What Is Biden's Plan for Reproductive Health Care?

Key Takeaways

Today, President Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. With a new administration comes a fresh wave of health policies, including reproductive ones. According to health policy experts, the reproductive health landscape will most likely change under the new Biden administration.

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Some of the reproductive policies currently on Biden’s agenda include:

What This Means For YouIf there is a reproductive health issue you are passionate about, contact your state representative to get involved and express support. For more information on how to contact your federal, state, and local elected officials, visit thiswebsite.

What This Means For You

If there is a reproductive health issue you are passionate about, contact your state representative to get involved and express support. For more information on how to contact your federal, state, and local elected officials, visit thiswebsite.

What’s Next?

During Biden’s campaign, he made it clear that reproductive health would be one of his priorities. Although Biden has stressed that vaccine rollout and the economy are his top priorities during his first 100 days in office, reproductive health is directly linked to the pandemic. One in three women has experienced pandemic-related delays or cancellations of sexual and reproductive health care, with rates being disproportionately higher for Black and Latinx women and queer people.

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“Under a Biden administration, we can expect strong support for the Affordable Care Act,“Jamie Daw, PhD, MSc, assistant professor of health policy and management at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, tells Verywell. “We will see a refocus of Medicaid programs, expanding access and benefits.”

“Under the Trump administration, there was a lot of interest in undermining access to health insurance for everybody,” Daw says. “That included women, lowering funding for things like health insurance navigators, allowing state Medicaid programs to put policies that would likely lead to fewer beneficiaries.”

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One of those policies mandated clinics to choose an ultimatum: stop providing information about where women can go to access abortion care or lose all funding. This “can limit not just their ability to stay open, but their ability to provide a broad range of contraceptive methods to have enough hours to meet the needs in their communities,” Fey tells Verywell. “There was a decline in the number of patients that were served.”

Overturning Past Policies

In the coming months ahead, Biden’s administration will face the challenge of undoing Trump’s policies that chipped away at the ACA.

According to the Power to Decide, more than 19 million women live in contraceptive deserts—areas where people are unable to access health centers providing a full range of contraceptive options.Limiting insurance coverage options only exacerbates the cost of reproductive health. When people have access to contraceptive information, it can prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the risk of pregnancy-related illness, injury, and even death.

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Reproductive Health Issues

“The Hyde Amendment really creates a situation where abortion is not accessible for everyone," Fey says. “And this falls hardest on Black and Brown people and people living with lower incomes or in rural areas where they already face disproportionate barriers to access.”

Staying Informed

Despite all of the incoming administration’s hopes for change, holding the new administration accountable to their promises is what reproductive health experts anticipate will be the next challenge.

“There are a lot of competing needs that this administration will face," Fey says. “One simple thing is to engage with the incoming Biden-Harris administration about how important these things are to them.”

You can also donate to reproductive health organizations, and find more ways to stay engaged.

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“Whether it’s your dollars, through your social media, engagement with policymakers, find some way to get involved and help move the ball forward,” Fey says. “It’s not enough as citizens to just sit back and say everything’s fine. We have to be active participants, all of us.”

5 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.The Guttmacher Institute.The First 100 Days: Biden-Harris Administration Must Use Electoral Mandate to Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.Guttmacher Institute.Gains in insurance coverage for reproductive-age women at a crossroads.The Guttmacher Institute.U.S. Insurance Coverage, 2018: The Affordable Care Act Is Still Under Threat and Still Vital for Reproductive-Age Women.Power to Decide.Birth Control Access.The Guttmacher Institute.Contraception and Beyond: The Health Benefits of Services Provided at Family Planning Centers.

5 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.The Guttmacher Institute.The First 100 Days: Biden-Harris Administration Must Use Electoral Mandate to Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.Guttmacher Institute.Gains in insurance coverage for reproductive-age women at a crossroads.The Guttmacher Institute.U.S. Insurance Coverage, 2018: The Affordable Care Act Is Still Under Threat and Still Vital for Reproductive-Age Women.Power to Decide.Birth Control Access.The Guttmacher Institute.Contraception and Beyond: The Health Benefits of Services Provided at Family Planning Centers.

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

The Guttmacher Institute.The First 100 Days: Biden-Harris Administration Must Use Electoral Mandate to Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.Guttmacher Institute.Gains in insurance coverage for reproductive-age women at a crossroads.The Guttmacher Institute.U.S. Insurance Coverage, 2018: The Affordable Care Act Is Still Under Threat and Still Vital for Reproductive-Age Women.Power to Decide.Birth Control Access.The Guttmacher Institute.Contraception and Beyond: The Health Benefits of Services Provided at Family Planning Centers.

The Guttmacher Institute.The First 100 Days: Biden-Harris Administration Must Use Electoral Mandate to Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.

Guttmacher Institute.Gains in insurance coverage for reproductive-age women at a crossroads.

The Guttmacher Institute.U.S. Insurance Coverage, 2018: The Affordable Care Act Is Still Under Threat and Still Vital for Reproductive-Age Women.

Power to Decide.Birth Control Access.

The Guttmacher Institute.Contraception and Beyond: The Health Benefits of Services Provided at Family Planning Centers.

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