Washington, D.C. — Repealing the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, and defunding Planned Parenthood would cause millions of women to lose access to affordable health care and would most harm low-income women and women of color, according to a new column by the Center for American Progress.
To date, an estimated 55 million women now have access to vital preventive care at no cost under the ACA, and approximately 9.5 million previously uninsured women have gained health coverage under the law. Yet just days into the new Congress, congressional Republicans committed to repealing the ACA and withholding federal funding from Planned Parenthood, using the annual budget reconciliation bill as a vehicle to cripple women’s access to affordable health care.
If each measure were to go into effect, millions of women would be at risk of losing access to preventative care services such as annual well-woman exams; breast-feeding support and supplies for new moms; birth control; screening and counseling for domestic and intimate partner violence; and screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. This would hit women of color and low-income women hardest, pushing sexual and reproductive health care even farther out of reach for communities in need.
“Congressional Republicans are completely out of touch with how defunding Planned Parenthood and repealing the Affordable Care Act would hurt women,” said Jamila K. Taylor, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. “Not only do these actions have major implications for the health and well-being of women and families, but also for their economic security. Women have saved billions in health care costs due to the ACA, which has made them better able to financially support themselves and their families.”
In addition to detailing the ways in which Congress threatens women’s access to affordable health care, CAP’s new column also highlights other ways in which the incoming Trump-Pence administration could further erode a woman’s right to reproductive health care. This includes the nomination of Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) for health and human services secretary and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) for attorney general, who have both supported legislation to derail access to women’s health care.
Read the column: How Women Would Be Hurt by ACA Repeal and Defunding Planned Parenthood by Jamila K. Taylor
Related resource: How Trump Threatens a Woman’s Right to Reproductive Health Care by Aki Suzuki, Andrew Satter, Jamila Taylor, and Kaitlin Holmes
For more information or to speak to an expert, contact Chelsea Kiene at [email protected] or 202.478.5328.
Members of the media who are interested in interviews with individuals who are at risk of losing their health care if the Affordable Care Act is repealed should contact Terrence Clark from our partner CAP Action at [email protected].