What Are Reproductive Rights?

Reproductive rights refer to your ability to decide when or if you would like to have children or reproduce. This can include your freedom to make decisions about:

• Contraception. This is a method to prevent pregnancy. Methods include birth control or the use of medicines, devices, or surgeries. Common examples of birth control include:
  • Birth control implant, shot, patch, pill, sponge, or diaphragm
  • Intrauterine device (IUD)
  • Vaginal ring
  • External or internal condoms
• Abortion. This medical procedure uses medicines or surgery to end a pregnancy.
• Sterilization. This medical procedure permanently prevents reproduction.
• Childbirth. This means carrying a pregnancy to term or completion, resulting in the birth of a child.

What Is Reproductive Justice?

A group of Black women activists introduced the term reproductive justice in 1994. The term focuses on how race, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic class, religion, and other identity markers affect a person’s access to reproductive healthcare. Many organizations represent and defend the needs and reproductive rights of women of color and other marginalized groups and minority communities, such as:

• Sister Song
• African-American Women for Reproductive Freedom
• Black Women's Health Imperative
• National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice

Reproductive justice is a movement, framework, and vision that emphasizes the right to:

• Control your body
• Choose to have children
• Choose not to have children
• Choose how to have children
• Raise children in a healthy and safe community

Emergency Care

Congress’s Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) requires some types of hospitals to provide emergency care to any person, with no regard for that person’s ability to provide insurance or pay for services. This means that a hospital must, under federal law, offer the medical care necessary to save your life or stabilize your health during an emergency. This act also applies to people who must be transferred to another hospital to receive treatment.

Federal laws override state laws or mandates about certain procedures. This applies to reproductive care, including abortion. Emergency medical conditions involving pregnant people may include, but aren’t limited to:

• Ectopic pregnancy (a fertilized egg growing outside the uterus)
• Complications of a pregnancy loss
• High blood pressure, called preeclampsia

If you, or someone you know, didn’t receive the emergency medical care needed, an EMTALA complaint can be filed by contacting your state’s survey agency.

Birth Control

Under the Affordable Care Act, most healthcare insurance plans must provide you with birth control and counseling for family planning with no out-of-pocket costs. Birth control available under this act includes:

• Hormonal methods, like birth control pills and vaginal rings
• Implanted devices, like IUDs
• Emergency contraception, like Plan B® and ella®
• Barrier methods, like diaphragms and sponges
• Patient education and counseling
• Sterilization
• Other methods approved, granted, or cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

HealthCare.gov offers more details about birth control coverage for different types of health insurance plans

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer more information about contraceptive methods

Medicines

In 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reminded roughly 60,000 U.S. retail pharmacies of how they can ensure access to reproductive healthcare services under federal law. Because these pharmacies receive federal funding, they cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color, nationality, sex, age, and disability for their resources and programs. This includes providing medicines, determining if a prescribed medicine is suitable for a person, and advising people about their medicines and how to take them.

Abortion

In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. This decision overturned the ruling that guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion. Your ability to access abortion care now depends on the state in which you live, as states can independently protect or restrict abortion care. Learn more about your state’s laws on abortion.

In 2000, the FDA approved medication abortion as safe, effective, and accessible. The medicine for this method is available in person at clinics, medical offices, and hospitals. It is also available by telehealth, including by mail through pharmacies and certified prescribers.

Medicaid is a medical program for people who have low incomes and limited resources. The program also helps to make abortion more accessible. Under federal law, Medicaid funds cover abortion, but only in the event of rape or incest or if the patient’s life or health is in danger. Find out if you’re eligible for Medicaid.

Seventeen states provide more coverage for abortion outside of the circumstances for Medicaid. Find out if your state offers additional funding of abortions.

 Related: Learn more about health insurance in general in YE4C’s Inspiring Story on health insurance.

You might have a private health insurance plan. These plans may come through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace or your employer. Medical coverage under these plans* varies from state to state and by insurance company. For example, abortion may be covered in full or only in certain circumstances. To find out if your insurance plan covers abortion care, look at your plan benefits document. This might be called an SBC or Summary of Benefits and Coverage.

*If you’re on your parent’s or another family member’s health insurance plan, then you aren’t the main policy holder. Keep in mind that the main policy holder may receive an “Explanation of Benefits.” This document describes any care that you receive when you use the plan.

For more information and resources about paying for an abortion, see AbortionFinder.org.

Preventive Health Services

Preventive health services means routine healthcare. This includes screenings, checkups, and counseling to prevent illness, disease, and other health problems.

Under the Affordable Care Act, most health insurances plans must cover certain preventive health services with no out-of-pocket costs. Such services include:

• Well-woman visits to screen your health at any time, including a pap smear, breast exam, and regular checkup
• Counseling and screening services
• Screenings for breast and cervical cancers
• Prenatal care, which you receive while pregnant
• Breastfeeding services and supplies
• Screening and counseling for interpersonal violence (e.g., sexual assault evidence collection exams)
• Screening for HIV
• Screening for sexually transmitted infections (STIs)

People Without Health Insurance Coverage

If you don’t have health insurance coverage, you can still find funding and access coverage.

• HealthCare.gov can help you learn if you qualify for coverage.
• Title X Family Planning Clinics provide family planning services and preventive health services to promote reproductive health, such as:
  • STI and HIV testing
  • HIV counseling
  • Vaccination for human papillomavirus (or HPV)
  • Screening for cervical cancer
  • Education about contraception
  • Counseling

These services are private and provided for free or at a low cost. They’re available to anyone who needs them, regardless of your ability or inability to pay. Find a Title X Family Planning Clinic near you.*

*If you can’t access in-person services, then search for service providers that offer “telehealth” and “mobile clinic” locations.

• Health centers are community-based organizations that provide comprehensive, inclusive, and high-quality primary healthcare services, regardless of your ability to pay. Find a health center near you.
• The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program helps people with low incomes and HIV receive medical care, medicines, and essential support services. Find a Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program near you.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding about the resources available. This blog demonstrates the importance of reproductive healthcare and why guaranteed and accessible services are essential.

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Sources

1. AbortionFinder. (n.d.). State-by-state guide. https://www.abortionfinder.org/abortion-guides-by-state
2. Alaniz, M. (2022, February 4). Black history month: Leaders in reproductive justice. Planned Parenthood of Orange & San Bernardino Counties. https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-orange-san-bernardino/about-us/blog/black-history-month-leaders-in-reproductive-justice
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2023, May 1). Contraception. https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/contraception/index.htm
4. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2022, July 20). Contact information for filing a complaint with the state survey agency. https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/Downloads/Complaintcontacts.pdf
5. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2022, October 3). Reinforcement of EMTALA obligations specific to patients who are pregnant or are experiencing pregnancy loss (revised). https://www.cms.gov/medicareprovider-enrollment-and-certificationsurveycertificationgeninfopolicy-and-memos-states-and/reinforcement-emtala-obligations-specific-patients-who-are-pregnant-or-are-experiencing-pregnancy
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9. Howard University, Vernon E. Jordan Law Library. (2023, January 6). A brief history of civil rights in the United States: Women's reproductive rights. https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/women/reproductiverights
10. Kaiser Family Foundation. (n.d.). State funding of abortions under Medicaid. https://www.kff.org/medicaid/state-indicator/abortion-under-medicaid/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D
11. MedlinePlus. (2022, August 5). Abortion. https://medlineplus.gov/abortion.html
12. Office of Population Affairs. (n.d.). Find a family planning clinic. https://opa-fpclinicdb.hhs.gov/
13. ReproductiveRights.gov. (n.d.). Update on medication abortion. https://reproductiverights.gov/
14. SisterSong. (n.d.). Reproductive justice. https://www.sistersong.net/reproductive-justice
15. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2022, March 17). About the Affordable Care Act. https://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/about-the-aca/index.html
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17. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2022, December 8). Who’s eligible for Medicaid? https://www.hhs.gov/answers/medicare-and-medicaid/who-is-eligible-for-medicaid/index.html
18. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2022, December 8). Who’s eligible for Medicare? https://www.hhs.gov/answers/medicare-and-medicaid/who-is-eligible-for-medicare/index.html
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