The 8th Circuit Court decided to allow Union Pacific Railroad not to cover any contraceptives on their insurance plan:
Union Pacific Railroad's policy of not covering contraceptives in its health plan didn't discriminate against women, the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.
The railroad prevailed on appeal because its policy does not cover any contraceptives for men or women, so the court agreed Union Pacific did not violate the federal Civil Rights Act.
"Union Pacific's health plans do not cover any contraception used by women such as birth control, sponges, diaphragms, intrauterine devices or tubal ligations or any contraception used by men such as condoms and vasectomies," the court panel said in its 2-1 ruling. "Therefore, the coverage provided to women is not less favorable than that provided to men."
I think that this is really going to end up being good news. First, UP currently provides coverage for contraception, which they started doing after losing the lower court's decision in 2005. The spokesperson said that the company has no plans to take it away - of course, time will tell on that score. Secondly, there's increased urgency now for Congress to look into this no-brainer issue and along those lines Planned Parenthood is making some book off the story, asking members to donate to support that group's fight for Prevention First legislation. And there's going to be an appeal, which means more discussion and more pressure and more people finding out exactly who wants to make it more difficult to avoid unwanted pregnancies and who doesn't. That's a public debate we can't lose.
By the way, viagra was covered by the UP plan from the beginning. But you probably guessed that.
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