SB 523 Expands Birth Control Access and Health Equity Statewide

September 28, 2022 - SACRAMENTO – In an important step forward to create greater contraceptive equity statewide, Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed Senate Bill 523, which will expand and modernize birth control access in California regardless of an individual’s gender, insurance coverage status, where they work or where they go to school.

Also known as the ‘Contraceptive Equity Act of 2022’, SB 523 will make California’s birth control benefits gender inclusive, require coverage of over-the-counter birth control options and vasectomy services, expand contraceptive coverage benefits to Californians enrolled in state employee and university and college health plans, and clarify that employers in California may not discriminate or retaliate against their employees based on their personal contraceptive or reproductive health decisions.

“Now signed into law, SB 523 will help ensure equitable access to contraception, as well as solidify California’s rightful place as a national leader in reproductive freedom,” Senator Leyva said.  “It is critical that Californians be able to decide—for themselves—if and when they have children, so the ‘Contraceptive Equity Act of 2022’ is a vital step forward to build on existing measures to help ensure our contraceptive benefits and policies extend to millions more across the state since current law leaves too many individuals and communities without equitable access.”

In 2014, SB 1053 (Mitchell)—requiring Medi-Cal managed care and most commercial health plans to cover all FDA-approved contraceptive methods without co-pays, cost-sharing, or restrictions like step-therapy or prior authorization—was signed into law.  Since SB 1053 was enacted, several states have expanded access to birth control even further by requiring health care plans to cover over-the-counter birth control pills, condoms, vasectomies, and other birth control methods on the horizon.  Moreover, in 2016, SB 999 (Pavley)—ensuring that most health insurance plans in California cover a year’s supply of birth control dispensed at once—was chaptered.

Though progress has certainly already been made in California, health disparities in reproductive health outcomes persist among Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC)—including disproportionate unintended pregnancy, infant and maternal mortality, and STD rates. The COVID-19 public health emergency has also further highlighted the structural inequities that disproportionately affect youth, low-income people and BIPOC in accessing birth control services. A report by the Guttmacher Institute revealed that 38 percent of Black women and 45 percent of Latinas—compared to 29 percent of white women—now face difficulties accessing birth control as a result of the pandemic. Women with lower incomes were also more likely than women with higher incomes to report having experienced delays or having been unable to get contraceptive care because of the pandemic (36% vs. 31%). [1]

Sponsored jointly by Essential Access Health, NARAL Pro-Choice California, and the National Health Law Program, SB 523 also earned the support of dozens of health care, legal, business, education, social justice and other organizations during its legislative journey.