On what should be the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Biden-Harris administration announced a series of initiatives to support reproductive health care access in the United States – and affirm that young women have an ally in the White House when it comes to protecting essentials like contraception.
On Jan. 22, President Joe Biden will hold the fourth meeting of the White House Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access, which is poised to introduce three new efforts on contraception, emergency health care, and medication abortion — all of which have become targets in the fight for reproductive health care. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris is also kicking off her Fight for Reproductive Freedoms tour on Jan. 22, making her first stop in Waukesha County, Wisconsin — a battleground state in the fight for abortion access. The vice president’s tour comes after her Fight For Our Freedoms college campus tour last fall, where abortion and reproductive health care access were top of mind for young women across the country. That tracks with Her Campus’s 2023 pre-election survey released in January 2024, where 66% of respondents listed reproductive rights as a priority issue ahead of Election Day this November.
The June 2022 overturning of Roe has left Gen Z Americans with fewer rights and less bodily autonomy than their parents and grandparents. It’s also forced young women on college campuses to grapple with what that uncertainty means for their sex lives while on campus. In turn, student organizers have pushed for innovations like on-campus emergency contraception vending machines, and fought for FDA approval of over-the-counter birth control — a victory that should come to fruition this year.
Dyvia Huitron, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Alabama — a state with a total abortion ban — says in a perfect world, the school’s administration would be more proactive about offering access to contraception on campus. “The easiest thing truly would be a vending machine,” Huitron says, adding that it would remove logistical barriers of travel and help “destigmatize” the issue. “It’s not very high maintenance. These resources like Plan B, pregnancy tests, and condoms can sometimes be accessed for a subsidized cost. The university might not have to pay anything, so students would be able to access it without having to pay anything,” she says.
And while Beau Nelson, 20, has had a smooth experience accessing birth control through the university health center at Williams College in Massachusetts, they recognize their luck. “That’s not the case at every single college,” they say.
Like Huitron, Nelson advocates for on-campus reproductive health vending machines to distribute emergency contraception, condoms, and pregnancy tests. They also point to the FDA’s decision to approve over-the-counter birth control, and say one way the Biden Harris administration can aid further is by ensuring that the over-the-counter option is “accessible,” meaning that it’s widely available and affordable.
“I think about all the barriers that I faced as a young person [trying to access birth control] and how demoralizing [it was]… even with the help of my parents. It was just a disaster,” Nelson says, before pointing to the potential for over-the-counter birth control to flip that reality for others. “It could be so easy,” they say, “but that hinges on it being accessible, which means it has to be … set at a price that everyone can afford.”
In a Jan. 19 conversation with Her Campus and other media outlets, White House Gender Policy Council Director Jennifer Klein and Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden emphasize the administration’s focus on contraception and emergency care — zeroing in on a section of the Affordable Care Act that mandates access to contraceptives for women at no cost. “Sadly, the overturning of Roe … it was the beginning. It was not the end. And we’re going to continue to fight,” Klein says.
In an ideal world, the officials say, Congress would codify Roe, federally protecting abortion. But given the House of Representatives’ current Republican majority, for the time being, that’s off the table. “While we have our eye on the ultimate vision of passing federal legislation, we’re also just doing whatever we can as an administration,” Klein says.
“This is a cornerstone issue for us,” Tanden explains. When it comes to the accessibility of contraception in particular, she says, “free contraceptives are established. It’s really ensuring that women have significant choices.”
Since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe precedent in June 2022, abortion has been banned or restricted in 21 states, and 25 million women live in states with bans or restrictions. While medication abortion is still accessible in many states, the Supreme Court is set to hear a case over the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone, the first of two pills used in medication abortions, later this year. Depending on the Supreme Court’s decision, the procedure could be outlawed — even in states where abortion is legal. Meanwhile, state legislatures across the country continue to ramp up efforts to restrict abortion, and Republicans in Congress have introduced federal abortion bans.
Over the last few years, abortion rights have become a front-and-center electoral issue — and one that is popular with voters. Since the fall of Roe, every time abortion has been on a state ballot, Americans have voted to protect it. And, by championing abortion access, Democrats have won key races — even in red states like Kentucky, where Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear was re-elected for a second term in 2023. In Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, liberal state Supreme Court judges who leaned into reproductive health care defeated their conservative opponents. And in Florida, Democrat Tom Keen won a special election for a state house seat on Jan. 16 after he focused on the issue.
“Since the Dobbs decision, we’ve heard a lot of voices on the other side of this debate argue that essentially this issue will die off over time, that the salience will be reduced and people will turn to other issues, and we really see that that is not the case at all,” Tanden says. “In the political environment, from 2022, to 2023, and even just recently in [Keen’s special election], this has been a defining issue for voters.”
As for acknowledging how the issue affects young college students, in December 2023, Harris and Klein along with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona joined 68 university and administration officials from 32 states for a conversation about access to contraception for college students — including states where abortion has been banned. Klein says ensuring access on college campuses has been a “big focus” of the administration’s work. “We are remaining very focused on making sure that people know that contraception is legal and that they have access to it on their campuses,” she says.
“We as an administration are intent on making sure that campuses know what the rules are, what the laws are, so that they are able to continue to provide services,” Klein says, adding that it’s crucial there’s “no misinformation out there about what they can and can’t do.”
When it comes to White House initiatives, Huitron says she appreciates the Biden-Harris administration’s work to ensure reproductive health care access for students. To help further, Huitron advocates for more confidentiality for young people. “A lot of students are really afraid that, especially if they were on birth control in their hometown, now they’re going to college and now their parents are going to know about the fact that they’re on birth control,” she said.
Both students say reproductive rights are top of mind for student voters in 2024 — and could impact the outcome of the presidential election. “It’s an issue that a lot of people have been taking into consideration more, especially now that Roe vs. Wade is overturned and we’re consistently seeing attacks on reproductive justice,” Huitron says. “Reproductive justice and reproductive rights issues are at the center of mind for a lot of young people right now,” Nelson says. “There’s been a huge loss felt by young people and specifically young women because of the loss of abortion rights, but I think also, an understanding that it’s always been bigger than abortion.”
Reproductive health care access is an umbrella issue that touches other concerns like racial justice and LGBTQ+ rights, and there are a number of communities feeling the brunt of life post-Roe. With decisions about abortion back in the hands of the states, protecting contraception and sexual health is now crucial.
Rachel Janfaza is a journalist covering youth political culture and the founder of The Up and Up, a newsletter focused on Gen Z’s political zeitgeist.