The Path Ahead: Restoring and Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

In 2021 and beyond, policymakers must prioritize fact-based findings and the needs of the marginalized communities who bore the brunt of the Trump-Pence administration’s attacks in order to ensure sexual and reproductive autonomy and access for all people. The goal cannot simply be to restore the health care system to its 2016 state, but rather to make real and sustained progress in redressing long-standing injustices. 

To help inform and guide these efforts, we highlight Guttmacher experts’ analyses and evidence-based recommendations for the Biden-Harris administration, as well as for federal and state lawmakers.

Global Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

Just the Numbers: The Impact of U.S. International Family Planning Assistance, 2021

The United States plays a key role in increasing access to global family planning. This analysis outlines why it’s critical for the U.S. to increase funding and how a contribution of $1.17 billion in FY 2022 could avert 22.5 million unintended pregnancies, 7.5 million unsafe abortions and 36,000 maternal deaths in more than 30 countries.
Read the analysis (June 2021)

Here's Why Sexual and Reproductive Rights Must Be the Linchpin of Feminist Foreign Policy

Sexual and reproductive health and rights are foundational and necessary for gender equality, as well as to a full recovery from the economic consequences of the pandemic. This analysis lays out how leaders in the United States and around the world can help communities in every country recover not only from the COVID-19 pandemic, but also from the persistent underinvestment in women and girls.
Read the analysis (June 2021)

A Time for Change: Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in a New Global Era 

The global health landscape has been fundamentally changed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the devastating policies of the Trump-Pence administration. Now, the Biden-Harris administration must step up in partnership with the global community to address health inequities and disparities—moving beyond previous structures to achieve true progress on global sexual and reproductive health and rights. 
Read the analysis (February 2021)

Safe from the Start Act: A Commonsense Bill to Address Gender-Based Violence Around the World 

This resource offers an analysis of the Safe from the Start Act, which seeks to prevent gender-based violence at the beginning of crises—including pandemics, wars and natural disasters—and addresses the effects of violence on survivors once it has occurred. 
Read the analysis (March 2021)

The Case for Ending the “Global Gag Rule” and the Helms Amendment 

This analysis outlines why the “global gag rule” must be repealed permanently and details how ending the Helms Amendment would result in 19 million fewer unsafe abortions and 17,000 fewer maternal deaths each year around the world, in addition to creating substantial cost savings for health systems. 
Read the analysis (February 2021) 

U.S. Abortion Access 

Righting the Course: What Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration Must Do for Abortion Access in the United States 

This analysis details the current state of abortion access in the United States and how Congress and the Biden-Harris administration should prioritize ensuring that people seeking to end a pregnancy can do so with dignity, on the timeline that meets their needs and with affordable, equitable access to care. 
Read the analysis (March 2021) 

U.S. Family Planning 

What Federal Policymakers Must Do to Restore and Strengthen a Title X Family Planning Program That Serves All 

Title X has provided crucial reproductive health care for low-income people since 1970, although it has been subjected to political attacks throughout its existence. This analysis explains how the Biden-Harris administration and Congress can reverse the damage to Title X caused by the previous administration and make a greater investment in the program, in part by boosting funding and infrastructure. 
Read the analysis (March 2021) 

U.S. Insurance Coverage 

Uninsured Rate for People of Reproductive Age Ticked Up Between 2016 and 2019 

This analysis provides updated data for 2019 on health insurance coverage for people aged 15–49, showing that after years of dramatic improvement under the Affordable Care Act, the uninsured rate ticked upward under destructive Trump-era policies.  Moreover, major disparities in the uninsured rates remain by income, race and ethnicity, and citizenship. The analysis discusses steps the Biden-Harris administration, Congress and state policymakers can take to expand insurance coverage to more people.
Read the analysis (April 2021)

A Fragmented System: Ensuring Comprehensive Contraceptive Coverage in All U.S. Health Insurance Plans 

Despite federal law requiring insurance to cover contraception, gaps remain, resulting in inconsistent and incomplete contraceptive coverage for many people in the United States. This policy analysis lays out the current landscape of public and private insurance coverage of contraception and details recommendations for the Biden-Harris administration and Congress on how to bolster coverage across federal programs to help ensure reproductive autonomy. 
Read the analysis (February 2021)

Medicaid Work Requirements at the U.S. Supreme Court: A Potentially Devastating Blow to Health Coverage for Millions 

An upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case on the legality of Medicaid work requirements could determine Medicaid eligibility for millions of people. Medicaid is a critical program insuring one in five low-income people in the United States. The analysis details immediate actions that the Biden-Harris administration should take to protect Medicaid. 
Read the analysis (January 2021)

President-Elect Biden’s Health Insurance Plan and Its Potential Impact on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights 

Guttmacher experts evaluated proposed changes to the U.S. health insurance system under President-Elect Biden’s health care plan. This assessment outlines the plan’s strength and weaknesses on sexual and reproductive health and rights policy issues. 
Read the analysis (November 2020) 

Population-Specific Issues

Adolescents Deserve Better: What the Biden-Harris Administration and Congress Can Do to Bolster Young People’s Sexual and Reproductive Health 

The Biden-Harris administration and Congress should prioritize ensuring that all adolescents receive high-quality sex education, removing financial and logistic obstacles to care, and guaranteeing confidential care. This policy analysis details legislative, regulatory and governing tools that the administration and Congress can utilize to achieve this vision. 
Read the analysis (February 2021) 

Cross-cutting Topics  

The Next Federal Budget Matters a Lot for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights—Here’s What to Look Out For

The Biden-Harris administration and Congress have a unique opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to sexual and reproductive health and rights with the 2022 budget. This analysis lays out the financial investments and policy recommendations put forward by the Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice for the White House budget request and congressional proposals.
Read the analysis (March 2021)

Just the Start: How the Biden-Harris Administration Must Build on Its Early Actions for Lasting Change 

The Biden-Harris administration has shown a commitment to evidence-based policymaking in its early actions to rectify the former administration’s policy attacks on health care. This analysis outlines actions to date and recommendations on next steps to ensure sexual and reproductive health and rights for all. 
Read the analysis (February 2021)

How the Biden Administration Should Stand Up for Abortion Rights 

In a joint Washington Post op-ed, Guttmacher President and CEO Dr. Herminia Palacio and ANSIRH Director Dr. Daniel Grossman applaud crucial first steps by the Biden-Harris administration to restore reproductive health and rights. They urge the administration to follow the evidence and expand access to abortion, including by lifting restrictions on medication abortion and repealing the Hyde and Helms Amendments. 
Read the op-ed (January 2021) 

Biden-Harris Administration Must Address Trump’s Last-Minute Attempts to Damage Health Care 

The Trump-Pence administration continued to attack sexual and reproductive health and rights to the very end of their term through regulatory and administrative processes. This analysis outlines the damage that has already been done and what the Biden-Harris administration can do to stop or otherwise unwind these last-minute attacks. 
Read the analysis (January 2021) 

The First 100 Days: Biden-Harris Administration Must Use Electoral Mandate to Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights 

As the United States looks toward a new federal administration, it continues to be gripped by overlapping crises: the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic recession, and deep-seated racial and social inequities. This analysis lays out priorities for the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration to center sexual and reproductive health and rights as part of a necessary response to these crises and as a way to help as many people as possible achieve reproductive autonomy. 
Read the analysis (December 2020) 

Reviving Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the Biden-Harris Era 

New leadership in the White House does not guarantee that sexual and reproductive health care and rights will be fully available to all. This new resource lays out recommendations for Congress and the executive branch to meet the needs of communities and populations that will be most affected by sexual and reproductive health policy decisions that lie ahead. 
Read the analysis (November 2020) 

An Even-More-Conservative U.S. Supreme Court Could Be Devastating for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights 

The confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett solidifies the anti-reproductive health majority on the U.S. Supreme Court. This analysis explores how the new Supreme Court threatens to roll back decades of progress that have been made for basic human rights and especially for sexual and reproductive rights. 
Read the analysis (October 2020) 

 

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