Congressman Bacon,

I am writing you a letter today to urge you to support H.R.4082, otherwise known as the
Protect Access to Birth Control Act1. President Trump is set to roll back the mandate included in
the Affordable Care Act that makes it possible for all women, regardless of the environment they
work in, to be granted access to contraception as part of their health care plans.2 H.R. 4082 is
meant to protect the ACA mandate and continue to require employers to include contraceptive
access in health care coverage.
Opponents of this bill, and the ACA provision that it is meant to protect, would argue that
it is not the government’s place to regulate and mandate contraceptive access. I consider this
argument rooted in a stunning amount of hypocrisy, given these detractors’ same desire to
regulate other aspects of reproductive health. Contraception is an essential part of women’s
healthcare. Women should be able to have access to it like any other aspect of their healthcare.
You describe yourself frequently as pro-life, and reducing abortions is clearly an issue
that is important to you. Giving women the access they need to birth control is exactly how you
can do that. A study from the Washington School of Medicine found a sharp reduction in
abortion rates when participants were given access to free contraception.3 The U.S. currently is
at a near-record low for abortion rates -- and it can be observed in states other than the ones that
have passed abortion restrictions.4 The reason that we are seeing this reduction, according to a
study from the Guttmatcher Institute, is not because of abortion restrictions or an increase in
births. Unplanned pregnancies are actually being reduced in the first place (down 6%), and
unplanned births (down 18%) along with them. The increased use of contraception was shown to
be the primary driver of these reductions.5
If you want to reduce abortions, you have to make contraception more accessible. If you
want to improve women’s health care, contraception is a massive piece of that. Please support
H.R. 4082 and by extension all the women you represent.
Your constituent,
Cassandra Griffin

1
​Protect
Access to Birth Control Act, H.R. 4082, 115th Cong.
2
R. (2017, October 5). Trump Administration Set to Roll Back Birth COntrol Mand. ​The
​Pear,
New York TImes​. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/politics/trump-birth-control.html
3
​Williams, D. D. (2012, October 12). Access to free birth control reduces abortion rates.
Retrieved October 24, 2017, from
https://medicine.wustl.edu/news/access-to-free-birth-control-reduces-abortion-rates/
4
​Redden, M. (2017, January 17). US abortion rate is lowest since Roe v Wade – but
contraception access may go. ​The Guardian​. Retrieved October 24, 2017, from
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/17/us-abortion-rate-lowest-roe-wade-contraception
-access
5
​Dreweke, J. (2016, March 18). Abortion Debate: A Steep Drop in Unintended Pregnancy Is
Driving Recent Abortion Declines. Retrieved October 24, 2017, from
https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2016/03/new-clarity-us-abortion-debate-steep-drop-unintended-
pregnancy-driving-recent-abortion