A History of the Fight About Birth Control
More than 100 years ago, when Margaret Sanger and her sister opened a clinic in Brooklyn to provide family planning information, birth control was illegal. Only 10 days after her clinic — the first Planned Parenthood health center opened — Sanger was arrested and thrown in jail. This was the beginning of the Planned Parenthood movement.
A History of Birth Control Access
Since 1960, when the FDA approved the pill as a contraceptive, reproductive health supporters have spent decades trying to make birth control more accessible and affordable. Check out important milestones in the fight for birth control access in the timeline below and at Planned Parenthood's centennial celebration website: 100years.plannedparenthood.org.
March 23, 2010
The Affordable Care Act was signed into law, including coverage for preventive care — like birth control — with no copay.
October 12, 2010
The Birth Control Matters campaign launches to remind politicians that birth control matters and should be available to everyone without copays.
July 19, 2011
The Institute of Medicine recommends that insurers should cover birth control as preventive care.
August 1, 2011
Health and Human Services announces new guidelines requiring health insurance plans beginning on or after August 1, 2012, to cover a number of preventive reproductive health services, including birth control.
January 20, 2012
The Obama administration announces that as part of the Affordable Care Act, most health insurance plans must cover birth control with no additional copay.
February 9, 2012
Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) introduces an amendment that would allow any employer to deny insurance coverage for birth control (or any benefit) based on a so-called “moral conviction.”
February 16, 2012
Congressman Darrell Issa hosts a congressional hearing to oppose insurance coverage for birth control with an all-male panel, leaving many wondering, "where are the women?"
February 16, 2012
Foster Friess, a major Republican donor, goes on MSNBC to speak with Andrea Mitchell and shocks many with his comments: “Back in my day, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.”
February 23, 2012
After being snubbed by Congressman Issa and denied the opportunity to testify on behalf of the birth control benefit, Sandra Fluke speaks at an unofficial Democrat-sponsored hearing.
February 29, 2012
Rush Limbaugh, commenting on Sandra Fluke's speech in support of the birth control benefit, calls her a “slut” and a “prostitute”, inspiring companies to pull advertisements from his show.
March 1, 2012
The Senate votes down the Blunt amendment in a vote of 51-48. Over 400,000 actions have been taken by Planned Parenthood supporters in support of the birth control benefit since November 2011.
March 15, 2012
The American Center for Law and Justice files a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on behalf of a Missouri business owner, challenging the requirement to cover birth control with no copay. This is the first challenge from a private business owner.
August 1, 2012
The birth control benefit starts to take effect.
October 5, 2012
The Contraceptive CHOICE Study is released and demonstrates that access to no-copay birth control — as is outlined in the Affordable Care Act — leads to significantly lowered unintended pregnancy and abortion rates.
February 1, 2013
The Obama administration announces revised regulations on the birth control benefit, and the 60-day comment period starts.
April 8, 2013
Planned Parenthood teams up with allies to deliver nearly 350,000(!) comments to the Department of Health and Human Services in support of the Affordable Care Act’s birth control benefit.
June 28, 2013
Planned Parenthood releases a white paper describing the transformative effects of birth control on society, the ways in which the Affordable Care Act will exponentially expand that effect, and the urgent battle to move forward — not turn back the clock — on ensuring access to basic preventive health care.
August 1, 2013
The anniversary of the Affordable Care Act birth control benefit comes just as the Guttmacher Institute releases data showing that giving women access to affordable birth control, through publicly funded family planning services, helped prevent 2.2 million unintended pregnancies in 2010, which would have resulted in 1.1 million unplanned births and 760,000 abortions. It becomes clear that the birth control benefit is important for women and families to make their own decisions and have a range of options available to them.
November 26, 2013
The Supreme Court announces it is taking up cases brought by two for-profit companies — Hobby Lobby, a chain of arts and crafts stores with 21,000 employees, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a cabinet manufacturer — against the Affordable Care Act’s birth control benefit on the basis of the companies’ religious beliefs.