Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
The New
York Times
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December 17, 2000, Sunday, Late Edition -
Final
SECTION: Section 4; Page 2; Column 2; Week in
Review Desk
LENGTH: 137 words
HEADLINE: December 10 - 16;
All About Sex
BYLINE: By Jodi Wilgoren
BODY:
It was Viagra that made women's groups so
mad: if company health plans would pay for a pill to help men's sexual
performance, why not women's birth-control pills? Many employers said they would
not cover prescription contraceptives for either sex, and it
just happened that the five on the market -- the pill, the intrauterine device,
the diaphragm, Norplant and Depo-Provera -- are all for women. But the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that the exclusion of contraception
coverage is sex discrimination. But Viagra was not the issue.
Rather, the commission said, employers who pay for vaccinations and
blood-pressure pills must also cover prescription
contraceptives, because under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act,
preventing pregnancy must be treated like any other preventive
care. Tamar Lewin http://www.nytimes.com
LOAD-DATE: December 17, 2000 
