By Jos Truitt • @jostruitt • 12 years ago

Religious attack on no co-pay birth control coverage defeated

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today that it will not allow an expanded religious exemption to the requirement for no co-pay birth control coverage that HHS ruled on in August. The administration’s exemption for insurance plans provided by houses of worship will remain in place. Conservative religious groups, including the influential US Conference of Catholic Bishops, wanted religiously affiliated groups like hospitals and universities to be able to opt out of covering birth control as well.

This is an important victory in the long battle to expand access to contraception. Religiously affiliated groups will have just one additional year to comply with the new rule – other groups will have to start offering no co-pay birth control next August.

Boston, MA

Jos Truitt is Executive Director of Development at Feministing. She joined the team in July 2009, became an Editor in August 2011, and Executive Director in September 2013. She writes about a range of topics including transgender issues, abortion access, and media representation. Jos first got involved with organizing when she led a walk out against the Iraq war at her high school, the Boston Arts Academy. She was introduced to the reproductive justice movement while at Hampshire College, where she organized the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program’s annual reproductive justice conference. She has worked on the National Abortion Federation’s hotline, was a Field Organizer at Choice USA, and has volunteered as a Pro-Choice Clinic Escort. Jos has written for publications including The Guardian, Bilerico, RH Reality Check, Metro Weekly, and the Columbia Journalism Review. She has spoken and trained at numerous national conferences and college campuses about trans issues, reproductive justice, blogging, feminism, and grassroots organizing. Jos completed her MFA in Printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute in Spring 2013. In her "spare time" she likes to bake and work on projects about mermaids.

Jos Truitt is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Development.

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