Penn Dems petition for women's access to birth control

The recent controversy surrounding women, religion and contraception has made its way into the discourse at Penn.

In response to a potential limit to women’s access to contraception, Penn Democrats began an online petition on Change.org to protect women’s access to birth control and oppose the Blunt amendment, which is still active in the House of Representatives. It had died in the Senate by a vote of 51-48.

The Blunt amendment would have permitted religious groups and employers to opt out of coverage requirements due to moral and religious objections. It would have applied not just to contraception, but to other health services required by the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Under current health care law, insurance companies, rather than religiously affiliated organizations, are required to pay for birth control coverage.

According to Nathalie Figueroa, Penn Dems legislative director and College freshman, the amendment is mainly directed at religiously affiliated institutions that employ over fifty employees that are not of the institution’s religious denomination.

“We ask that [the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee] respect the rights of women by requiring insurance companies of religiously affiliated employees to provide birth control coverage for their female employees,” reads Penn Dems’ online petition. As of March 13, the petition had 182 signatures.

Penn Dems President Andrew Brown believes the issue of access to birth control is particularly salient to Penn students.

“No one wants to see their peers … being forced to choose between getting an abortion or having a kid while in college,” the College sophomore said. “Access to birth control is something we’re really united by.”

Figueroa said the petition has garnered widespread support from males, females, professors, students and “even pregnant women.” They set up a booth on Locust Walk about two weeks ago to collect signatures.

Penn Women’s Center did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.

Those who support the Blunt amendment believe that it infringes upon the rights of religious institutions to have to supply contraception.

College Republicans President Laura Brown, a Wharton junior and Daily Pennsylvanian staff member, said “I feel that it should be acceptable for them to reject an insurance plan that they feel doesn’t comply with the religious codes that they practice in their daily business.”

However, many against the amendment feel that it would be unfair for women who are not religiously affiliated but work at a religiously affiliated institution to be denied coverage for contraception.

“Whether you use birth control is your choice, but who provides your insurance isn’t necessarily your choice in this country,” Andrew Brown said. “And if your insurer chooses to make it so that birth control is not included and access to birth control is out of reach for you, that’s taking away your personal freedom.”

Laura Brown disagreed.

“People who decide to work for a religious institution are aware of its affiliation when they take the position and aware of the consequences that could come from taking the position,” she said.

Penn Dems’ petition is also attacking a panel in the House of Representatives discussing the Blunt amendment. At the panel, five religious leaders testified on the issue, but none of the five panelists were women.

“Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) refused to allow a woman to testify in favor of the Obama administration’s contraception rule,” reads the petition. It referenced Issa’s refusal to allow Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke to testify. The incident then garnered more national attention when conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh called her a “slut” and “prostitute.”

“Many [religious leaders] are men because of the rules within the church,” Laura Brown said. “But I think a woman’s opinion is very important on the issue and they should’ve considered expanding the panel to not just religious leaders if they couldn’t find a woman who was a clergy member.”

The lack of women on the panel was partially what spurred Penn Dems to action.

“It’s really interesting to see that men would decide what women can do with their bodies,” Figueroa said. “That was a huge red light for us and we wanted to bring attention to this amendment which is being decided unfairly.”

Penn Dems is tentatively planning more events around women’s access to contraception with other groups on campus, Figueroa said.

“We’re going to keep working until this amendment is no longer in discussion,” she said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.