Birth Control Referendum On Illinois Ballot Stirs Controversy
CHICAGO (CBS) -- When you go to the polls between now and Tuesday, you'll see on the ballot a question asking if any insurance plan that has prescription drug coverage should be required to cover prescription birth control.
Opponents of the referendum, including Lauri Higgins of the Illinois Family Institute, said Illinois already has a law that requires birth control be covered on insurance plans.
"This is a way to increase uninformed, probably young women, to get to the polling place, to scare them into thinking that, if you don't come out to vote, you're going to lose your contraceptive coverage," Higgins said.
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She said it's furthering the "war on women strategy" that "the left" has accused conservatives of waging.
However, she said "Employers should have the right to choose what they provide in their insurance policy"
Carol Brite, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Illinois Action says people should, "Vote YES for the Birth Control referendum. That says loud and clear, 'my birth control is NOT my boss' business.'"
Brite said birth control is "basic and essential healthcare for women."
Dr. Leeanne Griffin, of Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, said birth control should be covered under all insurance plans.
"Some people will say birth control isn't that expensive, but without that coverage, a woman would spend $600 a year on birth control," Griffin said.
Higgins pointed out that $600 a year is "less than two dollars a day," and she asked, "That's cost-prohibitive? You know, people have other choices about what they do in regard to sexual activity. What is their partner's responsibility? Can they abstain from sex?"
As for the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on the Hobby Lobby case, allowing companies with religious convictions against contraception to decide for themselves whether to cover birth control, supporters of the referendum said that court ruling only covers companies under the Affordable Care Act.
