The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will permit retail pharmacies to sell abortion pills in the United States for the first time, the agency indicated on Jan. 3.

Mifepristone is a drug that blocks the hormone progesterone, which is needed for a pregnancy to continue. The pill is used in combination with misoprostol to end a pregnancy up to 10 weeks of gestation. Employers may or may not cover the two medications in their health plans.

There are myriad reasons why some employers choose to cover abortion in their health plans, such as to recruit and retain women, to ensure gender equity in their health benefits, or to support reproductive freedom.

However, most patients pay out of pocket for abortion, including patients with private health insurance, according to recent research published in Health Affairs. The most common reason reported for not using insurance was that abortion was not covered. Eleven states restrict the type of abortion coverage that private health insurance plans can offer, and 26 states have laws that bar all plans participating in their state's health insurance exchange from covering abortion.

We gathered a batch of articles on the news from SHRM Online and other trusted news sources.

Employer Coverage

Abortion coverage, including abortion medication, is more common in health plans offered by self-insured employers because those plans are usually exempt from state laws. Fully insured plans, however, are subject to state laws.

In 2014, the...

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