{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cortezmasto.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cortez-masto-murray-hirono-reintroduce-bill-to-expand-coverage-of-birth-control-in-america-and-sound-the-alarm-on-trumps-relentless-attacks-on-contraception-family-planning/", "Cortez Masto, Murray, Hirono Reintroduce Bill to Expand Coverage of Birth Control in America and Sound the Alarm on Trump\u2019s Relentless Attacks on Contraception & Family Planning", "2026-09-24", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "NV", "Catherine Cortez Masto", "C001113", "www.cortezmasto.senate.gov", "cortezmasto", "https://www.cortezmasto.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "***VIDEO AVAILABLE***\n\nFTPs for TV stations is available here.\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai\u2019i) to reintroduce their bicameral Affordability is Access Act. This legislation would require insurers to fully cover over-the-counter birth control without any fees or out-of-pocket costs, once it\u2019s FDA-approved. This reintroduction comes as the Trump administration continues their senseless attacks on reproductive care, family planning, and contraception, including moves to cancel teen pregnancy prevention grants, attempts to decimate Title X, and the State Department\u2019s extremist decision to falsely label birth control products as abortifacients.\n\n\u201cCongress must pass the Affordability is Access Act to expand Americans\u2019 reproductive freedoms even as this Administration tries to shrink them,\u201d said Senator Cortez Masto. \u201cBirth control has helped thousands of Nevadans and millions of Americans live healthy lives. It\u2019s past time we made sure every woman who wants it has an affordable over-the-counter option they can buy.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen it comes to birth control, the challenge we face isn\u2019t just to stop Trump from setting up new barriers. We have to tear down the barriers that have been standing for far too long\u2014like cost,\u201d said Senator Murray. \u201cWe have to put forward our own vision for the future\u2014not just reject Trump\u2019s far-right dystopia. That\u2019s why we are re-introducing the Affordability is Access Act. This bill would require insurance to fully cover safe, over-the-counter birth control for patients. And this year we made a big update: our bill will also make sure all other FDA-approved forms of contraception are covered for patients. No fees. No hurdles. No out-of-pocket costs. This is especially important because, as of March 2024, there is an over-the counter birth control pill that women can buy at pharmacies and grocery stores. Trump has made his vision painfully clear, he wants to take women\u2019s rights away, he wants to set birth control on fire. Well, this bill is our vision as Democrats. We want to protect women\u2019s rights. And we want to protect your birth control.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs the Trump regime continues to attack reproductive freedom, fighting for contraception access has never been more important,\u201d said Senator Hirono. \u201cFDA approval of over-the-counter birth control is a major step forward, but approval alone does not guarantee access. By requiring insurance companies to cover over-the-counter contraception at no cost and without a prescription, this legislation will help to ensure women nationwide have the power to control their bodies and their lives.\u201d\n\nThe Affordability is Access Act also includes a new provision to require health insurance to cover every FDA-approved contraceptive drug or drug-led combination product without cost sharing unless the health plan also covers a therapeutically equivalent generic without cost sharing. This would significantly eliminate barriers that some patients face in accessing contraceptives prescribed by their provider.\n\nUnder the Affordable Care Act, all private health insurance plans are required to fully cover \u2013 without copays or out-of-pocket costs \u2013 prescribed U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved, granted, or cleared methods of contraception. The Affordability is Access Act would change this to apply to over-the-counter birth control that women can get without a prescription. The Affordability is Access Act would also maintain the FDA\u2019s sole authority to determine the safety and efficacy of drugs and make them available over the counter without a prescription, and ensure retailers provide contraception without a prescription. The legislation states that any retailer that stocks contraception that the FDA has approved, granted, or cleared without a prescription may not interfere with a consumer\u2019s access to or purchase of such contraception.\n\nRead the bill here. Additional cosponsors include Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawai\u2019i), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The legislation is also led by Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.-07), Congressman Ami Bera (D-Calif.-06), and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.-14) in the House of Representatives.\n\nSenator Cortez Masto has been a fierce advocate for women\u2019s reproductive rights. Last November, Cortez Masto sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy and former FDA Commissioner Makary expressing alarm over the Trump administration\u2019s plans to conduct \u201cits own review of the evidence\u201d on the safety and effectiveness of mifepristone. The Senator recently re-introduced her Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act, which would block anti-choice states and localities from limiting travel for abortion services and protect those helping women seek abortion care. She\u2019s championed legislation to repeal the Comstock Act, an arcane 1873 law that anti-choice extremists have repeatedly invoked as a backdoor means to effectively ban abortion nationwide without a single act of Congress. In the last Congress, the Senator also cosponsored legislation to codify the right to contraception and IVF.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-25T10:04:52Z", "2026-09-25T10:05:46Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cortezmasto.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cortez-masto-murray-hirono-reintroduce-bill-to-expand-coverage-of-birth-control-in-america-and-sound-the-alarm-on-trumps-relentless-attacks-on-contraception-family-planning/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6297702677547932, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}