Democrats from both the state House and Senate have announced their plans for a five-bill package of legislation that will grant women greater access to contraceptives and stop employers from discriminating against women who use them.
The legislation, being put together by state Rep. Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids), state Rep. Gretchen Driskell (D-Saline) and state Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. (D-East Lansing), would reform five key ways in which the state and employers currently deal with contraceptives.
Hertel said recent studies show that 99 percent of women of childbearing age, which is considered from ages 15-44, who engage in sexual activity, will use birth control at some point in their lives.
“We don’t see people having five, six, eight kids as often as you used to; obviously people have learned about different family planning methods and are using them. And we just want to make sure all people have access to that,” Hertel said.
The bills would prohibit employers from discriminating against women who use contraceptives and require employers to inform employees and applicants about their reproductive health coverage, Brinks said via email.
The bills would also require the state to distribute information about emergency contraception, require health facilities to have emergency contraceptives available for women being treated after a sexual assault and encourage the state to take steps toward lowering the teen pregnancy rate.
“It’s a simple matter of equality, respect and equal opportunity for women,” Brinks said via email. “No woman should face losing her job because she wants contraceptives — just as no diabetic should face losing a job taking insulin. No woman should have to face the trauma of a sexual assault without access to emergency contraceptives.”
According to the Michigan Department of Community Health, funding for pregnancy prevention has fallen 91.6 percent from 2001 to 2010 while unintended pregnancies have risen from from 72.4 percent in 2001 to 82.1 percent in 2012 among women between the ages of 15 and 19.
Unintended pregnancies in women between the ages of 15 and 44, the childbearing age, has gone up from 44 percent in 2001 to 51 percent in 2010. 2010 is the most current year data is available.
Senior social relations and policy student Emily Kollaritsch, who is also a student organizer for MSU Students United, said this package of bills is very important for women as it allows them greater control of their life.
“In order for women to be able to have a steady job or academic career it is so vitally important that they have access to birth control so that they are able to commit fully to their career. It also allows women to have the ability and choice to have a family when it is appropriate for them at the right time in their life,” Kollaritsch said via email.
Driskell said she thinks that if businesses are not going to cover contraceptives as a part of their health plan because of religious reasons, employers should at least be required to inform applicants or potential employees before they choose whether or not to work there.
“It’s expensive to have a baby, and birth control helps prevent the cost,” Driskell said. “And also having a child tends to take the woman out of the workforce and there is no guaranteed paid maternity leave here, we’re one of three industrialized countries in the world that does not have paid maternity leave, which is pretty significant.”
Kollaritsch said while she would hope something like this would pass, she is not confident that it will.
“I think prohibiting employers from discriminating against women on the basis of their contraceptive use will probably not pass, given Republican representatives view on allowing ‘religious freedom,’” Kollaritsch said via email.
“All in all, this package contains very important legislation that could change how involved women can become both in college and in the workforce,” Kollaritsch said via email.
Some of the bills have been introduced, while others will be introduced when the Senate reconvenes on Aug. 11 and when the House reconvenes on Aug. 18.
