Is Birth Control at Risk?

The short answer is: yes — and the threats are getting harder to ignore.

Over the past few months, we've seen a growing number of bills and court decisions across the country that could restrict access to birth control — and not just emergency contraception or abortion pills, but everyday methods like the pill, IUDs, and implants.

Here’s what’s happening:

• Parental Consent Requirements:
  In March, a federal appeals court upheld a Texas law requiring parental consent for minors to access birth control, even at federally funded Title X clinics — a shift that overrides decades of precedent around confidential teen care.

• Healthcare Provider Refusal Bills:
  Texas lawmakers have also introduced bills (like SB 619 and HB 2816) that would allow doctors, pharmacists, and other providers to deny contraception based on personal religious or moral beliefs. Similar "conscience" laws are being explored in other states too.

• New Surveillance Measures:
  Another Texas proposal (SB 1976) would mandate wastewater testing for hormones linked to birth control and abortion pills — raising serious concerns about privacy and whether this could be used to justify further reproductive restrictions.

• Efforts to Enshrine Contraception Rights Are Stalling:
  Federal legislation like the Right to Contraception Act — designed to guarantee nationwide access to birth control — has been introduced but faces stiff opposition in Congress and has not been signed into law.

The Bigger, Emerging Concern: Fetal Personhood and IUDs

One of the most serious undercurrents behind these efforts is the growing push for fetal personhood laws — legal definitions that would grant embryos and fetuses full legal rights from the moment of fertilization.

Why does that matter for birth control?
Because under some interpretations of fetal personhood, any method that could possibly prevent a fertilized egg from implanting — like an IUD or emergency contraception — could be considered unlawful.

In other words: if fetal personhood laws take hold, it’s not just abortion that's at risk. Some of the most common and effective forms of birth control could be treated as criminal.

Bottom Line:

Right now, access to birth control remains legal in most places — but the groundwork is being laid to make it harder, more expensive, or even legally risky to get.
And if the trend toward fetal personhood laws accelerates, it won’t just be about protecting abortion rights anymore.
It'll be about protecting the right to prevent pregnancy at all.