The House voted today to block a law that was passed by the elected representatives of the District of Columbia—the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act—that is designed to ensure that D.C. residents are not subject to religious discrimination because of their reproductive health care decisions.
Those advocating for the bill are only concerned with protecting hateful and intolerant religious zealots and completely unconcerned with how this potential discrimination will infringe on the rights of other people, namely the LGBTQIA community, children, domestic violence victims and others.
1. Marriage Equality: Obergefell v. Hodges, Tanco v. Haslam, DeBoer v. Snyder, Bourke v. Beshear
2. Pregnancy Discrimination: Young v. United Parcel Service
3. Women’s Access to Health Insurance Coverage: King v. Burwell
4. Domestic Violence and Housing: Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc.
5. Marriage Equality Cases That Have Been Decided: Kitchen v. Herbert, and Bishop v. Smith
Only 13 states set up a state-facilitated Health Exchange in accordance with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), leaving 37 states with a federally-facilitated Health Exchange. Health Exchanges are where individuals and families can apply to receive health insurance coverage under the ACA and where many can also qualify for subsidies via tax credits to help pay premiums. If the Supreme Court decides “wrongly” (in our view) in King v. Burwell, some eight to 10 million persons would likely lose their health insurance in these states because many would lose the subsidies that have made their insurance affordable.
“We should not have this interference, especially from men who don’t conceive and don’t have babies,” Barbara DeVane, a lobbyist for the National Organization for Women, said after the Senate Health Policy Committee approved the bill. “They are for de-regulation of everything except women’s decisions about their own health.”
No more redactions. No more cover-ups. No more protection for powerful abusers.
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