Advocates for Youth strongly condemns U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s decision in Braidwood Management v. Becerra. This decision struck down a provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires insurance companies to cover lifesaving preventative care without a copay,, including HIV testing and prevention, STD screening, cancer screenings, diabetes screenings, and more.

The right to protest is sacred in this country.  It is an important tool for young people seeking to create change in a country where political processes often don’t include them and legislators often don’t heed them. In Nashville this week, students exercised that right, demanding their legislators take action to reduce gun violence in Tennessee. Democrat representatives Justin Jones (the body’s youngest member), Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson joined the protest. Now, these members have been stripped of committee assignments and face expulsion from the legislature - after Republican leadership cleared the protest by force.  

Advocates for Youth welcomes the introduction of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) in the 118th Congress. WHPA is an important step that would prohibit states from imposing onerous restrictions on abortion, much like the bills we’re seeing passed all across the country that create a patchwork of restricted access in a post-Dobbs era.

Advocates for Youth applauds today’s re-introduction of the EACH (Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Care) Act, legislation which lifts bans on abortion coverage, led by Senators Duckworth, Murray, and Hirono in the Senate. Every person, no matter their income, how they are insured, and where they live should have access to affordable abortion care when they need it.

Advocates for Youth welcomes the news that the FDA has rescheduled an advisory committee meeting to review HRA Pharma’s application to switch Opill, a progestin-only, daily birth control pill from prescription to over-the-counter status. The new dates - on May 9th and 10th - coincide with the 63rd anniversary of approval of the daily birth control pill, celebrated by advocates as #FreeThePill Day.

Advocates for Youth strongly condemns the so-called “Parents’ Bill of Rights Act” that is being debated and voted by the House floor this week. The lawmakers introducing this so-called “parents’ rights” bill in the House are the same who are seeking to further ban abortion, attack LGBTQ rights, restrict access to gender-affirming healthcare, remove books and history lessons from libraries and schools, and who are also trying to ban birth control.