Today, if you have insurance, you should now be able to get birth control without paying a co-pay.
This matters because giving women access to the means to control their fertility and decide when and whether to bear children has had a fundamental, radical impact on women’s equality.
I just made three donations to celebrate the day:
- $34 to the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Action Fund, a PAC. They support Texas candidates who work every day to improve access to healthcare for women in desperate need of basic preventive care.
- $34 to President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. After all, without President Obama, no Affordable Care Act, a critical first step toward reforming healthcare in this country.
- $50 to Paul Sadler’s campaign for the United States Senate. I refuse to sit by and watch a regressive right-wing nutball become our state’s junior senator.
The $34 is how much I used to have to pay each month for the oral contraceptive pills I took. The $50 is because I figured Paul Sadler could use a little extra.
If you’ve ever had to pay a co-pay for birth control, or benefitted because someone you loved (or at least had sex with) did, I encourage you to donate to a collection of the politicians and political action committees that made this day possible.
Just a little reminder from the history files that real Republicans support reasonable things like birth control.
I noticed an “i’m at least 18 years old” on Sadler’s site. Is there a restriction on 17 year olds from supporting political candidates?
The laws vary state to state – presumably for state elections. Federal law, I believe, allows donations from kids of any age. Various campaigns can opt to accept them or not, since it is pretty obvious that a 2-year-old making a campaign contribution is really a front for a parent trying to get around statutory limitations.
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