Trump Budget to Women: We Don’t Care About You

From bragging about sexual assault to revoking President Obama's fair pay and safe workplaces orders in his first few months in office, President Trump has already made it clear how he feels about women. His new budget proposal is no different.

Here’s what you need to know about this disaster of a budget.

It’s an unprecedented attack on Planned Parenthood

This is the worst budget for women and women’s health in a generation.  

In an unprecedented move, Trump’s budget singles out women who access Planned Parenthood for basic, preventive health care. For the first time in history, the president’s budget prohibits Planned Parenthood from participating in ANY program funded through Congress’s annual Labor-HHS bill.

This includes not just Medicaid, but the Title X program, Zika prevention programs, HIV prevention grants, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) grants to prevent sexual assault, the CDC National Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening program, maternal and child health programs, STD and infertility prevention grants, and more. This is the first time a president’s budget has singled out a specific health care provider.

It dismantles the Title X program

Title X is the only federal program solely dedicated to birth control.

Though the budget does not include a drastic cut to the program, it still dismantles its impact by prohibiting Planned Parenthood health centers from participating in the program --- which serve 41% of the program's contraceptive patients, the most of any Title X provider.

It decimates the Medicaid program, which will hurt women the most

The budget proposes to radically cut the Medicaid program, which one in five women of reproductive age rely on for health care.

Medicaid is the largest coverage source for family planning in this country, and nearly half of all births in America are covered by the Medicaid program. Two thirds of the adult population (19 years or older) covered by Medicaid are women.

The budget flatlines the Medicaid program by effectively ending the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, threatening coverage for 11 million people, while also unfairly slashing the federal government’s contribution to the program -- forcing states states to either come up with extra money or make difficult decisions about which services, benefits, or eligibility groups to cut. As a result, women - disproportionately women of color - will lose access to care.

It commits to passage of the AHCA, the worst bill for women’s health in a lifetime

We’ve already told you how toxic the American Health Care Act is for Americans, particularly women. Trump’s budget commits to the full passage of the American Health Care Act, which would prohibit women with Medicaid coverage from accessing care at Planned Parenthood health centers. 24 million people will lose access to insurance because of the AHCA.

It would also change the rules so a woman could once again be denied coverage for maternity care or charged higher insurance rates just because she had a baby or is a survivor of domestic violence. In fact, the AHCA would make it harder to both prevent pregnancy AND harder to have a healthy pregnancy and family.

It doubles down on abstinence-only sex education policies

Despite that fact that pregnancy amongst teenagers is at a historic low, the budget would eliminate the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program.

It also includes $75 million for abstinence-only programs, which have been proven to not work.

It will put girls abroad in danger

The President’s budget completely eliminates funding for international family planning reproductive health programs, cutting a total of $607.5 million from current appropriated levels.

The budget also cuts over 30% from the State Department, both of which would deeply undermine programs designed to protect and improve the health of women and girls around the world and fight maternal mortality. These cuts would target some of the most vulnerable people's lives around the world.

This budget is not an abstract proposal from the executive branch. It directly mirrors the callous policies that have already passed the House and will be decided upon by the Senate in the coming weeks. This devastating budget is yet another wake up call that politicians in DC are poised to take away healthcare from millions of people — including millions of women who would be blocked from care at Planned Parenthood health centers.