Biden to Propose That Insurers Cover Over-the-Counter Birth Control

The new rules under the Affordable Care Act would include emergency contraception, a newly approved nonprescription birth control pill, spermicides and condoms.

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The proposal comes two weeks before the election, as Democrats make the case that the threat to reproductive rights extends beyond the right to abortion.

The White House announced on Monday that it would propose new rules under the Affordable Care Act that would require insurers to cover over-the-counter birth control at no cost to patients, as it seeks to expand access to contraception and cut out-of-pocket costs.

The rules would include emergency contraception, a newly approved nonprescription birth control pill, spermicides and condoms and would affect 52 million American women of reproductive age who rely on private health insurance. They will be subject to a 60-day public comment period and, if finalized, would represent “the most significant expansion of contraception benefits” in more than a decade, said Jennifer Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council.

The proposal comes just two weeks before the election as Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, make the case that the threat to reproductive rights extends beyond the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, that eliminated the national right to abortion.

“At a time when contraception access is under attack, Vice President Harris and I are resolute in our commitment to expanding access to quality, affordable contraception,” President Biden said in a statement. “We believe that women in every state must have the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions, including the right to decide if and when to start or grow their family.”

The court ruled in that case that the “right to privacy” did not confer a right to abortion. In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said the same rationale should be used to overturn other “demonstrably erroneous decisions” that relied on a right to privacy, including Griswold v. Connecticut, a 1965 case declaring that married couples had a right to contraception.

“Clarence Thomas said the quiet part out loud, that contraception could very much be at risk and it is at risk,” Ms. Harris told the late-night host Jimmy Kimmel in June.

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