Women’s Health and the Biden Administration: What Can We Expect?

Photo by Rom Matibag on Unsplash

Things are looking up for the Biden administration. Democratic wins in Georgia have tipped the Senate in their favor, which means President-elect Biden may have an easier time making good on his promises to repeal or restore legislation the Trump administration either put in place or stripped away.

Many major items on the Biden agenda focus on women’s equity in healthcare. But will he be able to deliver on all of his promises?

Still, Biden has already signed more than 30 executive orders, reversing or cancelling Trump-administration mandates. But not everything will be so easy to just sign away. Some agenda items involve bills lost in Congress, while other initiatives will need close and careful assessment before their pushed through. And the Democrats only have the majority in the Senate because of Vice President Harris’s tie-breaker vote.

Biden’s Checklist

Biden has a lot to accomplish in the next four years. No doubt, interest groups and everyday citizens will be watching him closely to see how much he can get done in his first 100 days.

Here’s a checklist on women’s rights I’ll be following throughout his presidency.

Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

Then-Senator Biden wrote and introduced the VAWA in 1990, and it was enacted in 1994. The act provides funding through grants for a network of services that support victims of domestic violence. It also bolstered laws against domestic and dating violence at the federal, state, local, and tribal level.

Since the passage of the VAWA, domestic violence rates have fallen 50 percent. Biden has called the VAWA his proudest achievement.

There is no sunset clause or expiration for this law, but Congress does have to reauthorize funding. Even so, funding doesn’t lapse if Congress fails to reauthorize in time.

However, the law has been amended a number of times since 1994, most recently in 2017. In 2019, the House Democtrats introduced the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, which closed the “boyfriend loophole,” and improved provisions to cover transgender and LGBTQ+ victims.

However, some critics of the law point out that there is no clear data that points directly to VAWA as the cause for the drop in domestic violence rates, and that the mandatory arrest policy for officers responding to domestic violence calls has led to some abused women being jailed, as well, according to the Huffington Post.

In 2019, House Democrats let funding expire so they could give it an overhaul, but House Republicans opposed many of the new provisions, particularly those that include restrictions on guns.

The Biden administration claims that former House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to bring the bill to the floor and promises to push the bill through in 2021, now that McConnell has become the Minority Leader.

Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

The Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act is a bipartisan bill currently before Congress. If passed, the bill would

• Require private employers with more than 15 employees and public employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers, similar to those required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Bar employers from denying pregnant women a job, forcing them to take paid or unpaid leave is there is another reasonable accommodation, or retaliating against an employee for asking for an accommodation.
• Afford pregnant women who were denied a reasonable accommodation the same rights and remedies spelled out in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The House passed the bill in September of 2020, but it still has to go before the Senate before it reaches President Biden.

PUMP

The Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act was introduced in January of 2020, and it is still in committee. This is also a bipartisan bill that would expand the Fair Labor Standards act of 1938 to include accommodations for breastfeeding mothers.

Reducing Maternal Mortality Rates

As of 2018, the maternal mortality rate in the U.S. is 17.4 per 100,000 births, one of the highest among developed countries. Black mothers make up 40 percent of maternal deaths, despite making up 13 percent of the general population.

To fix that, Biden is looking to the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, which trains medical staff to recognize preventable complications early. The initiative, started in 2016, has reduced maternal deaths in California by half.

But, as Romper points out, it hasn’t budged the number of deaths among minority mothers.

Reinstating Access to Contraception

Biden has promised to make birth control more accessible for women by rolling back the exemptions to Obamacare’s requirement that company insurance cover birth control. Under Trump, even publicly traded companies could seek an exemption for religious or moral reasons.

Expanding Postpartum Coverage

In 2019, two bills — one to extend postpartum coverage under Medicaid and one to bolster postpartum care in rural areas — made it through the House pretty easily before languishing in the Senate. Biden has promised to push those bills through.

Maintaining Obamacare

Before the ACA, pregnancy, menstrual irregularities, obesity, depression, anxiety and being a victim of domestic violence were all considered pre-existing conditions that could disqualify women from receiving insurance benefits or simply jack the price up for insurance.

When (and If) We Will See Change

The 30 executive orders Biden has signed thus far, most have addressed the economy and the coronavirus. Since both of these issues are a high priority, it may take a while to see any progress in women’s health initiatives.

I’ll be keeping an eye on the checklist I’ve outlined and writing updates as the first 100 days and the first year get under way.

Are there any other women’s healthcare issues we should be keeping an eye on? Let me know in the comments!