Victory! Senate Passes War Spending Bill, Birth-Control Pricing Fix Included
Yesterday, the Senate passed its FY09 war supplemental spending bill, sending the measure directly to the House for its approval. As readers will recall, as a result of extensive behind-the-scenes lobbying, the Senate bill includes a provision restoring affordable birth control at hundreds of family-planning clinics and university health centers nationwide. Fortunately, despite threats from anti-choice Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), no amendments were offered to strike or gut the provision.
As readers know, the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA), which took effect January 1, 2007, included a provision that adversely affects hundreds of family-planning clinics' and university health centers' long-standing ability to purchase low-priced contraceptives. Congress passed the DRA, in part, to close a loophole in the Medicaid drug-rebate law but unfortunately, lawmakers also inadvertently eliminated access to deeply discounted birth control for these safety-net providers. As a result, millions of low-income women and college students have seen the price of their birth control skyrocket - in some cases from $5 or $10 to as much as $40 or $50 a month!
While we can (and should) celebrate our Senate victory this week, the road ahead is challenging. The House is expected to take up the Senate bill when Congress returns to session in June. At that time, lawmakers may be forced to trim the Senate package in order to secure the votes needed for passage meaning the birth-control provision remains vulnerable to the chopping block. Over the course of the next week, here at NARAL Pro-Choice America we will be reaching out to all pro-family-planning lawmakers in the House, urging them to make sure the birth-control pricing fix is included in the final war spending bill. We are also contacting the activists on our Choice Action Network and urging them to lobby lawmakers to protect the provision as the bill moves forward.
Action Needed: Please call your representative and urge him or her to include the birth-control pricing fix in the final war supplemental package!
Additional resources can be found at Medical News Today
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