Earlier this week, the Trump administration rescinded Obamacare’s birth-control mandate, making it easier for employers to refuse coverage of birth control in their health-insurance plans. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has cited religious liberty as the reason for this rollback. We asked Hawkeyes the following question: “Should employer-provided health-insurance policies be required to cover birth control?”
Tori King
UI sophomore
“Yes, because it’s not up to the employers, the right to birth control. I feel like it shouldn’t be something that they have to pay for out of pocket.”
Kristine Pinter
UI senior
“Yes, employers should provide birth control for women because women’s health is important.”
Conor Henry
UI senior
“Yeah, I think it should. I don’t see how it’s really different than any other kind of medication that health insurance would be required to cover. It’s not like it’s some kind of weird prescription toothpaste, it’s like a real medicine that a lot of women need. I don’t see any reason it shouldn’t be. It’s weird to even ask the question like ‘Should they be required to?’ Like, why would it be different than anything else?”
Sydney Boysen
UI sophomore
“I think that it should be provided because I feel like it’s like an essential for health care for women preventing kids. It’s more than just preventing kids, like with periods and things like that.”
Jasmine Ramirez
UI sophomore
“I think that employers that provide health insurance should also cover birth control because if other insurance companies still cover Viagra, then women should get the right to have their birth control covered by employers’ insurance.”