fire since he ducked a question about proposals that would have required insurance companies to cover contraception in the same way that they cover other prescription medications. McCain has previously opposed this legislation, but the McCain campaign recently sent mixed and contradictory signals, including sending out top advisor Carly Fiorina to falsely claim [http://tinyurl.com/cnn- birthcontrol] that McCain now supports equity in contraceptive coverage.
Hoping McCain would clarify his position once and for all, NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin summer intern Julianne Bukey, a senior at Scripps College in California, questioned McCain directly in Racine. McCain, who moved quickly onto the next question, made a brief, confusing statement that the decision to cover birth control should be up to the entity that is paying for the insurance coverage. [View clip here: www.youtube.com/watch?v= WGLnFzgLUds <http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=WGLnFzgLUds> ]
“If employers impose their personal beliefs on employees through their health care benefits, women will face another roadblock to accessing the best health care their doctors prescribe,” said Marg-Patton. “Personal and private medical decisions, such as using birth control, should be between a woman and her doctor, not up to her employer or politicians.”
Birth control is basic health care for women. Contraception is among the most commonly prescribed medications to women of reproductive age, with 98 percent of women using contraception at some point during their lifetime. In 2004, Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager issued a formal opinion that employer health care plans in Wisconsin which cover prescription drugs must include access to contraceptives. And in a recent court case against Marathon County, the county itself was the employer who refused to include contraception as basic health care, even as it covered other preventative medications that were used by both men and women. The Wisconsin Equal Rights Division has ruled that an employer’s failure to cover contraceptives constitutes sex discrimination in violation of the Fair Labor Employment Act.
“You need not look further than our own state to find relevant examples of employers withholding contraception on their insurance plans, even as they covered other preventative medications,” said Marg-Patton. “Wisconsin women deserve an honest answer from Senator McCain about where he stands on this issue and whether he will protect women’s access to birth control, or allow employers to interfere in women’s personal medical decisions.”
Julianne Bukey recently blogged about this subject at prochoicewisconsin.org/news/ blog.shtml.
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