Tonight We Saw How Far the GOP Will Go to Restrict Women’s Health
For Immediate Release: Feb. 12, 2016
Washington, DC – Tonight we got a picture of what America would look like if any of the Republican presidential candidates made it to the White House. Candidates boasted about their anti-abortion records — despite the fact that the majority of Americans, especially millennials, support access to safe, legal abortion — and repeated discredited attacks against Planned Parenthood and women’s health care.
Let’s take a look at the real-world impact of these Republicans’ policies: In Texas, blocking access to care at Planned Parenthood led to a 35% decline in women using the most effective methods of birth control and a dramatic 27% spike in births among women who had previously had access to injectable contraception. In one year, 2.5 million people across the country rely on Planned Parenthood for care for birth control, STI testing, cancer screenings, sex education, and other preventive services. Many of them come from low-income households, communities of color, and from underserved areas where Planned Parenthood is the only available provider.
Statement from Dawn Laguens, Vice President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund:
“Tonight Republican candidates showed they will stop at nothing --- including repeating flat-out lies --- in order to restrict women’s access to health care. Every single candidate on the stage has boasted about how much he would keep women from accessing safe, legal abortion -- putting women all across this country at risk. And every one of the GOP candidates has vowed to block access to care for the patients Planned Parenthood serves --- keeping more than a million Americans from essential, life-saving care. Not only would these policies have devastating consequences for women in this country, they’re completely out of touch with most Americans’ every day reality. The American people want someone who can protect the progress our country has made, not someone who touts disturbing anti-abortion, anti-woman, anti-immigrant rhetoric. It’s never been more clear what’s at stake in this election --- especially for women, men, young people, LGBTQ communities, immigrants, and communities of color.”
Every candidate on stage has prioritized repealing the Affordable Care Act -- many vowing to repeal the law on their first day in office. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates has allowed nearly8.2 million women to gain coverage. And more than 55 million women now have birth control coverage without a copay.
Fact Check on Tonight’s Candidates: