We Did It! Affordable Birth Control is Back!

Yesterday the Senate passed the omnibus and guess what passed with it?  Affordable birth control!   Today the bill makes it onto President Obama’s desk.  President Obama has been an ally in our fight for affordable birth control, introducing the Prevention Through Affordable Access Act while in the Senate last year.  We have no doubt the President will sign the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, putting affordable contraceptives back in the hands of millions of students and low income women whose access to birth control has been affected by the past two years’ price increase.

Since 2007, Choice USA members have been fighting hard to get access to affordable birth control back on campuses and in clinics.  Chapters from CA, OR, WI, OH, MI, KS, FL, TN, DC, NC, GA, AL, IL, KY, TX, and PA collected petitions with hundreds and hundreds of student signatures, wrote letters to their local papers’ editors, lobbied their legislators, passed related resolutions in student government, and got their university presidents and chancellors to sign on in support of affordable birth control.  Our voices in the fight for affordable birth control have been heard from campus to Congress. 

All of this hard work has paid off!  We can already feel this sweet victory !  This change could not have happened without the hard work of young people, their allies, and legislators who stood up for women’s health. 

This success is a sign of change to come, change that can only be achieved with young people at every level engaged in organizing, advocacy and policy. 

A big high five to all of you from all of us!

Choice USA

PS. Take a moment to call your Representatives and Senators to thank them for their support!