Reproductive rights does not just cover abortion. It encompasses the right to accurate, timely information and education about reproductive choices. It also means access to services that support reproductive health and choices about birth control and family planning---including financial access. The concept also includes the rights of pregnant women and women who want to have children to have access to information and services and be free from discrimination and unwanted medical interference. Reproductive rights respect the bodily integrity of individual women and the right for her to make informed decisions about her health and her willingness and ability to bear children.
Emergency Contraception
Access to emergency contraception, also known as "the morning-after pill," has become a hotly contested issue in the United States recently. Misinformation about its effects and attempts at restricting access are rife. Emergency contraception sometimes prevents a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus, and pro-life advocates describe this as a chemical abortion. It took a 2009 federal court order to allow Plan B and other forms of emergency contraception to be distributed without a prescription in the United States.
Insurance For Birth Control
Many insurance companies do not cover birth control methods, forcing women to pay for them out of pocket. Others cover some methods but not all of them. In other words, birth control is not treated as a form of preventative medicine, but rather as an optional lifestyle expense. This is particularly telling when you consider that male impotence drugs such as Viagra are routinely covered by insurance policies.
Medicaid and Birth Control
Similarly, women dependent on Medicaid for their health care often find that they have uneven access to birth control. Medicaid programs vary state by state. Some states pay for emergency contraception, but others do not. Some pay for over-the-counter methods, and others cover prescription-based contraception only.
Information About Birth Control
Getting reliable information about birth control is a cornerstone of reproductive rights, yet it can be surprisingly difficult. Health risks and failure rates are exaggerated, particularly in abstinence-only sex education programs taught in schools. Meanwhile, advertisers downplay the risks of their products in the hopes of keeping their sales figures robust.
Access To Birth Control Options
Access to certain forms of birth control is sometimes restricted if you're younger than 18, if you're not under a doctor's care or for other arbitrary reasons. For example, condoms and other over-the-counter methods might be held behind the counter or in a locked pharmacy cabinet.
Pharmacists And Hospitals
Anti-reproductive rights activists have encouraged pharmacists to withhold emergency contraception if it conflicts with their personal views about abortion; some activists fear they can and will do the same with other forms of birth control. Similarly, Catholic hospitals are explicitly banned from providing emergency contraception---often, even if a woman has been raped.
