Congress: Where We Stand
The 2010 election ushered in significant changes to our political climate. Leadership shifted to Republicans in the House of Representatives, and the Republican minority grew in the Senate. Unfortunately, many of our newly elected senators and representatives are opponents of women’s health.
The Planned Parenthood Action Fund is committed to promoting comprehensive women’s health by expanding pro-choice, pro-family planning caucuses at all levels of government and establishing a more diverse body of elected officials in state and national offices.
Here’s a look at where we stand after the 2010 election, a sense of what to expect in the months to come, and how you can get involved.
We now have an anti-choice House. What does that mean for reproductive health care bills?
In the 2010 election, a significant number of opponents of women’s rights and health were swept into office by a wave of economic discontent. As a result of these changes, a number of bills introduced at the federal level threaten to take away health care benefits and rights from American women.
One such bill, recently introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ-04), would go far beyond any other proposal ever introduced in Congress to take health coverage away from women. Rep. Smith’s bill, misleadingly named “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion,” could end insurance coverage for virtually all abortions, including private insurance that Americans pay for with their own money.
Another bill that represents a serious threat to women’s health and rights is Rep. Mike Pence’s (R-IN-06) “Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act.” This bill would strip federal family planning funding (as provided by the Title X Family Planning Program) from health care providers that also provide abortion care with private funds. Rep. Pence’s bill clearly targets Planned Parenthood, since hospitals are exempt from its provision.
For many women, especially those in rural areas and underserved communities, Planned Parenthood is the only source of health care. The approximately 530 Planned Parenthood clinics that receive Title X funding are able to use that funding to support millions of patients each year. Planned Parenthood and the Title X program depend on one another to accomplish their shared goals of improving women’s health and lowering the rate of unwanted pregnancies.
Women and families are struggling to make ends meet and need affordable, accessible health care more than ever. Congress should be doing everything it can to expand the affordable, comprehensive health care options that are available to Americans rather than working to take away rights and access and increase the economic burden American families are facing.
How does this affect the health care reform legislation that was signed into law last year by President Obama?
The health care reform legislation that became law last year is a historic victory for women’s health. It will extend health care coverage to millions of uninsured women and families, provide $75 million for comprehensive sex education and teen pregnancy prevention, and stop the discriminatory practices of charging women more than men for insurance and denying insurance coverage because of pre-existing conditions such as breast cancer. Find out more about what health care reform means for women.
Many American women have already benefited from health care reform. Unfortunately, Congress recently took the first steps toward repealing this historic legislation. In January, the anti-choice House took a symbolic vote to repeal health care reform. The repeal bill is unlikely to pass the Senate and President Obama has publicly stated he will veto it. Nonetheless, this repeal effort is an attack on women’s health and shows the threat of a Congress dominated by opponents of women’s health and rights.
What is the Planned Parenthood Action Fund working on now?
Birth Control Matters is our effort to make prescription birth control available to every woman, without co-pays or other out-of-pocket costs. This would ensure that every woman can use the type of birth control that’s best for her at little to no cost through the new health care insurance exchanges. It would also reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and help keep women and children healthy.
As part of the health care reform law that Congress passed last spring, new health insurance plans will be required to fully cover women’s preventive health care services with no co-pays to their members. The law explicitly includes mammograms and Pap tests as services that would now be provided to patients without co-pays and other out-of-pocket fees, but prescription birth control was not automatically included. It is now up to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to define the full list of services which will be covered under women’s preventive care. HHS should make a determination during the summer of 2011. This would be a huge step forward for America — and especially for American women who cannot afford to pay for prescription contraception.
Find out more about the Birth Control Matters effort and about how you can get involved.
What can Planned Parenthood supporters do to help make sure our reproductive rights are protected?
- By signing up for our Action Alerts, you’ll help us stay strong by getting involved and staying informed! We’ll send you information about current events and opportunities to make a real difference.
- You can help support our efforts by making a donation to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.