Senate duo urges Biden to address contraceptive access disparity between female service members, civilians

A pair of bipartisan senators is urging President Biden to address the disparity in access to contraceptives between female service members and civilians.

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) wrote a letter to Biden on Wednesday asking him to expand access to Food and Drug Administration-approved contraception for service members in his budget request. The senators said service members’ health care plans have insurance co-pays for preventative services, which can include contraception.

“As you prepare the [fiscal 2025] President’s Budget Request, we urge you to consider how the Department of Defense and other relevant agencies may leverage new and existing resources to eliminate barriers to contraception access for service members,” the senators wrote.

“We have an obligation to ensure those who serve our nation have unencumbered access to essential health services like contraception and do not face additional cost requirements already eliminated for their civilian counterparts,” they continued.

The lawmakers said that civilians with employer-sponsored plans are “guaranteed access to preventive services like contraception without cost sharing,” arguing more needs to be done to close the gap between civilians and service members when it comes to contraceptive access.

They are asking Biden to include a legislative proposal in his budget request that will detail “efforts to reduce barriers to contraception access for service members.”

“The Military Health System serves approximately 1.62 million women of reproductive age, including service members, retirees and their dependents. These women deserve the same no-cost access to contraception as their civilian counterparts,” the lawmakers wrote.