DeGette, Pro-Choice Caucus, Democratic Members Of Judiciary Committee, & Advocates Protest Markup Of Anti-Choice Bill

WASHINGTON – Fed up with the House GOP's focus on restricting women's health rights instead of considering a real economic agenda for women and families, pro-choice members of Congress led by Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) – Co-Chairs of the Pro-Choice Caucus – protested a House Judiciary Committee Markup of another anti-choice bill. There are no women on the Republican side of the Judiciary Committee.

"The New Year has barely begun and already the Republicans are returning to their same old playbook," said Rep. DeGette. "While women and their families strongly oppose political interference in their health care decisions, Republicans are recklessly pursing an agenda to undermine women's reproductive rights."

"It's increasingly evident that the only women's agenda that the Republicans have put forward is to take away your health care rights and then tell you to get lost," Rep. Slaughter said. "Women are sick and tired of these constant attacks on our constitutionally-protected right to choose, while priorities like equal pay, fair wages, and paid family leave go unaddressed. If Republicans in Washington have any hope of repairing their relationship with American women, they need to turn away from these anti-choice bills and start helping American women with the kitchen table issues important to them."

H.R. 7, misleadingly titled the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," would enact far-reaching restrictions on women's health that would also impact private insurance coverage of abortion procedures. The bill would restrict coverage for women's health in private insurance plans and through the Affordable Care Act, deny critical tax credits to small businesses that choose private health plans that cover women's health, and would prevent federal employees, women in military hospital overseas, and low-income women, specifically in Washington D.C., from accessing critical women's health services.

A previous version of this legislation made headlines in 2011 for trying to change the definition of rape.

Women's health rights are not just under attack in Congress – they are being targeted at the Supreme Court and at the state level as well. This morning the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case regarding buffer zones around reproductive health clinics, established to ensure that women can receive health care without fear of violence or intimidation. In addition, the Supreme Court has accepted challenges to the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate. Last week, Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a temporary stay on the mandate due to a challenge from a religious group. This is despite the fact that this group would not be required to provide access to contraception under the mandate, leading some news outlets to speculate that the challenge is being propped up by anti-choice forces as a public relations move. Later this year, the court will entertain a full-blown challenge to the mandate by a for-profit corporation. Tellingly, this company used to offer its employees an insurance plan that covered the exact same birth control methods it now claims is a violation of religious freedom.

Earlier this year, national news outlets reported on a Guttmacher Institute analysis revealing an unprecedented level of anti-choice legislation enacted at the state level since the Republican wave election of 2010. Between 2011 and 2013, 205 anti-choice measures have been enacted by state legislatures. By comparison, that three-year tally outpaced the total number of anti-choice measures passed in the prior ten years: 189.

Instead of focusing on attacking women's health care, Republicans should be working with Democrats on a real women's agenda , one that gives women and their families better economic security by increasing the minimum wage, establishing equal pay and pay check fairness, and promoting affordable child care and paid sick leave.