Biden to sign executive order to expand birth control access

President Biden will sign an executive order Friday to increase access to contraception and family planning.

The order is part of the administration’s efforts to promote reproductive health care and comes one day ahead of the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

It will also be the administration’s only policy response to mark the anniversary. 

While the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization dealt with the constitutional right to an abortion, Justice Clarence Thomas in a concurring opinion said the high court should also reconsider whether there is a constitutional right to birth control. 

“Access to contraception has become even more important in the wake of Dobbs and the ensuing crisis in women’s access to health care,” Jennifer Klein, director of the White House Gender Policy Council told reporters.

The order directs the secretaries of the Treasury and Labor Departments, as well as Health and Human Services (HHS), to consider new actions and guidance related to birth control, such as ensuring private health insurance covers all contraceptives either approved, cleared or granted by the Food and Drug Administration. 

In all 50 states, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) guarantees coverage of women’s preventive services, including free birth control and contraceptive counseling. There are 18 contraceptive methods approved by the FDA, but the law requires insurers to cover only one product per category.

“We know that some women with private health insurance continue to face barriers getting the contraception that they need,” Klein said, adding that the executive order could allow agencies to require insurers to cover additional birth control products.

Among other provisions, the order also calls for agencies to look at ways to improve access to affordable over-the-counter birth control, such as Plan B emergency contraception.

Polls have generally shown broad bipartisan support for access to contraception, though there has been opposition that equates some contraception to abortion. 

Some anti-abortion supporters claim that intrauterine devices and emergency contraception are “abortifacients” that prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in a woman’s uterus.

Klein said there is no timing expectation for the agencies to act on the order, but it is meant to signal that the White House wants the issue prioritized.

Since the Dobbs decision a year ago, Biden has issued two other executive orders related to abortion. One order is intended to assist women who need to travel out of state to receive abortions and ensure health providers comply with federal law, so women aren’t delayed in getting emergency care.

Another order Biden signed shortly after Dobbs was aimed at safeguarding access to abortion care and contraceptives and protecting patient privacy. 

Combined, the three orders “lay out a clear roadmap for federal agencies to bolster access to the full spectrum of health care,” Klein said. “But we’ve been quite clear that contraception is not a substitute for abortion care.”

Still, the actions the White House can take unilaterally are limited. And while the president has pushed for Congress to codify Roe v. Wade, the GOP-controlled House and the tight margins in the Senate have made that a non-starter. Previous efforts to pass legislation that would codify and expand the right to an abortion failed. 

Biden has repeatedly said Americans need to elect more Democrats in 2024 to increase their congressional margins to enshrine Roe’s protections into law.