The news today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that 2.5 million more young adults, age 19 to 25, have insurance coverage since the new health reform law took effect is further evidence that the law is helping individuals and families in important and tangible ways. The law allows adult children to retain coverage through their parents until age 26. That means more access to preventive care, less costly visits to doctors when illness or injury strikes, less strain on hospital emergency departments, and real benefits to our public health.

This is the very population that needs reproductive health services the most. For most women of reproductive age, contraception and birth control are the care they get most regularly, and their main reason for interacting with health providers. That makes it even more important that the Obama Administration ensures that all women are able to access contraception without costly co-pays, regardless of where they get their health insurance. We urge the administration to remove the unfair and harmful exemption for religious employers. Every woman needs and deserves access to affordable and effective contraceptive coverage.

Only if the Administration does that will we fully realize the promise of enhancing coverage for the nation’s young adults.