For Immediate Release: May 18, 2017
Contact: Erin Gistaro | egistaro@feminist.org | 703.522.2214
Feminist Majority Foundation & Rep. Maloney Sound the Alarm on Trumpcare’s Threat to Women’s Health
The Feminist Majority Foundation joined Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), AAUW, and NOW to condemn the Republican’s discriminatory and deadly “healthcare” plan, the so-called American Health Care Act (AHCA) and draw attention to the threat it poses to women’s health, and the need for an Equal Rights Amendment.
Statement by Feminist Majority Foundation President, Eleanor Smeal:
“Discrimination against women is alive and well in Trumpcare. Trumpcare politicians are clearly willing to trade women’s health and Medicaid services to the poor, elderly and disabled—who are mostly women, and disproportionately women of color—in exchange for tax cuts for the super wealthy. This bill, which cuts $880 billion from Medicaid over the next ten years, shows nothing but contempt and disregard for women’s lives. We can’t go back.
The GOP’s cruel healthcare bill would be devastating to millions and take us back to the days when women were penalized for being women and charged more for insurance that didn’t even cover basic services like maternity care.
It is women who most rely on Medicaid. Half of all births in the United States are paid for by Medicaid, yet this bill would allow states to force poor women off of healthcare a mere 60 days after giving birth.
It is women who most utilize preventative care treatment. Women depend on access to these services including mammograms, vaccines and no copay contraception to control their own lives.
It is women who are classified as a pre-existing condition. Insurance companies had often characterized pregnancy, eating disorders and domestic violence as conditions that justify discriminatory pricing in health insurance.
The addition of an Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution would give us the strongest possible tool to prevent and combat this type of dangerous legislation. Any lawmaker who tries to argue that women have gained full equality need only look at Trumpcare for proof that we have not.
We can’t let this chaotic administration distract us from the immediate battles unfolding on Capitol Hill that will affect the everyday lives of women for generations to come. This is clearly one of them.”
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