Paul Ryan’s 'Better Way' Makes Things Way Worse for Women
By Stephanie Badanes | June 24, 2016, 6:38 p.m.
Category: Attacks on Planned Parenthood, Health Care Equity
After 63 GOP-led attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, House Speaker Paul Ryan introduced a health care plan on June 23 that would have devastating effects on women. His “A Better Way” plan — which would eliminate the Affordable Care Act and block patients from care at Planned Parenthood health centers — is anything but. What’s more, Ryan introduced it as groups condemned him for his misplaced priorities, including his refusal to consider meaningful gun reform after the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
“We fought hard for the ACA, which gave over 55 million women access to no-copay birth control, and we are making substantial progress in health outcomes for women and families. The only thing Paul Ryan’s plan would do for women is take them back decades.”
—Dana Singiser, Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs for Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Instead of prioritizing legislation that Americans want, Ryan is pushing an unworkable health care plan that (no surprise) feature a slew of anti-women’s health proposals. The proposals in Ryan’s plan that could devastate reproductive health care access include:
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Rolling back historic health care reform
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Imposing harmful abortion restrictions on women across the country,
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Undermining Medicaid, which provides basic health care to more than 70 million low-income Americans
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Implementing discriminatory policies that could restrict women seeking birth control
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“Defunding” Planned Parenthood by blocking patients who rely on federal funds from seeking preventive care like birth control, STD tests, and lifesaving cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood health centers — which would especially impact individuals with low-income
As the country sees an unprecedented wave of harmful state-level restrictions on safe, legal abortion, the speaker is once again putting politics ahead of Americans’ health. His plan (which mentions restricting access to “abortion” nine times) includes an expansion of the harmful Hyde Amendment. The Hyde Amendment is an intrusive and unfair restriction on insurance coverage for millions of low-income individuals and their families. “A Better Way” also expands the Weldon Amendment, an annual policy rider that prohibits any government from discriminating against certain “health care entities” on the basis that they do not provide, pay for, provide coverage of or refer for abortions.
“Planned Parenthood and our supporters firmly believe that all people — no matter where they live or how much money they have — deserve access to high-quality affordable health care, and coverage for the full range of reproductive health services."
—Dana Singiser, Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs for Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Tags: Abortion, Congress, Affordable Care Act, Paul Ryan, ACA, A Better Way
