Senate Heartland Republicans block ‘Right to Contraception’ bill

On Wednesday, a bill that would have enshrined a federal safeguard for the use of contraceptives as well as “protect a health care provider’s ability to provide contraceptives, contraception, and information related to contraception,” was shut down by GOP senators, including those from key Midwestern states.

Among that cohort were Iowa senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley, Missouri senators Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, Nebraska senators Pete Ricketts and Deb Fischer and Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall. They represent states where research has demonstrated a detrimental absence of contraceptive access.

“Local health departments (LHD) in [Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska] are currently ill-equipped to offer comprehensive contraceptive services. Women seeking care at LHDs have limited, if any, contraceptive options,” a study from 2018 found.

And according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, such circumstances are directly connected with intergenerational poverty, educational attainment, career outcomes and labor force participation. In states like Iowa and Nebraska, exactly a third of women-led households are in poverty.

Ernst in particular critiqued the bill introduced by Democrats, responding that her bill, the Allowing Greater Access to Safe and Effective Contraception Act, would be more practical.

“In the face of Democrats’ radical abortion on demand, I am proud to provide women greater access to safe and effective birth control,” Ernst said in a statement. “My bill will increase over-the-counter contraception options while bringing much-needed transparency and accountability to ensure the government uses tax dollars to support families.”

But Ernest’s bill explicitly prevents public spending from going towards providers that perform abortions. This would have a direct impact on access to contraceptives in her own state. The bill also does not include access to Plan B, which the Democrats’ bill did.

Per KFF, a health policy hub, Iowa (as well as Missouri) operates a “limited-scope of family planning programs that are entirely state-funded because they exclude providers that offer both family planning and abortion services, disqualifying those programs from federal Medicaid payments.”