Bill would ensure contraceptive access for female servicemembers

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) has introduced legislation that would require healthcare offered through the armed services to include access to contraceptive coverage.

Under Speier’s measure, health coverage offered through the Department of Defense’s TRICARE program would be aligned with the 2010 healthcare law so that contraception is covered with no co-pay.

{mosads}”The Affordable Care Act established that being a woman is not a preexisting condition,” Speier said. “We owe female servicemembers the same access to contraception and family planning services as the women they fight to protect.”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) has offered companion legislation in the Senate.

“We need to make sure women in the military and women who rely on military health care are receiving the comprehensive care they deserve, and that needs to include access to basic preventative health care, including contraception and family planning counseling,” Shaheen said.

Speier’s bill already has 60 co-sponsors, all of whom are Democrats. Many pro-choice groups have endorsed the measure, including NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood.

“No woman should have to worry about affording prescription birth control — and the women and families who have served our country in the armed forces should have the same access to no-copay birth control as other American women,” said Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.