Now that Justice Brett Kavanaugh has taken Justice Anthony Kennedy’s place on ththere is a lot of misleading and false information being spread about how this could affect women’s reproductive rights on everything from birth control to abortion.
Here are the facts about the Supreme Court’s impact on reproductive rights:
-
If the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade, states would be free to determine their own abortion policies based on what their constituents want — just as they did before. (Sources: Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, Congressional Research Service, ReproductiveRights.org, The Sun Chronicle)
-
According to ReproductiveRights.org, abortion is expected to remain legal in the vast majority of states. (Sources: Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, Congressional Research Service, ReproductiveRights.org, The Sun Chronicle)
-
Only four states have “trigger laws” that would outlaw abortion immediately upon reversal of Roe, and only 12 states have unenforceable abortion bans on the books from before Roe. (Sources: Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, Congressional Research Service, ReproductiveRights.org, The Sun Chronicle)
-
Before the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade and before Congress passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA), decisions about abortion policy and health insurance regulation were made at the state level. (Sources: Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, Congressional Research Service, ReproductiveRights.org, The Sun Chronicle)
-
According to PBS, various states may well act even before any such decision is made, to ensure that these policies continue. (Sources: Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, Congressional Research Service, ReproductiveRights.org, The Sun Chronicle)
-
89% of insurance plans covered contraception in 2002, the most recent year for which data is available before the ACA passed in 2010. (Sources: NIH, The New York Times)
-
For those without private health insurance before the ACA, Medicare and Medicaid covered contraception. Although contraception was reasonably affordable out-of-pocket, Title X funding was available to help uninsured low-income women get contraception without cost. (Sources: NIH, The New York Times)
- The ACA required all insurance plans to cover birth control “for free.” But even without the ACA, states could require that insurers provide no-copay birth control coverage. (Sources: NIH, The New York Times)
Most insurance plans are likely to voluntarily offer some coverage for birth control, because it is popular coverage that consumers demand. (Sources: NIH, The New York Times)