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July 22, 2024
Editor, The News-Gazette: If you asked me 20 years ago whether Future Me would be concerned about access to birth control, I would have said, “absolutely not.” In my lifetime, contraception has always seemed like a settled matter: done and dusted, an essential part of modern American life, even more so since the Affordable Care Act basically made birth control free.
Recently, however, Republicans have shown a growing interest in restricting birth control. Why? I honestly do not know. It does not seem like a winning issue. But it does seem increasingly possible that if Donald Trump and the Republicans win in November, we will see contraception become more difficult to access.
Currently, Republicans are working hard to convince voters that this fear is overblown. But voting records tell a different story. Last month, Senate Republicans blocked a national Right to Contraception Act. In 2022, House Republicans voted against legislation that would establish a federal right to contraception. And in May, our own Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, vetoed a Right to Contraception Act passed by the Virginia General Assembly. If Republicans truly support access to birth control, why are they voting against these bills?
Don’t listen to politicians who say there is no danger to birth control. Republicans in various states have started arguing that IUDs and Plan B should be considered abortion and restricted accordingly. Justice Clarence Thomas thinks the Supreme Court “should reconsider” the case that legalized contraception for married couples (Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965). Project 2025, the blueprint for a second Trump administration, wants to get rid of the requirement that insurance companies pay for emergency contraception (Plan B).
In short, if you want to keep inexpensive, easy access to a wide variety of contraception, the Democrats are the only way to go. TAYLOR WALLE Lexington
