Women Leaders Condemn Supreme Court Birth Control Rollback

There was a big shift in how health care functions for women yesterday. An estimated 70,000 to 126,000 women will be prevented from accessing contraception due to the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the right of employers to refuse to provide birth control coverage for women.

 Elizabeth Barajas-Román, President and CEO, Women’s Funding Network, issued a call to action for donors to support women’s funds and other organizations protecting women’s reproductive rights. (Image Credit: WFN)

Women leaders across the country decried the decision for its devastating impact on women, including women leaders in philanthropy. Elizabeth Barajas-Román, President and CEO of the Women’s Funding Network, called attention to how this decision is particularly detrimental to women and girls of color.

“Continued efforts to dismantle the few existing affordable health care programs and protections amid a global pandemic and economic crisis — whose burdens are felt most acutely by women and people of color, and compounded for pregnant and parenting people — is as irresponsible as it is morally repugnant,” said Barajas-Roman, in a statement released by the Women’s Funding Network.

Other women leaders across philanthropy also spoke up. The New Hampshire Women’s Foundation shared its outrage, discussing how this decision will impact employers as big as universities.

Equality Now tweeted about the decision, calling attention to how it impacts gender equality and bodily autonomy for women and girls.

Feminist Majority released a statement calling attention to how this decision essentially ends up being an additional tax on young women, poor women, and women of color.

The Harnisch Foundation raised concern about how women will lose access to birth control under this decision, while medications for other conditions such as erectile dysfunction are free under Medicaid.

What Next Steps Do Women in Philanthropy Need to Consider?

Elizabeth Barajas-Román, of the Women’s Funding Network offered a call to action to the philanthropy community: “We urge our colleagues in philanthropy to support organizations that are mobilizing to advance community-based solutions that enable women and families to thrive, by giving generously to organizations on the frontlines of change, including local women’s funds, foundations and gender justice funders.”

Full disclosure: WFN is Philanthropy Women’s fiscal sponsor.

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Author: Kiersten Marek

Kiersten Marek, LICSW, is the founder of Philanthropy Women. She practices clinical social work and writes about how women donors and their allies are advancing social change.

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