Statement by Vice President Joe Biden on Birth Control Case Before the U.S. Supreme Court

In the midst of a devastating public health and economic crisis, Donald Trump is once again doubling down on his quest to strip away women’s access to basic health care. Every woman’s health care choices should be between her and her doctor — that’s why, when Obamacare became the law of the land, it required insurance plans to cover contraceptive care free of charge to the consumer. That landmark victory extended vital coverage to over 60 million women — including at least 32 million women of color. The Obama-Biden Administration provided an exemption for houses of worship, and an accommodation for nonprofit organizations with religious missions. The accommodation allowed women working at these nonprofit organizations to access contraceptive coverage not through their employer-provided plan, but instead through their insurance company or a third-party administrator.

The Trump Administration has done everything in its power to erode that critical progress and deny women access to the full scope of health care. And if that weren’t bad enough, Donald Trump is also actively working in the courts to take us back to a time when insurers could discriminate against Americans based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and HIV status — and shamelessly fighting to end protections for people living with preexisting conditions such as asthma, cancer, and diabetes.

As President, I will reverse President Trump’s rollbacks of the Affordable Care Act, including his efforts to deny women access to health care, and work to restore the Obama-Biden policy that was in place before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision. We should be expanding, not diminishing, access to health care — especially in the midst of a health crisis.