February 10, 2012 President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington D.C.

20500 Dear President Obama: We write as members of the New York State Bipartisan Legislative Pro-Choice Caucus to thank you for your courageous stand in support of access to reproductive health services. We urge you to stand firm in the face of pressure from a vocal minority to reverse your recently issued administrative rule that would require health insurance plans to cover birth control without co-pays. The rule as adopted already contains a strong exemption allowing approximately 335,000 churches/houses of worship to refuse to provide birth control coverage for their employees. This exemption is nearly identical to the exemption in New Yorks contraceptive coverage law. New York helped paved the way for greater access to contraceptives by enacting the Womens Health and Wellness Act in 2002. This legislation extended broad consumer protections for womens health care by requiring employee health insurance plans to cover breast and cervical cancer screening, osteoporosis exams, and prescription contraceptives when the plan covered prescriptions. The impetus for this legislation was the finding that women were saddled with greater out-of-pocket costs for health care services then males, mainly due to the common exclusion of contraceptive coverage. New Yorks religious exemption, upon which the federal exemption is based, strikes a careful and appropriate balance of protecting religious freedom and preventing discrimination against female employees. Under the law, employers engaged in purely religious activities such as Churches and seminaries are exempted from having to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees. However, employers that are engaged in secular activities such as religiously affiliated hospitals and social services agencies, who do not primarily serve and employ those of the same faith -- are not exempted. Their employees -- nurses, janitors, laundry room staff and the like -- often come from a wide variety of religious backgrounds and should not be expected or forced to subscribe to the religious views of their employer on matters of reproductive health. This law has withstood constitutional challenge, and was upheld by all three levels of New York state courts. In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case. Californias contraceptive equity law, which is similar to New Yorks, has also withstood legal challenges. Nationally, there is widespread support for this benefit, even among Catholics, and strong opposition to discriminating against women by taking away their health care coverage. A new Public Policy Polling Poll shows 56 percent of voters support the birth control coverage benefit, including 53 percent of Catholic voters, and 62 percent of Catholics who identify themselves as independents.

We urge you to stand firm in upholding this administrative rule, and to resist pressure from a vocal but unrepresentative minority to expand the exemption to the contraceptive coverage requirement. Sincerely,

Ellen Jaffee Assembly Member Caucus Co-chair

Teresa Sayward Assembly Member Caucus Co-chair

Liz Krueger State Senator Caucus Co-chair

Andrea Stewart-Cousins State Senator Caucus Co-chair

Thomas J. Abinanti Assembly Member

Harry B. Bronson Assembly Member

John L. Sampson Tony Avella Senate Minority Leader State Senator

Kevin A. Cahill Assembly Member

Steve Engelbright Assembly Member

David Carlucci State Senator

Thomas K. Duane State Senator

Sandra Galef Assembly Member

Richard N. Gottfried Ruth Hassell-Thompson Velmanette Montgomery Assembly Member State Senator State Senator

Andrew Hevesi Assembly Member

Rhoda S. Jacobs Assembly Member

Suzi Oppenheimer State Senator

Jose Peralta State Senator

Rory Lancman Assembly Member

Barbara S. Lifton Assembly Member

Gustavo Rivera State Senator

Daniel Squadron State Senator

Donna A. Lupardo Assembly Member

Joel M. Miller Assembly Member Crystal Peoples-Stokes

Joan Millman Assembly Member

Toby A. Stavisky State Senator

Amy R. Paulin Assembly Member

Crystal Peoples-Stokes Linda Rosenthal Assembly Member Assembly Member

Addie Russell Assembly Member

Michelle Schimel Assembly Member

Michelle Titus Assembly Member