AJPH
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

AJPH First Look, published online ahead of print Aug 29, 2007
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow An erratum has been published
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
AJPH.2006.098145v1
97/10/1737    most recent
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Purchase Article
Right arrow View Shopping Cart
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Temkin, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Temkin, E.
Related Collections
Right arrow Contraception
Right arrow Other Birth Control
Right arrow Insurance
Right arrow Health Policy
Right arrow History
October 2007, Vol 97, No. 10 | American Journal of Public Health 1737-1745
© 2007 American Public Health Association
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2006.098145

PUBLIC HEALTH THEN AND NOW

Contraceptive Equity: The Birth Control Center of the International Workers Order

Elizabeth Temkin, CNM, MSN

During the writing of this article, the author was with Planned Parenthood of Connecticut, Bridgeport.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Elizabeth Temkin, Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205 (e-mail: etemkin{at}jhsph.edu).

The Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act, introduced in Congress in 1997 and still unpassed, seeks to redress health insurers’ failure to pay for birth control as they pay for other prescription drugs, most paradoxically Viagra.

In 1936 the International Workers Order (IWO), a fraternal society, became the first insurer to include contraception in its benefits package. A forerunner in the movement for prepaid medical care, the IWO offered its members primary care and contraceptive services for annual flat fees. Founded at a time when the legal status of contraception was in flux, the IWO’s Birth Control Center was the only such clinic to operate on an insurance system.

Recent state laws and judicial actions have revived the IWO’s groundbreaking view of contraception as a basic preventive service deserving of insurance coverage.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2007 by the American Public Health Association