Pro-Choice Caucus Chairs DeGette and Slaughter: Republican Health Care Bill Would Once Again Make Being a Woman a Pre-Existing Condition

Washington DC - Congresswoman Diana DeGette (CO-1) and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25), co-chairs of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, released this statement on the Republican health care bill as the House Ways & Means and Energy and Commerce Committees prepare to consider the legislation today. The Republican bill would be devastating for women nationwide and includes a provision defunding Planned Parenthood, which provides life-saving preventative care to 2.5 million people.

"The Republican health care bill would take our nation back to the days when being a woman was a pre-existing condition. The bill would place radical new restrictions on women's right to comprehensive health coverage and once again let insurance companies penalize survivors of domestic abuse, making it harder and more costly for them to get the health care they badly need and deserve. It is shameful that Republicans are using this bill to try and defund Planned Parenthood, which provides more than two million patients – men and women alike – with life-saving preventive care such as cancer screenings and STI testing. The Affordable Care Act has made insurance for women in America better, cheaper, and more available. Women in particular have a lot to lose if Congressional Republicans succeed in repealing this law and enacting their dangerous agenda."