When access to birth control is blocked, everyone loses. But here’s who has the most at stake.

Thanks to affordable access to birth control, more women have access to opportunities, they can better plan their families, and economic equality is more within reach. We don’t need to tell you that threatening affordable access to birth control hurts everyone. It’s bad for employees, bad for businesses, and bad for the general public.

But, like most things, folks from marginalized communities are at risk to be disproportionately impacted by the Trump administration's rollback of birth control access. Here are the communities that could be hit the hardest.

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you live, or what your income is. Everyone deserves access to the full range of birth control options.

Young people

Affording birth control can be especially tough for younger folks. In fact, a 2010 Hart Research poll, conducted before the Affordable Care Act’s birth control provision went into effect, found that while 1 in 3 women voters had struggled to afford prescription birth control. For young women, it was much worse — more than half (57%) aged 18 to 34 struggled to afford birth control.

Access to birth control also helps younger people plan their futures, get an education, and work to support their families. The US is at a 30-year low in the rate of unintended pregnancy, and a historic low in the rate of pregnancy among teens. That is largely because of expanded access to birth control. In fact, being able to get the pill before age 21 is one of the most influential factors enabling women already in college to stay in college.

Black women

Blocking access to birth control disproportionately affects Black women. Black women are more than three times as likely as white women to have uterine fibroids than other women. Both of these conditions are often treated with hormonal birth control, which means these women would be hit the hardest by attacks on access to birth control.

Affordability is also a huge issue for Black women — 8 out of 10 Black mothers are breadwinners as either sole earners or earning at least 40% of household income. Nearly 1 in 4 African American women live in poverty, a higher rate than of any other racial group except Native American women. Here’s how that shows up: only 39% of Black women ages 18 to 44 could afford $10 or less if they needed birth control today. This financial reality combined with systemic barriers in accessing health care continue to undermine Black women’s ability to achieve full reproductive freedom.

Latinas

97% of Latinas who have ever had sex use contraception, so taking away access to this basic health care will hit Latinas particularly hard. Non-white Hispanic women experience more severe polycystic ovarian syndrome symptoms than other women, something often treated with hormonal birth control.

Not only that, but limiting Latinas’ access to birth control could have an impact on the already high unintended teen pregnancy rate among Latino communities. While at a historic low, Latina teen pregnancy and birth rates are more than one and a half times higher than the national average. The rate at which Latina adolescents give birth is more than twice that of non-Latina white teens and Latina teens are about 1.5 times more likely to have a repeat teen birth, compared to non-Latina white teens.  

Birth control affordability is of particular concern for many Latinas. One-fifth of Latinas live in poverty, and research shows 57% of Latinas ages 18 to 34 have struggled to afford birth control. While politicians in Washington are making decisions for them, the 89% of young (18-34) Latina voters who support insurance coverage of birth control suffer the consequences.

The LGBTQ Community

Birth control is not just for straight people. Limiting access to birth control is also an attack on the health and bodily autonomy of millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Many in the LGBTQ community, including cisgender women, transgender men, and non-binary folks, use birth control to prevent pregnancy, regulate menstruation, and treat medical conditions like fibroids and endometriosis. They deserve access to the full range of reproductive health options, including birth control to prevent pregnancy or for health issues.

LGBTQ people in the U.S. — especially those who are transgender, people of color, or both — experience higher rates of poverty than non-LGBTQ people due to the intersections of homophobia, transphobia, racism, sexism, and and other systemic barriers to resources like housing and employment. This affects their ability to access health care and means they are more likely to rely on federally funded programs to get it. The uninsured rate among LGBTQ people has dropped dramatically since 2013, thanks to the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. But gutting the Medicaid program or repealing Obamacare could erase these gains for LGBTQ people.

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you live, or what your income is. Everyone deserves access to the full range of birth control options.