The Republicans have finally revealed their plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. Their plan could hardly be worse for women.
The Republican crusade against women’s health care, as laid out in this plan, is truly shocking. Depending on the state you live in, maternity care coverage could be unavailable or prohibitively expensive. In all states, abortion care coverage would be all but eliminated and Planned Parenthood would be defunded, possibly forcing it to close clinics and/or curtail services, leaving millions of women without a trusted provider of birth control, STD screening and treatment, breast exams, and cervical cancer screenings.
We know what happens when women don’t have access to reproductive health services — maternal mortality, maternal morbidity, and infant mortality rates go up.
NOW maintains that health care is a basic human right, not a privilege — and that women are no less entitled than men to have affordable access to the full range of health services they need, when they need them. NOW is mobilizing across the country to stop this dangerous bill. Going forward, we will do all we can to defeat any lawmaker–Republican or Democrat–who supports endangering women’s health and lives by blocking their access to care.