By some estimates, brand name prescription birth control prices have risen from about $3 to $10 a month to $30 to $50 a month. That's a steep increase for college women juggling hefty tuition bills, or for a working woman struggling to make ends meet with a minimum wage job.

For decades, college health centers and free clinics have helped cash-strapped women access affordable birth control. Through agreements with pharmaceutical companies, most campus clinics were able to distribute brand name prescription contraceptives for just a few dollars a month.

It's particularly important that college women have access to affordable contraception. Two-thirds of college students reported having at least one sexual partner in the prior 12 months, according to a 2006 survey of more than 23,000 students by the American College Health Association. About 40 percent of sexually active college women reported relying on pills and other prescription forms of birth control, according to the ACHA.

The plain truth is that women are more likely to use contraceptives responsibly if they can get what they need cheaply and conveniently. If we make it difficult for young women to get it, they might stop using it at all. Or, they may turn to cheaper, less effective birth control methods. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a spike in the number of unwanted pregnancies and number of abortions as a result of this unfair price hike.

So, how exactly did this happen? The Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) altered how drug makers calculate rebates to safety net health providers. The federal government helps to underwrite some of these rebates in order to improve access to prescription drugs for people on low or fixed incomes. The DRA, however, made it costly for pharmaceutical companies to continue offering safety net providers such deep discounts on birth control and a number of other prescription drugs.

In some cases, private insurance will cover this cost increase of birth control. But many young women are on their parents' insurance plans and don't want to involve their moms and dads in such a private health matter. And, unfortunately, a lot of hardworking women who are struggling to make ends meet count themselves among the 47 million Americans without health insurance.

I am working with my pro-choice colleagues in Congress to close this ridiculous loophole and bring down the cost of prescription birth control at college health centers and free clinics. In fact, Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt could easily close this unfair loophole and restore access to affordable birth control for millions of women. Yesterday, Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) and I wrote a letter urging him to do just that (to read the full text of our letter, click here). Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY) is also working on legislation that would bring costs down.

In November 2006, Americans put the House and Senate back into pro-choice hands for the first time in 12 years. Anti-choice politicians used these years to attack reproductive freedom at every opportunity. By stark contrast, in just its first 100 days, the 110th Congress has blocked legislative assaults on reproductive freedom and made early first steps toward a more positive agenda that emphasizes common sense solutions over divisive politics. And we'll continue working hard to repair the mistakes of the past and ensuring that women's reproductive rights are protected in the future.

In 2007, an American woman can decide to put her life on the line for our country in Iraq, but she can be prevented from making her own basic health decisions here at home.

In 2007, pharmacists are refusing to fill birth control prescriptions. It's happening in red states and in blue states. It's happening to married women and to single women, to women with children and to women without. Some pharmacists have refused to transfer birth control prescriptions to another more accommodating pharmacy; others have even refused to give the prescription slip back to the customer.

In 2007, women are leaving pharmacies without their pills and without their dignity, having been ridiculed and lectured about their reproductive choice.

Take the Columbus, Ohio 23-year-old mother who sought non-prescription emergency contraceptives from a local pharmacy. The pharmacist on staff "shook his head and laughed" at her. The woman was told that even though the store stocked EC, no one on staff would give it to her. She had to drive 45 miles to find another pharmacy that would provide her with the contraceptive.

Or the Northern California, married parents of a newborn who experienced a contraceptive failure. At the time, emergency contraception had not yet been approved for over-the-counter sales, so the woman's physician called in a prescription on her behalf. The pharmacist on duty refused to dispense the medication, and refused to enter the prescription into the pharmacy's computer so it could be transferred to another pharmacy.

Besides the obvious inconvenience, why should these stories—or the countless others just like them—matter? Because a woman's likelihood of becoming pregnant increases the longer she waits to take emergency contraception. And even one missed or late birth control pill can put a woman at an increased risk of an unwanted pregnancy.

Women who live in rural areas are at an even greater disadvantage when they're denied contraception because they may not have another pharmacy near them to go to. And low-income women may not have transportation, or the additional time or money needed to track down a cooperative pharmacy.

Pharmacies should not be allowed to take the place of doctors and deny women their medication. Pharmacies have the obligation to serve women and provide them with access to medication.

The public agrees. In a recent poll, eight in 10 Americans said that pharmacists who personally oppose birth control should not be able to refuse to sell oral contraceptives to women.

I introduced the "Access to Birth Control," or "ABC" Act, to ensure that any woman who wants birth control is able to get it in a timely and convenient manner.

Under my bill, if a pharmacist on duty refuses to fill a woman's birth control prescription—this includes emergency contraception prescriptions—then the pharmacy must ensure that another employee on staff fills the prescription without delay. If the pharmacy does not have the requested birth control in stock and it normally stocks other forms of contraception, the pharmacy must either locate another pharmacy of the customer's choice or a nearby pharmacy that has the birth control in stock, and refer the patient or transfer the prescription. If the customer prefers, the pharmacy can order the item using the standard expedited procedure for ordering medication.

My bill would also make it illegal for a pharmacist to refuse to return a birth control prescription, or for a pharmacist to intimidate, threaten, or harass customers, or intentionally breach, or threaten to breach, medical confidentiality.

Access to birth control is a women's health issue, a private matter and a constitutional right. It should not be tampered with by pharmacists, politicians, or anyone else.

U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY)