Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Organizing For Action, MoveOn.org, and CAP Action Fund Partner to Mobilize Supporters After ACA Repeal Vote

Washington, DC-- A day after the House of Representatives voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and defund Planned Parenthood, progressive organizations have partnered up in a massive mobilization effort. Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Organizing for Action, MoveOn.org, and Center for American Progress Action Fund have partnered on over 75 events across the country to hold House members accountable, and to target Senators who will be taking up ACA repeal in the coming weeks.  

Quote from Kelley Robinson, National Organizing Director, Planned Parenthood Action Fund:

People across the country are making their voices heard –– we don’t want our health care attacked. We’re standing together as women, people of color, immigrants, and as people of faith, and we’re fighting back to make sure that every single politician in America knows that we will not stand for ‘defunding’ Planned Parenthood or repealing the ACA. We’re not going to silently stand around while politicians in Washington try to take away our health care. We’re taking action and holding them accountable.

Quote from Jesse Lehrich, OFA Communications Director:

The vote that was just cast by 217 House members was shameful –– a vote that proved they care more keeping the people in the White House happy than keeping their own constituents healthy. It was grassroots action that made this repeal effort so difficult for Obamacare opponents, and it will be grassroots action them accountable and makes Senators balk at attaching themselves this wrongheaded crusade.

Quote from Ben Wikler, MoveOn.org Washington Director:

House Republicans just voted for a bill that would inflict obscene pain on their own constituents, and they have earned an equal quantity of political pain for themselves. But that pain won’t inflict itself—and that’s why thousands of MoveOn members and constituents nationwide are showing up in force immediately, to make sure every Republican who voted for this disaster feels the consequences. Phones will ring off the hook; district offices will be jammed full of angry constituents. The American people—the grassroots—have led a fierce and powerful opposition to this bill and they’ll work to be sure this Trumpcare vote blows up in the GOP’s face.

Quote from Chris Hayden, CAP Action Fund Communications Director:

During April recess alone, more than 250,000 people participated in more than 500 events, yet House Republicans still voted for a bill that will cost American lives. Americans want a system that provides them affordable access to healthcare, not a bill that denies coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, spikes premiums for common issues like asthma or pregnancy, and exempts Members of Congress and their staffs from the same terrible law. House Republicans are deluded if they think their work is done. The resistance is stronger than ever and will continue to hold them accountable for this evil bill.

The American Health Care Act, including the provision to prohibit people with Medicaid coverage from accessing preventive care at Planned Parenthood, has drawn widespread opposition from health care experts, including the American Public Health Association, the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, members of Congress from both parties, and a clear majority of American voters.

The American Health Care Act would:

• Take away health coverage for 24 million people.

• “Defund” Planned Parenthood by blocking people who rely on Medicaid from accessing preventive care at Planned Parenthood health centers -- including birth control, cancer screenings, and STD testing and treatment.

• Eliminate protections that restrict insurance companies from charging people with pre-existing conditions unaffordable rates. Under this bill, health insurance companies could once again charge people tens of thousands of dollars a month because they had cancer.

• Undermine Essential Health Benefits standards, including maternity coverage and prescription drugs, which disproportionately affect women.

• Gut the Medicaid program, which approximately 1 in 4 women of reproductive age rely on to access no-cost, critical reproductive health care such as birth control, lifesaving cancer screenings, and maternity care.

• Reduce access to no-cost preventive services, including birth control.

• Impose a nationwide ban on private insurance coverage of abortion.