--- title: Birth Control: Democrats Propose Free Contraception for Troops description: The bills stand little chance against the Republican majority canonical: https://time.com/3697508/democrats-free-birth-control-female-troops/ author: Rachel Janik article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-05T18:49:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:59.209Z article:section: Politics og:title: Lawmakers Propose Free Birth Control for Female Troops og:description: The bills stand little chance against in the GOP Congress og:url: https://time.com/3697508/democrats-free-birth-control-female-troops/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0b4014f5a7be1bc/6987788606f2c179903333eb/birth-control-pills-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2151 og:image:height: 1210 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Birth Control Pills og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lawmakers Propose Free Birth Control for Female Troops twitter:description: The bills stand little chance against in the GOP Congress twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0b4014f5a7be1bc/6987788606f2c179903333eb/birth-control-pills-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lawmakers Propose Free Birth Control for Female Troops > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: The History of Birth Control [Watch (HLS stream): The History of Birth Control](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4oCau3Jn.m3u8) (3:12)  _Published 2015-01-22. For as long as men and women have been having children, they’ve been trying to figure out how not to. Artifacts dating back to ancient times have shown that contraceptives have been used for thousands of years._ by [Rachel Janik](https://time.com/author/rachel-janik/) ## Rachel Janik Feb 5, 2015 6:49 PM UTC  Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME by [Rachel Janik](https://time.com/author/rachel-janik/) ## Rachel Janik Feb 5, 2015 6:49 PM UTC Two congressional Democrats are proposing that women in the military be given free access to birth control and family planning counseling. California Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier introduced the measure Wednesday and New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen introduced it in the upper chamber. “We owe female servicemembers the same access to contraception and family planning services as the women they fight to protect,” Speier said in a statement. Under President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, civilian women can receive generic birth control at no additional cost if they have insurance. But service members use the military health care system Tricare, which does not provide this benefit. Speier’s bill would consolidate the two plans. But the legislation stands little chance of passage in the Republican-controlled Congress, which wants to repeal Obama’s health care law and is loathe to expand it in any way. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3697508/democrats-free-birth-control-female-troops/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3697508/democrats-free-birth-control-female-troops/"},"headline":"Lawmakers Propose Free Birth Control for Female Troops","datePublished":"2015-02-05T18:49:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:59.209Z","description":"The bills stand little chance against in the GOP Congress","url":"https://time.com/3697508/democrats-free-birth-control-female-troops/","keywords":["Congress","Women's Health","Affordable Care Act"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0b4014f5a7be1bc/6987788606f2c179903333eb/birth-control-pills-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rachel Janik","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rachel-janik/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0b4014f5a7be1bc/6987788606f2c179903333eb/birth-control-pills-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME.com stock photos Birth Control Pills","caption":"TIME.com stock photos Birth Control Pills","creditText":"Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3697508/democrats-free-birth-control-female-troops/","name":"Lawmakers Propose Free Birth Control for Female Troops"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The History of Birth Control","description":"For as long as men and women have been having children, they’ve been trying to figure out how not to. 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