A new rule from President Joe Biden’s administration will deny women the choice of fertility awareness-based family planning methods under the Affordable Care Act.
As of December, the ACA or Obamacare plans will no longer cover these natural family planning methods; however, according to The Federalist, the projects will still cover birth control, abortifacient drugs, and devices.
Many women and couples use fertility awareness family planning because it is natural, less expensive, and does not have the side effects that birth control devices and devices often have. There are several different methods, but they generally teach women to understand their body’s natural fertility cycle and recognize when they are most likely to conceive. This helps the couple achieve or avoid pregnancy.
While less expensive than birth control, these methods can cost up to $500 for training and fertility tracking materials; and the Affordable Care Act has covered these costs since 2016, The Federalist reports.
However, at the end of 2021, the Biden administration withdrew this coverage under a new rule that should come into effect in December, according to the report.
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The Alliance Defending Freedom and Dr. Cami Jo Tice-Harouff of Texas believe the Biden administration made the change illegal. They filed a lawsuit against the new rule in May.
Tice-Harouff offers her patients fertility awareness-based family planning. Still, she uses it not only as a method to prevent or achieve pregnancy but also as a tool to diagnose gynecological and hormonal problems.
“Women should not be afraid of losing their doctor and insurance coverage for fertility awareness education due to backroom government decisions,” said ADF senior adviser Julie Marie Blake. “Numerous women rely on the expertise of Dr. Tice-Harouff to help them raise families in a way that is consistent with their medical needs. It is wrong and illegal for the Biden administration to impose its preferred method of family planning on all women.”
Their lawsuit accuses the Biden administration of violating regulatory laws when it withdrew coverage for fertility awareness-based family planning methods, covering only contraceptives and abortifacient drugs and devices.
“Women who practice fertility awareness-based methods are making serious personal and financial decisions to do what’s best for their families and their consciences,” Blake said. “Removing insurance coverage can devastate these families.”
The change comes when the Biden administration is working aggressively to expand abortions. Recently, he started allowing abortion drugs to be sold through the mail without even a doctor’s visit. Biden also wants to eliminate the Hyde amendment and force taxpayers to pay for elective abortions.
Suppose the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade this summer. In that case, it will also consider welcoming abortionists to practice at federally-administered military bases in pro-life states, according to The Post Millennial. The idea is that unborn babies can continue to be aborted in abortion-prohibiting states and to protect abortionists from prosecution.
A new report from the Guttmacher Institute shows that abortions increased between 2017 and 2020, with approximately 930,000 unborn babies aborted by 2020.