Virginia General Assembly 2021

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia Legislative Priorities

 

All Virginians deserve access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion care. Virginia is stronger when we can all make decisions about our families, our health, and our futures.

 

Our Focus is Expanding Access for All Virginians

  • Accessing sexual and reproductive health care should never come down to your zip code or how much money you earn, yet that is the reality for thousands of Virginians right now.
  • We know that having a right in theory is very different in practice and that access to care is still very dependent on one’s zip code, race, income, immigration status, gender identity and insurance. 
  • While there is more to do to protect the right to bodily autonomy in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginians can be confident that bans or unnecessary restrictions will not be passed by our current General Assembly given the pro-reproductive health majority and a Governor who has championed reproductive health and freedom. 

 

Virginia Should Expand Access to Birth Control

  • The importance of affordable birth control access can’t be overstated: Many of the gains women have made since 1965 — in obtaining education, pursuing careers in increasing numbers, and moving closer to pay equity, and in the timing and spacing of children — are the direct result of increased access to birth control.
  • We know first-hand how important it is to receive the method of birth control that works for individuals without hurdles or barriers. That’s why Planned Parenthood is focused on making sure that Virginians have access to the method of birth control that’s best for them, without hurdles standing in the way.
  • The General Assembly should build upon progress made in 2020 and continue to expand access to no-cost birth control for Virginians with the greatest need. 
  • The Governor’s budget includes two important items that will further expand access:
    • An increase in funding for the Virginia Contraceptive Grant Program in Fiscal Year 2022 (Increase from $3 million to $4 million). This will ensure the program does not run out of funding and that qualifying low-income Virginians can choose between forms of Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) and other methods of birth control like pills and patches. 
    • Authorizes prescriptions of contraceptives up to a 12 month supply for eligible Medicaid members. Dispensing a year's supply has been shown to not only increase continuous use of birth control and reduce gaps in contraceptive protection, but also reduce costs to the Medicaid program. Virginians on private insurance already have the opportunity to get a year’s supply. 


 

Legislation We Support to Increase Access

  1. Remove prohibition on abortion coverage within state health care exchange (Senator McClellan and Delegate Hudson)
    • Would allow health insurance plans that cover abortion services to be sold on the state health care exchange. 
    • This prohibition is the ultimate government overreach. It allows the government to dictate to the private sector what type of insurance coverage can be offered to private customers. This puts insured pregnant people in the position of having to pay for a potentially expensive procedure with out-of-pocket costs—a burden that many are unable to afford. 
    • Absent government-imposed barriers to abortion coverage, plans typically cover abortion. For instance, in the employer-sponsored insurance market, where state abortion restrictions typically don’t apply, nearly 90 percent of the plans cover abortion.
    • Removing the ban on coverage does not force plans to cover abortion, nor does it force an individual to purchase a plan that covers abortion. 
  2. Reproductive Health Equity Act (Delegate Price) 
    • Would establish comprehensive coverage for the full spectrum of reproductive health services, including family planning, abortion, and postpartum care, for all Virginians, regardless of income, citizenship status, gender identity, or type of insurance.
    • Virginia is stronger when we can all make decisions about our families, our health, and our futures. When we ensure that everyone, regardless of immigration status, can access affordable and high quality reproductive health care, such as birth control and pregnancy-related care including abortion, the health and well-being of our community — and our commonwealth — improves.
    • We also know that the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic is falling hardest on those struggling to make ends meet and who are already failed by our health care system — communities of color and immigrant community members are disproportionately impacted. Economic barriers including loss of income and health insurance, and the limited ability to travel, conspire to push time-sensitive care like abortion care entirely out of reach.

 

We Also Support: 

  • Safe and Thriving Workplace Act (Senator McClellan and Delegate Watts) 
  • Paid Family and Medical Leave (Senator Boysko and Delegate Ayala) 
  • Pregnant Imprisoned Person Workgroup (Senator Favola and Delegate Hope)
  • HIV Decriminalization/Modernization (Senator Locke)