“As an employer, I really don’t want my female employees getting pregnant. I have to make special accommodations for them, put up with employees chit chatting about pregnancy, and hire more expensive temps and pay other employees overtime to cover for them while they’re sick, at doctors appointments, or out on maternity leave. And that’s before we even get to the hit that I’m going to take when my health care costs go up due to increased utilization.”
Incredibly shortsighted. May I ask what kind of business you run?
Sick and pregnant employees reduce productivity. Reduced productivity means reduced profit. Reduced profit, in a margin tight field like mine, is to be avoided at all costs.
Financially, it makes sense to keep my employees healthy and NOT pregnant. Both of those things cost me money. Since you can't legally fire people for getting sick or pregnant, preventing it is the next best thing.
Rising healthcare costs have made the argument a bit more tenuous, but it still stands. Being in tech, my aggregate overtime costs can approach $100 per hour per employee, and temp consultants usually cost me between $100 and $120 an hour. If someone is out sick or on maternity leave, I HAVE to pay someone else to cover their work. The cost of insuring all of my employees for a year is LESS than the cost of me bringing in consultants for 6 weeks to cover ONE employee being out on maternity leave.
So yeah, we offer contraceptive coverage. And encourage its use.
Still, nobody should be forced to offer it if they don't want. It makes sense for me, and in my experience makes sense for most businesses. I'd never expect a religiously based organization to offer it, and they should never be required to. NOBODY should be required to.