JWI decries the Supreme Court's decision to undercut contraceptive access.
No woman’s access to health care should depend on her boss’s moral agenda. And yet, today’s Supreme Court decision jeopardizes contraceptive coverage for hundreds of thousands of people and undercuts the constitutional separation of church and state. The Court upheld the Administration’s extreme regulation that gives any employer, educational institution, or insurance company the choice to deny its respective employees, students, and enrollees birth control coverage on religious or moral grounds. We at Jewish Women International denounce these sweeping faith exemptions as a cover for reproductive oppression.
Weaponizing religious freedom to block access to critical contraceptive care is a brazen attempt to control women’s bodies and freedoms.
Access to affordable birth control anchors women’s family planning, economic security, educational attainment, and professional aspirations. The Administration’s rollback of contraceptive coverage makes essential health care cost-prohibitive and hampers women’s empowerment, especially among women of color, low-income women, and young women. Attacks on reproductive self-determination perpetuate systemic racism and economic injustice. Conservatives have long conspired against reproductive justice from every angle – pushing for abstinence-only sex education, gutting birth control coverage, and restricting abortion access. The Court’s decision today advances their regressive view on women’s rights. While this ruling strikes a blow to our pursuit for gender justice, JWI will continue to fight to ensure all women have agency over their health, family life, finances, and futures.
Jewish Women International (JWI) is the leading Jewish organization working to empower women and girls by ensuring and protecting their physical safety and autonomy, promoting and celebrating inter-generational leadership, inspiring civic participation and community engagement, and engaging men as allies in ending gender-based violence. Inspired by our legacy of progressive women’s leadership and guided by our Jewish values, JWI works to ensure that all women and girls thrive in healthy relationships, control their financial futures and realize the full potential of their personal strength. The organization has long believed that bodily autonomy is a key component for women to reach true gender equality.