For the 98% of American women who use some form of contraception during their lives, birth control is basic, essential health care. The Obama Administration agreed when it included birth control services in the Affordable Health Care Act.

Unfortunately, 46 years after the Supreme Court struck down a ban on birth control with Griswold v. Connecticut, the far right still tries to block women’s access to contraception with refusal clauses and lies about birth control causing abortion. Birth control is not abortion.

More than 40 million women of reproductive age are sexually active and want to prevent unintended pregnancy. [Guttmacher Institute, Facts in Brief: Contraceptive Use(Feb. 2005)] There are many ways to make sure those women get the birth control they need.

• Maryland’s Family Planning works Act will make sure that low-income women can afford birth control at family-planning clinics. 
• Emergency contraception (EC) can prevent pregnancy if used up to five days after sex. 
• Pharmacies should not be able to refuse to fill a woman's prescription for birth control. 
• If an insurance company covers prescription drugs, it should cover prescription birth control, too.