SSN Commentary

The Supreme Court and Contraception Deserts

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Originally published as "The Supreme Court and Contraception Deserts," Medium, July 9, 2020

It is said that if you throw a frog into boiling water, it will jump out, but if you slowly turn up the heat, it will complacently let itself be cooked. Whether or not the fable is accurate, it provides a helpful analogy for the erosion of American norms, social safety net policies, and reproductive health care rights.

When states, like Texas and Louisiana, or the federal government even glance at abortion rights, swift public attention is brought to the issue. The attrition of access to affordable contraception, on the other hand, attracts less attention to itself.